Free Republic

 Title and link only.

Richard Morin, The Washington Post's polling director, had an interesting piece in yesterday's edition. Morin argues that, in states Bush carried in 2004, his job approval numbers have slid so much that we can no longer really think of many of them as "red".Writes Morin, "States that were once reliably red are turning pink. Some are no longer red but a sort of powder blue. In fact, a solid majority of residents in states that President Bush carried in 2004 now disapprove of the job he is doing as president. Views of the GOP have also soured in those Republican...

Will Democrats win control of the House in November? It's a question lots of people have been asking in Washington and around the country these days. It seems possible, certainly. Democrats only have to make a net gain of 15 seats to win a majority. But it's also true that, with the single and large exception of 1994, neither party has made a net gain of more than 10 House seats over the last 20 years.I think there are two plausible hypotheses about how House elections work. If Hypothesis One applies, Democrats have a good chance at gaining a majority....

AS HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER, Tom DeLay had a crisp and clear style. He coupled an agenda with an unwillingness to compromise and an iron resolve to produce narrow victories based entirely on Republican votes. At the moment, his successor, John Boehner, is working on a mission statement--an official vision--for House Republicans. The comparison is not meant to belittle Boehner, but to point out where Republicans now find themselves.Times have changed. DeLay is gone and Republicans, both at the White House and in Congress, are struggling just to figure out what their agenda is. So far, they're sure of only two...

WASHINGTON - House Republicans pushed a resolution Tuesday commending the Capitol police force for professionalism after a confrontation between an officer and Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney. "I don't think it's fair to attack the Capitol Police and I think it's time that we show our support for them," said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a sponsor of the measure. Ignoring a police officer's order to stop or hitting one "is never OK," McHenry said of the incident, which has exacerbated partisan tensions in the House. Last week, McKinney had an argument with a uniformed police officer as she sought to enter...

With the announcement of Bill Thomas’s retirement, many have begun to take closer notice of the number of open seats in 2006 – and how they seem to favor the Democrats. Most political observers have recognized that the number of open seats is a critical factor in the partisan composition of the House, and that this year the Republicans must defend more than the Democrats. However, few have correctly surmised that the Democrats enjoy little-to-no real advantage because of open seats.All political scientists agree that open seats are a key method of party changes in the House of Representatives. Only...

With the election of John Boehner as House majority leader, Republicans have, in effect, taken over the House of Representatives for a second time. And not a moment too soon. After over 10 years in the majority, House Republicans had lost their way, too focused on parochial pork over public policy. More than anything, Rep. Boehner's success represents the intent of Republican members of the House to repair their credentials as reformers with the American people. His victory was made possible because he was able to find common purpose with John Shadegg, Jeff Flake, Mike Pence and the rest of...

HOUSTON, Texas - The House of Representatives gets ready to elect a new house majority leader today. There is an opening because Tom DeLay resigned a few weeks ago, due to his legal problems. CBNNews spoke with DeLay and his wife Christine, who are speaking out against what they see as injustice. In the dizzying world of politically charged Washington, D.C., the truth can be hard to find. Everyone here has an opinion, and spin is a daily game. For DeLay, to use a laundry analogy, he is right in the middle of the spin cycle and his critics --...

WASHINGTON -- There is no doubt Rep. John Boehner of Ohio is quietly enlisting support from fellow House Republicans to elect him as majority leader in January. The question is whether Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York also is campaigning to be majority whip.Reports of a Boehner-Reynolds ticket have circulated in Washington, but Reynolds vigorously denies it. If he does run for whip, Reynolds would be accused of cutting and running from his duties as House Republican campaign chairman because of the difficult 2006 midterm election ahead.A special election in January would mean House Republicans have given up on Tom...

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- House Republican leaders scuttled a vote Thursday on a $51 billion budget-cut package in the face of a revolt by lawmakers over scaling back Medicaid, food stamp and student loan programs. The development was a major setback for the GOP on Capitol Hill and for President Bush, who has made cuts to benefit programs a central pillar in his budget plan. The decision by GOP leaders came despite a big concession to moderates Wednesday, when the leaders dropped provisions to open the Arctic National Refuge to oil and gas exploration, as well as a plan allowing...

House Republican leaders have moved from balking at big cuts in Medicaid and other programs to embracing them, driven by pent-up anger from fiscal conservatives concerned about runaway spending and the leadership's own weakening hold on power. Beginning this week, the House GOP lawmakers will take steps to cut as much as $50 billion from the fiscal 2006 budget for health care for the poor, food stamps and farm supports, as well as considering across-the-board cuts in other programs. Only last month, then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and other GOP leaders quashed demands within their party for budget cuts...

Washington, DC, Mar. 23 (UPI) -- House GOP leaders seeking one last chance to intervene in the case of a brain damaged Florida women filed a brief with the Supreme Court Wednesday. The Roll Call newspaper reported that following Wednesday's rebuff of the efforts of Terri Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube reinserted and case reviewed, Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, and others filed a brief with the court similar to one filed with Atlanta's 11th Circuit prior to their ruling in the case. The move comes after GOP lawmakers made the extraordinary...

<p>WASHINGTON - The House voted Wednesday to permanently end taxes on inherited estates, rejecting a Democratic effort to retain the tax for the country's wealthiest families.</p> <p>"What we're talking about here is fairness to families," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. "They ought to have the comfort and relief to pass that business on to the next generation, to their children and to their grandchildren."</p>

WASHINGTON - House and Senate Republicans moved Tuesday toward striking a deal that would let the two chambers pass a compromise 2004 budget this week but settle their differences over the size of a tax cut later, aides said. Under the proposal — which still needed sign-offs from many lawmakers and on which some final decisions remained — the budget would let the more conservative House write a tax bill later this year with a deeper tax cut than the more moderate Senate has approved. The two chambers would then have to agree to a common figure before the tax...

<p>WASHINGTON - The House is moving swiftly to enact energy legislation, hoping to revive a proposal for oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge and, in a boon to farmers, expand the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive.</p> <p>Both provisions were included Wednesday as separate committees crafted key parts of the energy legislation. Lawmakers said they expected an energy bill to be voted on by the full House, possibly as early as next week.</p>

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is both wrestling against history and fighting for his political life as he tries to win a third term at the helm of Congress' lower chamber. The 60-year-old former history teacher from Yorkville is well aware that history is against him. Since the throes of the Civil War, the president's party has lost House seats in every first mid-term election except for 1934. And Hastert, a Republican like President Bush, holds only a six-seat majority, leaving little margin for error heading into the Nov. 5 mid-term election. He's also aware of another trend: when a speaker...

<p>Congressional Republicans are creating a political operation designed specifically to register and turn out Republican voters to protect their majority in the House in November's elections.</p> <p>In the past such efforts have been led by the Republican National Committee, but this year House Republican leaders are implementing their own push, which they call STOMP — the Strategic Taskforce for the Organization and Mobilization of People — to work with the RNC and state parties to turn out voters.</p>