Free Republic

Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan - the moderate Republican who lost to Trump-backed J.D. Vance in a primary - is now setting his sights on Democrat Sherrod Brown's U.S. Senate seat in 2024. 'I am unapologetically committed to putting the needs of Ohio first and delivering results as our next U.S. Senator,' Dolan said in a statement. 'With the courage of my convictions, clarity of purpose and a resolute focus on the challenges and opportunities facing our beloved state, I am ready to lead.'

Republicans running for the seat of Ohio’s retiring senator, Rob Portman, appear determined to bury the soft-spoken country-club bonhomie that was once a hallmark of the party in this state, and replace it with the pugilistic brand of conservatism owned by Donald J. Trump and now amplified by the new band of Buckeye bomb throwers. The race descended into a brutal slugfest as the leading candidates, the author-turned-venture capitalist J.D. Vance, the former state treasurer Josh Mandel and a self-funded businessman, Mike Gibbons, entered the final weekend before Tuesday’s primaries accusing one another of being insufficiently right-wing or disloyal to...

<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio – Former U.S. senator and two-term Ohio Gov. George Voinovich has died at home in Cleveland. He was 79.</p> <p>His wife, Janet, says Voinovich died peacefully in his sleep early Sunday. The Republican had delivered public remarks Friday at a 25th Slovenian Independence Day event at Cleveland City Hall. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention coming to Cleveland next month.</p>

Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich is planning to oppose legislation that extends any of the Bush-era tax cuts, becoming the first senator to state his opposition to any extension even as the White House and congressional leaders are expected to reach a deal on the issue this week.

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act passed unanimously through the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday, but fortunately didn’t get much further. Oregonian Senator Ron Wyden exercised his power to place a hold on pending legislation to stop the bill from traveling to the senate floor, saying that Deploying this statute to combat online copyright infringement seems almost like using a bunker-busting cluster bomb, when what you need is a precision-guided missile. His hold will prevent the bill passing out of committee this year; proponents of the bill will have to wait until the next time Congress convenes, and then...

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) is pressing his case for an increase in the gas tax as a way to help close the federal budget deficit and create additional jobs.  In a letter to members of President Obama's debt commission, Voinovich laid out his argument for the increase. "Fuel taxes today fund the vast majority of the federal government's investment in infrastructure projects," Voinovich wrote in the letter. "Due to dwindling fuel tax receipts, Congress has had to transfer billions of dollars from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund to maintain our current level of federal involvement."  Voinovich...

Ohio Senator George Voinovich says that the GOP is "being taken over by southerners," the Columbus Dispatch reports. In an interview with with the paper, Voinovich said shrinking demographics and southern senators are alienating his conservative constituents. He cites Republican Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn as the GOP's biggest problem. "We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It's the southerners. They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr.' People hear them and say, 'These people, they're southerners. The party's being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'," Voinovich said....

The Hill: "I think it's probably 50/50," Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) told CNBC in an interview when asked how much of the GOP's opposition to healthcare reform proposals backed by Obama is driven by a desire to "declaw" the president politically.

Former Republican congressman Rob Portman will announce that he is running for the Senate soon after Ohio Sen. George Voinovich’s retirement announcement, according to multiple Republican sources. Portman's official announcement is expected to take place on Wednesday. Portman would give Senate Republicans an accomplished candidate who is likely to clear the primary field. “He’s great on both policy and politics, and you don’t often find that combination,” said Hamilton County Republican party chairman Alex Triantafilou. “His experience in government, his experience in Washington and his understanding of Ohio would make him a tremendous force in the Senate.” Portman would likely...

Jan 3 (Reuters) - With a close Minnesota race still undecided, Democrats will hold no more than 59 seats in the new 100-member U.S. Senate that convenes on Jan. 6. That means Democrats will need the help of at least a few Republicans to hit the 60 votes required to clear procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.

