Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Five weeks after Rep. Bob Inglis broke with his party and his president to vote against the U.S. troop surge in Iraq, the South Carolina Republican is engaged in an all-out effort to save his seat. Inglis, one of 17 House Republicans who opposed the troop increase, is sending his constituents multiple mailings, calling local GOP activists, even posting an unusual video of himself explaining his vote on his congressional Web site. Saying he feared the surge "would actually send the wrong message to the Iraqi leadership," Inglis explains that the United States should set deadlines for specific...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina voted Friday against President Bush's dispatch of more troops to Iraq, joining just 16 other Republican lawmakers who opposed the surge in a House vote. After the vote, Inglis said it was one of the most difficult decisions of his more than eight years in Congress. "I saw this vote as a vote of conscience, rather than a vote of representation," Inglis said in an interview. "I consciously tried to disregard the political consequences." Inglis said his office had received at least 250 calls about the vote, mainly from constituents, and he...

Kiwi mountaineer Mark Inglis reached the summit of Mount Everest last night to become the first double-amputee to conquer the world's highest peak. His wife, Anne Inglis, sent a text message to The Press and Inglis' supporters late last evening which said: "Mark definitely made it, back at Camp 4. They are in high spirits. Anne."