Free Republic

On April 1, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray was denied a second term, defeated in the primary by upstart city councilwoman Muriel Bowser. The beginning of the end came on March 10, when U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen struck a plea bargain with a wealthy businessman who confessed he'd spent $668,000 on an illegal "shadow campaign" to fund get-out-the-vote efforts that helped Gray win the mayoral office in 2010. So the corrupt mayor of America's most important city is thrown out. A political scandal? The same networks that were utterly breathless over the local story of Gov. Chris Christie's aides slowing traffic...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) refused say whether he thinks former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie (R) will be a good candidate for Virginia's Senate race, putting the National Republican Senatorial Committee vice chairman at odds with its chairman and many in his party.Cruz repeatedly refused to say what he thinks of Gillespie's background or chances as a candidate against Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)."I like Ed Gillespie, he is a friend of mine, he's a good man. That's ultimately a decision for the voters of Virginia," Cruz told The Hill on Thursday evening, hours after Gillespie entered the race.He demurred...

Gov. Rick Perry speaks wistfully — almost lovingly — about a rifle he recently fired while he was at a range in Leander owned by the manufacturer LaRue Tactical. “I’m incredibly passionate about a well-made piece of equipment,” Mr. Perry said in a phone interview last week, “whether it’s an automobile or a weapon.” After the visit, LaRue posted Mr. Perry’s results online. From 100 yards away, the governor took three shots and grouped them — two shots hit the same spot — mere millimeters from the center of the target. “That was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Mr. Perry said,...

Americans keep behaving in ways that baffle the liberal mainstream media. Two examples figured prominently -- or should have -- in last week's news. One is the runoff primary for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Texas. Former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz thumped incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, 57 to 43 percent. Cruz won even though the Texas Republican establishment, from Gov. Rick Perry on down, endorsed Dewhurst. So did the Austin lobbying community, since Dewhurst as lieutenant governor has run the state Senate for the last 10 years (and, having lost this race, will do so...

Tea party insurgent Ted Cruz’s thrilling and improbable victory over Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in Texas’s GOP Senate primary provides a model for future long-shot candidates to follow, though repeating what Cruz did will be difficult. A long line of dominoes had to fall, in the precise order that they did, for Cruz to overcome an opponent who had every advantage a political candidate can have. Dewhurst had unlimited financing (he spent at least $19.9 million of his own money), universal name recognition, unanimous support from the Austin political establishment and massive political power as the leader of the...

The Houston Chronicle is calling the huge Ted Cruz win over current Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, an embarrassment for Governor Rick Perry who backed Dewhurst. Photo: Sarah Palin at Ted Cruz rally wearing boots given to her by Governor Perry Perry took aim during the campaign at various out-of-state Tea Partiers who supported Cruz, including the Tea Party Express and Sarah Palin. The governor, who is also a Tea Party favorite, chided them to "come to Texas and learn how to do it right." Cruz defeated Dewhurst by nearly 14 percentage points. The former state solicitor general is now the heavy...

I know, I know. We are supposed to be magnanimous in victory. But there isn’t just a new ‘Sheriff’ in Texas, there is a new mandate on how things are going to be done from now on. And what the Ted Cruz Tea Party of Texas Wants RINO’s and CINO’s (Conservatives In Name Only) to Know is:We won’t be fooled by Republicans merely SAYING they are conservative any more.The Big Folly of Houston’s Republican bloggers is a prime example of the dishonest dialog the GOP establishment will find has gone the way of bell bottoms and pucca shell necklaces. If...

Since bursting on to the national political scene a few years ago, the Tea Party has achieved a great deal. In 2010, the Tea Party took the House of Representatives and dealt a serious blow to the huge Democratic majority in the Senate. This year, the Tea Party will try to finish the job and to take the Senate. So far, Operation Hostile Takeover has been met with much success. Longtime moderate and deal maker Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) was crushed by Richard Mourdock in a May primary. Just a couple of months before the primary, media pundits were smirking...

Eighteen months ago, Ted Cruz was a starry-eyed Texas Republican with long-shot hopes of becoming a United States senator. On Tuesday, the former state solicitor general looks headed to an unlikely runoff victory over Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, win that would defy the power of the state’s GOP establishment. ((snip)) So how did Cruz stay competitive and even climb into what looks like the driver’s seat? He leveraged national acclaim from conservatives like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and George Will into strong local tea party support, winning an impressive 34 percent of the primary vote and forcing a runoff against...

Those are the words of Sarah Palin as she spoke to hundreds of Ted Cruz for US. Senate supporters in Houston, Texas - "sudden and relentless reform" if you send Cruz to Washington. The Cruz podium was the inaugural 2012 campaign stump event for Palin. “Ted is not going to D.C. to make nice with the foo-foo, she-she cocktail crowd. Not at all. He’s going to do the heavy lifting to reign in our out of control government.” ~ Sarah Palin By the way, Governor Rick Perry who is supporting Cruz' challenger, gave Palin the black and white boots you...

