Free Republic

...[I]t's immediately apparent that Senate Republicans did an outstanding job of recruiting this cycle. Capito ran one of the best campaigns in a non-competitive race in the country. McConnell was, as usual, outstanding. Gillespie came from nowhere to almost upset the single most popular politician in Virginia. And Ernst is a rising national star. But, when you look at the totality of the campaign, it's clear that Cory Gardner was the single best candidate of the 2014 election.

President Obama carried 73 percent of the Asian vote on Tuesday, continuing a two-decade-long march of Asian-Americans toward the Democratic Party in presidential politics. Obama improved his performance among Asian-Americans more than among any other ethnic group between 2008 and 2012, according to exit polling. His support in the community jumped 11 percentage points, from 62 percent in 2008. The 73 percent support that Obama garnered was the highest since national exit polls began tallying the Asian vote, and it marked the fifth straight presidential election in which the Democratic nominee attracted a greater share of the Asian-American vote. President...

The California Supreme Court today rejected petitions to delay its historic same-sex marriage decision, clearing the way for gay couples to marry later this month.

Saturday October 22nd (news black hole) with a Luttig, McConnell or other utterly immaculate pick announced on Monday October 24th. Reason: Bush needs people back in his corner before the Plame / Wilson grand jury reports at the end of the month. If Rove is indicted while Miers is still the nominee, Bush will really know what loneliness feels like.

Facts: Schumer wants to be Governor. Spitzer's exhausting the political potential of Attorney General. The last thing that Schumer OR Spitzer needs is a $15 million primary which will leave the winner bloodied in the general. Speculative solution: Schumer publicly announces that he'll appoint Spitzer to his U.S. Senate seat if he (Schumer) is elected Governor, and Spitzer agrees not to run for Governor. Result: no Democratic Primary, and New York's two most popular Democrat barnstorming a Governor-Senator campaign around the state. Note: this will not happen unless it's either Pataki, Giuliani or Bloomberg running for Governor on the Republican...

Thunderstorms forecast for Cleveland (among other Dem strongholds).

They are the hot-button topics that many Americans avoid in polite company - stem-cell research, gay marriage, abortion, and gun rights. And they are lurking on the edge of the 2004 presidential campaign, their small but vocal constituencies poised to make the difference in a down-to-the-wire election. The news of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist's cancer surgery last weekend served as a reminder that the next president may well get to appoint one or more new justices - and that the makeup of the court is critical to some of these tough issues. [see link for more]

July employment numbers due at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

As this article shows, the liberal media are now beginning to shift the focus of their death penalty abolition argument to say that even those who FAVOR the death penalty in theory recognize its supposed unfairness in individual cases. The Supreme Court is clearly not more than a vote or two away from finding that progressing notions of "decency" have made the death penalty cruel and unusual, and banning it ... depriving Americans of the justice to which they are entitled against heinous murderers. THIS is what we need to add to the constitution: "It shall be lawful, and neither...

There is no way that swing voters are going to stand for this kind of nonesense: "...President Bush's spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters the president is concerned with rise in unemployment but that he thought recently enacted tax cuts would help in the future." Setting aside the obvious economic critique (no one is going to create a job because of lower dividend or marginal rate taxes ... they'll create a job if it the salary is likely to generate a positive PRE-TAX return; even with zero taxes you won't create a job if it doesn't have a good return), cutting...

March 24 - Fort Hood's Fourth Infantry Division expects to finally ship out sometime this week, after their deployment was held in limbo for weeks. Getting them out of here will be a huge logistical challenge, though (cut).

Hi, a friend of mine who staunchly advocates the position that the King James Version is the only true Bible version is doing fund-raising for some missionaries from his church. I understand that the mission territory is Thailand. Presumably, they aren't going to be handing out KJV's to Thai villagers. What is the "true" Bible in Thai? A translation of the KJV? Or is the position that there cannot be any true Bible in Thai (sort of the way that Muslims say that there can be no true version of the Koran other than in old Arabic)?

"With the likelihood of war dominating public attention, Democrats are laying plans to keep reminding voters about the shaky economy and, in particular, the sharp increase in unemployment since President Bush took office." "Administration officials are fighting back with relentless lobbying and travel to try to build support for Bush's jobs and growth package, which has received a sour reception on Capitol Hill.