Meet the dumbest man in Congress Who could it be? Ted Kennedy? Joe Biden? Jack Murtha? I admit it. There's quite a bit of competition for the title – the dumbest man in Congress. Could it be Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee or Patty Murray? No, I'm not limiting the choices to men of the male persuasion. We're talking about men here in the sense of mankind. These chicks are in contention – no question about it. Each has made her own bids for the honor. What about Jim Moran? Charlie Rangel? Robert Byrd? It's a tough choice, isn't it? There...

With all the excitement for conservatives (and some liberals) over the decisive smack-down in the United States Senate to kill the amnesty bill, something big was overlooked. This week the news media euphorically cheered on Republican Sens. Dick Lugar and George Voinovich for undercutting our troops in Iraq. Democrat leaders and the media reported Lugar has switched sides and come out against the surge. They certainly got that wrong. NEWS FLASH! Sen. Lugar opposed the surge from the get-go. There was no change in policy for Lugar, and the Senator from Indiana to this day still doesn't have a clue...

UPDATE, 10:30 p.m. — Porkopolis was his usual tenacious self, and copied me on an e-mail response he received from Ms. Garrett A.K. Silverman, George Voinovich’s Press Secretary, which is as follows: While Sen. Voinovich thinks the current bill is far from perfect, he strongly supports border security and a way to bring people out of the shadows. He will continue to try to make this bill better—in his eyes, the status quo is not a possibility. I don’t take a lot of comfort in that.UPDATE: Just heard Hannity mention Voinovich as not having decided and quote (without appellation, but...

Julie Myers is 36 years old, a lawyer and a political appointee to the Bush administration with limited executive experience. Yet, she is slated to become head of one of the nation's most critical security-related agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Myers appointment, in the wake of FEMA's disastrous handling of the Katrina Hurricane and the resignation of its chief, Michael Brown, has people from both sides of the political aisle raising hackles. "The Bush administration has barely rebounded from the resignation of horse show organizer Michael ‘Heck...

Ohio Sen. George Voinovich's stand against the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has taken an emotional toll. As he took his courageous stand in the well of the Senate, the thought of leaving the fate of his children and grandchildren -- and yours -- in the hands of such a mean man nearly overcame him. Sen. George Voinovich CARES. He cares so much it HURTS. Sometimes it hurts so much, he CRIES. As his constituents, we feel duty-bound to repay our senator's loyalty to us -- his care for us -- his LOVE for...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. George Voinovich has done it again. Yesterday's hearing of the Senate Committee on Oversight of Government Management had all the trappings of honest inquiry, but Voinovich (R-Ohio) surrendered it to Democrats for a show trial of U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch. With Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) on the offense, Voinovich's hearing aired special interest complaints against Bloch's tenure as head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The OSC reviews and refers whistleblower disclosures, prohibited personnel practices, and other federal employment complaints. As detailed in these pages last month,...

Remember the tsunami? Big story, 300,000 dead; America and other rich countries too "stingy" in their response; government ministers from every capital on earth announcing on CNN every 10 minutes more and more millions and gazillions. It was in all the papers for a week or two, but not a lot of water under the bridge since then, and as a result this interesting statistic may not have caught your eye: Five hundred containers, representing one-quarter of all aid sent to Sri Lanka since the tsunami hit on Dec. 26, are still sitting on the dock in Colombo, unclaimed or...

The John Bolton nomination would have already gone through if not for the actions of Republican Senators Lincoln Chafee and Chuck Hagel. The Democratic Party has conducted itself in a shameful manner with regard to its scrutiny of John Bolton. This, of course, hardly comes as a surprise given the Democrats propensity for obstructing President Bush’s judicial nominees, or conduct with respect to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. These days the Democrats are more of a high school clique than a loyal opposition. However, in the case of John Bolton, Democrats would not have been able to take their shenanigans...

WASHINGTON -- The White House and Republican Senate leaders have a little better than two weeks to save John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations after last Tuesday's fiasco in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. All that can be promised is that their efforts on Bolton's behalf will be tougher and better organized than they have been so far. That should not be difficult because they could hardly be worse. Republicans, weak and disorganized, were ground down by the Democratic juggernaut. Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio was so impressed by Democratic demagoguery that he impulsively dropped his support of...