HALF of the GOP voters do not claim a TEA PARTY affiliation and Dewhurst wins those, but few are showing up to the polls. Nearly 3/4ths of the one third of the GOP who DOES consider themselves genuine TEA, are making up the difference. Full analysis at Rant Political http://bit.ly/Q37C0d

 I did something I've never done before.  I "worked the polls" for Ted Cruz.  It was funny, fascinating and frightening.  I was called a racist and a patriot; I witness joy and anger; and I learned some very valuable lessons about myself and this county. I now see why listening to your friends and reading the blogs is no substitute for “getting on the ground.”  In Texas, there is a revolution brewing. My election efforts, for most of my life, have been limited to being a political junky when time allows, and cramming for my congressional, judicial, city, county and...

Today Dan Patrick, founder of the Tea Party Caucus in the Senate,  endorsed Lt. Governor David Dewhurst for the US Senate race.  It’s not a surprise that Dan Patrick has been secretly supporting Dewhurst.  Reports from Austin and Houston claim that Dan Patrick has been strong arming other Texas congressmen for weeks.  The petulant and unbalanced Dan Patrick interview of Ted Cruz, and the Dewhurst campaign’s dishonest, NBC-like editing in still another attack ad, have left voters furious.   Voters across Texas have been calling the Dewhurst campaign to express their displeasure and one Tea Party activist in Houston told...

Comptroller Susan Combs on Thursday added her name to the long list of Texas elected officials who are backing Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in his bid for the U.S. Senate. Dewhurst has been “relentless and focused on conservative principles,” said Combs, who credited the lieutenant governor for putting Texas in a strong economic position. “Fighting for principle is not always easy and it is not always visible,” Combs said at an Austin news conference. “I will tell you that actions speak a lot louder than words.” The low-key news conference at Run-Tex on Riverside Drive stands in stark contrast to...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry gave a full-throated defense of the conservative bona fides of Senate GOP hopeful David Dewhurst on Monday, blasting the main political group supporting Dewhurst’s rival, Ted Cruz. The governor also raised the specter that a Cruz victory could hurt the prospects of the state’s soon-to-be senior senator, John Cornyn. “Craft me a conservative with a more conservative voting record than David Dewhurst, and we can have a conversation,” Perry said after he and Dewhurst cast early votes together at an Austin supermarket. “But there’s not one.” [Snip] He warned that Club for Growth is promoting...

I have always had a lot of respect for the guys who are running David Dewhurst’s campaign, but I’m starting to see now why Rick Perry had no chance of getting elected President. The same team running Dewhurst’s campaign ran Perry’s Presidential campaign and has stooped to what I thought would be an impossible low. Contra the headline at CNN.com, David Dewhurst actually raised less money than Ted Cruz. Dewhurst had to pump over $4 million into his campaign to save face and win the media spin that he outpaced Cruz. In fact, Cruz has raised $1.7 million and Dewhurst...

PPP's first poll of the Texas Senate runoff finds Ted Cruz with a surprising 49-44 lead and a much more enthusiastic cadre of supporters than former front runner David Dewhurst. Cruz's lead expands to a whooping 59-36 margin over Dewhurst among voters who describe themselves as 'very excited' about voting in the election. The lower turnout is, the better Cruz's chances will be. Dewhurst leads 51-43 with 'somewhat excited' voters and 50-36 with those who say they are 'not that excited.' The big question is whether those less enthused folks will actually bother to turn out or not. This race...

What else is he hiding? Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst’s Senate campaign might have just crossed a line it should not have crossed. Who else would be behind the Lt. Governor’s taxpayer funded website for his Lieutenant Governor’s Office suddenly deleting the transcript of a speech proving David Dewhurst has been lying about his position on illegal aliens? The speech is . . . well . . . it is gone. Poof. Again, the website is taxpayer funded and the document suddenly no longer there directly contradicted Dewhurst’s present statements on immigration in the Senate campaign. Now, David Dewhurst adamantly...

If the Chronicle is Endorsing Dewhurst because Ted Cruz is too Conservative Republican then Cruz is the guy for me!   Editorial: Who should fill Hutchison's boots? Houston Chronicle Tuesday, May 15, 2012 http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Who-should-fill-Hutchison-s-boots-3560958.php There's a torrid race in the Texas Republican primary to replace a Washingtonmonument. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the first woman to represent the state of Texasin the Senate, is retiring after three-plus terms of service in the world's most exclusive club. Given a magic wand, we'd order up a replacement who would blend the skills ofHutchison with those of Lloyd Bentsen - with just...

Earlier this year, the big race I was involved in was to help get black, super conservative, Republican State Rep James White re-elected after White was attacked by Speaker Joe Straus via redistricting. White ended up beating a Straus Chairman, Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton. Now my focus has shifted to the US Senate race. This race is very important. It is a runoff election between David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz. The Runoff Election Day is July 31st, 2012. Texas MUST elect Ted Cruz for US Senate July 31st! Let me first say that I do not hate David Dewhurst or think he is a liberal or a bad...