Free Republic

Twenty-one-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has said she will vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) over Republican challenger former Gov. Sarah Palin. “Yeah, I am,” Murkowski responded Friday when asked by the Anchorage Daily News if she would vote for the Democrat. Alaska uses the ranked choice voting system, which ultimately affords Democrat voters the opportunity to vote for Murkowski on the second and third ballots. Murkowski’s decision to vote for a Democrat is likely intended to attract more votes down-ballot to ultimately defeat Trump-endorsed Senate Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who is leading in the polls...

Of all of the endless follies of California these days—I know, it’s hard to enumerate all of them let alone put them in rank order—closing our last nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon ranks perhaps at the top of the list. It provides more than 10 percent of California’s electricity, and can run 24/7, unlike wind and solar power. As one of the last nuclear power plants built and brought online in the 1980s, it easily has another 40 years of potential service left in it, if not more. The perverse energy policy of California, which excludes nuclear along with...

BERKELEY — A former Diablo Valley College professor was in custody Wednesday evening after his arrest Wednesday afternoon in Oakland, according to county records. Eric Clanton, 28, was being held on $200,000 bail after he was booked into Berkeley City Jail Wednesday evening. He was arrested on suspicion of use of a firearm during a felony with an enhancement clause and assault with a non-firearm deadly weapon. No date was immediately listed for upcoming arraignment hearings.

In Tuesday’s elections in Massachusetts, liberal GOP Governor Charlie Baker and his political team are conducting an unprecedented large-scale, state-wide campaign to purge all social conservatives from having any significant voice in the State Party. Baker and his people have recruited hand-picked political “moderates,” answerable to Baker, to run against social conservatives in the local Republican State Committee elections across the state. He is funding their election expenses, and his people are coordinating their campaigns. Baker is also helping a number of current RINO State Committee members fend off challenges from grassroots conservatives in their districts.

I want to FReepers to stop using the term RINO as a disparaging term for liberal/moderate Republicans. Because it is so insulting to the noble, real rhinoceroses. Let's start using the more appropriate term DIABLO = Democrats In All But Label Only. For further clarification DIABLO in Spanish means devil which these liberal/moderate republicans are. Thank you for your support.

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk hasn't endorsed a GOP candidate for president, but it's looking more and more like he's on Mitt Romney's team. Kirk said Monday the field is getting down to "Romney and the anti-Romney," listing all of the GOP darlings -- Palin, Bachman, Trump et al -- that have fallen by the wayside. "The underlying story is the rise and rise of Mitt Romney," Kirk said. In regards to the Herman Cain sexual harassment controversy, Kirk said Cain "needs to respond and respond completely." "I do think his story is largely ending," Kirk said. "The critical thing is...

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential candidate Mitt Romney took some less staunchly conservative stands than his rivals in their debate Tuesday night, declaring he can work with "good" Democrats and positioning himself closer to the center in line with his claim that he can draw crucial independent voters in next year's general election. He even defended portions of the Wall Street bailout, a particular sore point with many conservative voters who will play an important role in choosing the Republican nominee next winter and spring.

(snip) Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has quickly become one of Kirk's closest friends in the Senate. "My main man Manch" is what Kirk affectionately calls his pal, a Blue Dog best described as the Democratic counterpart to Kirk. Disillusioned with the Senate's partisan social cleavage, both starry-eyed newcomers set out to fix things. "Follow me," the freewheeling Mountaineer said to Kirk one day in early May, "I'm heading to a budget meeting and we need to shake things up." Kirk was hesitant, suspecting that his presence might inflame most everyone at the Democratic strategy session. But Manchin insisted....

A Chicago-based scientist says he’s grateful to U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk for siding with legislation that backs stem cell research. Kirk on Monday called for congressional action to codify an executive order on the research issued by President Barack Obama in 2009. (snip) The Illinois Republican says, if senior Democratic senators choose not to move the stem cell legislation in this Congress, he will.

