Free Republic

AP) - Sen. Jeff Bingaman asked Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson for a thorough inquiry of his agency's investigation into whether a VA nurse's letter criticizing the Bush administration amounted to "sedition." The agency's human resources office ultimately cleared her of any wrongdoing, but Bingaman, D-N.M., said Tuesday he was concerned the VA investigated Laura Berg of Albuquerque in the first place. Merely opposing government policies and expressing a desire to change course "does not provide reason to believe that a person is involved in illegal subversive activity," he said. Bingaman said such investigations raise "a very real possibility of...

State Sen. Joe Carraro, an Albuquerque Republican, said he would get national support once he files his petitions to get on the ballot and formally announces. "I was assured New Mexico would be targeted once I entered," Carraro said of his talks with the senatorial committee. He told The Tribune that former congressman and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp has agreed to be his national finance chairman. Santa Fe City Councilor David Pfeffer said the lack of national attention is "good, oddly enough." If the Democrats and Bingaman think he doesn't have much of a contest, Pfeffer said, "that will...

Pfeiffer, a Republican City Counciler from Santa Fe, said that people across the state have talked to him about border-security issues as he explored his run against U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman D-MM a low-key Silver City native who's held the seat since 1982.

Santa Fe City Councilman David Pfeffer, a decorated Vietnam veteran who recently switched from the Democratic to the Republican column, says he is “on the cusp” of challenging Sen. Jeff Bingaman.

COLORADO SPRINGS - James C. Dobson, the nation's most influential evangelical leader, is threatening to put six potentially vulnerable Democratic senators "in the 'bull's-eye' " if they block conservative appointments to the Supreme Court. In a letter his aides say is being sent to more than one million of his supporters, Dr. Dobson, the child psychologist and founder of the evangelical organization Focus on the Family, promises "a battle of enormous proportions from sea to shining sea" if President Bush fails to appoint "strict constructionist" jurists or if Democrats filibuster to block conservative nominees. Dr. Dobson recalled the conservative efforts...