Free Republic

From its beginnings, a tension existed in the heart of American conservatism between winning hearts and minds -- and winning elections. A slogan from the 1964 presidential campaign hinted at this dichotomy. "In your heart you know he's right" implied that although we believed in Barry Goldwater, we knew you might not – at least not enough of you, not yet. By 1980, a majority of Americans certainly did rally to the side of the conservative star of the Goldwater campaign, but Ronald Reagan's eight years in the White House did not lay to rest the intramural Republican tug of...

What good is the United States Senate if you can’t use it? That’s the question quietly being asked by several prominent Republicans on election day, as the GOP stands poised to capture the House and, just possibly, the Senate. But two prominent inside-the-Beltway Republicans told me yesterday that they’re worried about Republicans taking over the Senate, because of the political hand it would give President Obama going into 2012. It isn’t every day that political figures tell me why it would be bad for their party to win on election day. But here’s their case: Unemployment is at near 10...

My first election memory is from 1974, when I was 7 years old. President Nixon had recently resigned, succeeded by Gerald Ford. The Democratic Party picked up 49 seats in the House for a total of 291. In the Senate, the Democrats picked up four seats for 61 total. But for me, my memories are more personal. My father, Newt Gingrich, lost his first run for the 6th Congressional district in Georgia. While victory was not to come that night, or the next election night two years later, it did four years later. In 1978, Dad won the election and...

Somehow, in every monstrous storm, there are a few ratty old buildings that somehow remain standing in the calm afterwards. Such is the case with 2010. Nevadans were so angry at Harry Reid that they punished his son with a resounding defeat -- but could not bring themselves to let go of the perceived perks their state gets by having the number one seat in the Senate. Besides, anything that irritates Chuck Schumer cannot be all bad. Meanwhile, three big states -- California, New York and Illinois -- decided to continue their governor-assisted economic suicide. Those are a few of...

If the polls are any indicator, these elections portend a revolution: one that could resemble the Reagan Revolution in raw political force, thanks to the tea party movement. As the congressional campaign season hits its homestretch, it is readily apparent that there will be more at stake in these mid-term elections than at any time since 1994. They present us not simply with the choice of Republican candidates versus Democrats, but of candidates fighting for small government versus those that support the swollen beast liberalism has created. In truth, the views of Sarah Palin are pitted against those of House...

The so-called Ground Zero mosque. The Florida pastor intent on torching Qurans. And the Disneyland hostess barred from wearing a hijab. Kiran Ansari cites those issues and others as proof that "Islamophobia" is on the rise in the United States and underscores the need for Muslim Americans to get involved in the democratic process. » Click to enlarge image Universal School students hold a homemade American flag sign at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview. (Matthew Grotto/Sun-Times Media) "Those things have a ripple effect on us here in Chicago," said Ansari, 34, who will cast a ballot for the first time...

CHRIS COONS LIED, GRANNY DIEDOctober 20, 2010In all of life's tribulations, there is nothing so aggravating as being condescended to by an idiot. In last week's CNN debate in the Delaware Senate race between the astonishingly well-spoken Christine O'Donnell and the unfortunate-looking Chris Coons, O'Donnell had to put up with it from Coons for 90 minutes. O'Donnell wiped the floor with Coons, moderators Wolf Blitzer and Nancy Karibjanian, and the idiotic University of Delaware students asking questions -- all of whom were against her. (With the nation on the verge of another great depression -- the brunt of which, to...

Hmm. Well this is odd. It’s like the state-run media is intentionally hiding this report to protect democrat Chris Coons. Certainly they wouldn’t stoop that low, would they? Chris Coons was sued three times in 2007 for retaliating against public employees for their political views. While the state-run media was out smearing conservative Christine O’Donnell in Delaware they forgot to get around to this.

Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle, perhaps in an attempt to prove she's color-blind, instead may have ended up insulting some Hispanic high school students by apparently not being able to distinguish between them and Asians. The remarks were made last week during a discussion about her campaign ads that focus on illegal immigration. In audio recordings released by The Associated Press and Nevada newspapers, Angle can be heard defending those ads, even suggesting they're focused on the threat posed by the United States' "porous" northern border with Canada. Asked why she features images of Latinos in her ads, Angle...