Sen. Susan Collins is part of a renewed bid to pass a bipartisan bill protecting against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Maine Republican is a lead co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, ENDA, along with Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Tom Harkin of Iowa and Republican Mark Kirk of Illinois.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) may have the support of Maine's Tea Party-backed governor in her reelection bid, but she could still be in for a tough primary battle next year. New numbers from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) show 58 percent of Maine Republicans prefer a generic "more conservative" alternative to Snowe in 2012. And just 33 percent of Maine Republicans said they will support her. According to the poll, 58 percent of Republicans in the state think Snowe is too liberal, while another 33 percent don't even think she belongs in the GOP, saying she should be a Democrat.

Darin LaHood gets GOP nod to replace Risinger in senate Attorney selected over five candidates including Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis Darin LaHood makes a reference to his opponent Kevin Lyons during their State's attorney race debate in 2008. By PATRICK OLDENDORF (poldendorf@pjstar.com) Peoria Journal-Star Feb 26, 2011 PEORIA — "Humbled" was how Darin LaHood described himself Saturday afternoon, shortly after being appointed the new state senator for the 37th District. The Peoria attorney defeated five other candidates to replace state Sen. Dale Risinger, who announced his retirement earlier this month after being re-elected in November. "There were many other...

(AP) Republican Mark Kirk broke with his majority of his party Saturday to support repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military, casting one of the first high-profile votes he’s faced as Illinois’ junior senator. The Senate voted 65-31 to let gays serve openly in the military. President Barack Obama was expected to sign the legislation next week, although the change wouldn’t take immediate effect. The House had passed an identical version of the bill, 250-175, on Wednesday. Kirk was one of six Republicans to break ranks. The move was a reversal for him after...

When Mark Kirk is sworn in this afternoon, the U.S. Senate will once again have no African-Americans. Since Reconstruction, there have only been four black senators. Three of them -- Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama and Roland Burris -- have held the seat that Kirk is about to occupy. For reasons that go back more than a century, all the way to the First Great Migration from the South, Illinois has led the nation in black political empowerment. We’ve elected more black statewide officials than anyone else. We produced the first black president. And it was a matter of pride...

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, a former Republican state chair and Nevada lieutenant governor, said last week that the rightists in the Nevada Senate are not representative of the party. Cashell was reacting to the way far-right senators mustered enough votes in the Senate GOP caucus to force Washoe Sen. William Raggio out as Republican floor leader after Raggio grudgingly supported Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s reelection. “I think it was very petty,” Cashell said. “I think it was very vindictive. These people claim to be Ronald Reagan conservatives, and they’re not. I knew Ronald Reagan. He asked me to join...

Here we go again.  The same vicious cycle seems to repeat itself ad nauseum.  We become all excited about the prospects of picking up Senate seats during the election.  Then, within a few days these RINOs return to their old ways.  The Hill is reporting that Mark Kirk is considering whether to vote with the Democrats and support the unconstitutional Disclose Act.  Even though he voted against this particular bill while he was in the House, he is showing willingness to sell himself out to liberal special interest groups that are pressuring RINOs to support this legislation.  Here is what...

Centrist Senate Republicans are likely to get a new ally in Sen.-elect Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), according to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Kirk can't wait to join U.S. Senate GOP's "Mod Squad" Leftist Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine is all excited about a new ally - Mark Kirk. Collins told the Kennebec Journal that Kirk joked that he wanted to be a part of the Senate GOP's "Mod Squad." Columnist David B. Offer wrote:The day after the election, Collins told me she had received a post-election telephone call from Mark Kirk, the Illinois Republican elected to fill the Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. “I can’t wait to join your Mod Squad,” Kirk told her. So, from the...

I said it during the primary, Mark Kirk is a 45 percenter. His record in the House pretty much shows that he will only vote with Republicans 45 percent of the time if left to his druthers. True to my worst fears, Kirk seems to be right on track with my predictions. The man hasn't even taken his seat yet and many are assuming he'll support one of the Democrat's favorite issues: the DISCLOSE Act. The Hill is reporting that Kirk is coming under pressure by the left to vote "yes" on a watered down version of the DISCLOSE Act,...