Republicans on the campaign trail are bashing the president and his agenda and some are vowing to shut down Washington if they don't get their way. Behind the scenes, key party members are talking a different game. A number of House Republicans, including some who are likely to be in the leadership, are pushing a post-election strategy aimed at securing concrete legislation, with the goal of showing they can translate general principles into specific action. Among the ideas is to bring a series of bills to the floor, as often as once a week, designed to cut spending in some...

First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law today -- when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place! The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote. After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key. She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos. "She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," Campbell said. Illinois state law -- Sec. 17-29 (a)...

Normally, I use this space to run down various news items related to the campaign, but today I am going to deviate from that practice to offer a snapshot of where I think the midterm battle stands.

The primaries are over. Republican turnout was the highest it has been since 1930. Obviously we’re ready to fight. This is part one of a four part series identifying conservative Republicans who can win with our help……. All of these races have been pegged as either toss ups or leans Democrat. As demonstrated by polling evidence all have been moving in our direction and can become winning Republican campaigns with our help. Washington 2, John Koster http://www.kosterforcongress.com/ Leans Democrat. Democrat is Rick Larson. California 11, David Harmer http://harmerforcongress.com/ Leans Democrat. Democrat Jerry McNerney. Arizona 1, Paul Gosar http://www.gosarforcongress.com/ Toss up....

New polling in Ohio has moved that state's U.S. Senate race from Toss-Up to Leans Republican. Other recent changes came from polling in Alaska, Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia, Washington. Current projections suggest that the Democrats would hold 47 seats after Election Day while the Republicans would hold 46. Seven states are in the Toss-Up category (California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, Wisconsin, Washington and West Virginia. All seven Toss-Ups are seats currently held by Democrats Republicans have the edge in five Democratic-held Senate seats--Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, Delaware and Pennsylvania. At the moment, no Republican-held seats appear headed for the...

Since April, I’ve been predicting a House GOP pick-up in the low 50s. Subsequent months of data seemed to strengthen the likelihood of a 52-seat-or-so outcome without greatly expanding the field of Democratic representatives at genuine risk, but only recently has the direness of the party’s electoral predicament really crystallized. In all, a remarkably high number of Democratic seats — 118 to be exact — are now, in one way or another, in play. Forty-four seats are now pure toss-ups or worse.The last month has been particularly bad for Democrats. From April to August, the average rating (solid/likely/lean/tossup) of Democratic...

Republicans now have approximately a one-in-four chance of winning enough Senate seats in the Nov. 2 elections to claim an outright majority of the chamber, FiveThirtyEight’s latest forecasting model shows. That the composition of the Senate is in doubt is not a new development; the model had assigned Republicans better than a one-in-five chance of claiming the chamber upon its debut at The New York Times two weeks ago. Nevertheless, nearly every day now seems to bring another sour piece of polling news for the Democrats. Today, for instance, a poll for The Washington Post showed Republicans with a 13-point...

Though obvious to political junkies, it's not obvious to everyone. And, it's a wedge issue that Republicans can use to split independents away from die-hard Democrats. This sums up the mid-term election issues very nicely: every Democrat elected to the House of Representatives will vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Yes, every Democrat elected to the House of Representatives in November will vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker in January.

Alternate headline: “Lame-duck Blue Dog free to admit what every other Democrat already knows.” The good stuff comes at the beginning, but if you give up before the end, you’ll miss him talking about what a horrible political miscalculation ObamaCare was. Yes, after 60 years of trying, they finally got a foot in the door of socialized medicine, but they knew the price they’d pay was steep. Did they know it’d be quite this steep, though? Kaus-ian Democrat-bashing Democrat Pat Caddell raises the stakes:

No Purchase for Perriello in VA-05, Another Democratic Incumbent Congressman in Trouble: In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia's 5th Congressional District today, 09/02/10, Republican State Senator Robert Hurt defeats incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello 61% to 35%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released 6 weeks ago, little has changed; Hurt is up a nominal 3 points; Perriello is flat. Hurt has increased his lead among men, younger voters, independents, and lower-income voters, and now is at or above 62% among each of those groups. Perriello, who...

In Washington State, the U.S. Senate race remains one of the closest in the country. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state shows Republican challenger Dino Rossi attracting 48% of the vote while Democratic Senator Patty Murray earns support from 46%. Three percent (3%) prefer a different candidate, and three percent (3%) are undecided. Earlier this month, Murray had a slight edge. However, the race has been very close all along. In ten surveys conducted since January, the candidates have been within two points of each other seven times. Rossi has twice held a...