Free Republic

And we’re 2 years and 2 weeks out? WTF? The super-PAC is building a list of supporters that is already hovering around 3 million. Hillary Clinton’s friendly super-PAC is spending roughly $23,000 a day – nearly as much as it’s bringing in – as it builds a database of supporters and donors for a possible 2016 Democratic presidential bid. Viewed another way: Getting Ready for Hillary costs her supporters about $2 million per quarter, covering expenses for everything from political consultants to voter databases to Des Moines hotel rooms, according to disclosure reports released October 15. “Rather than building up...

SPOTTED: Michelle Obama sitting down for a meal at a downtown Washington Italian restaurant on Wednesday, just hours before Congress passed legislation to fund the government and avert a default. The first lady was seen dining with two companions at Bibiana, arriving at 7 p.m. and staying for nearly three hours. While there was no word on what Obama treated her palette to, some of the fine eatery’s dishes include a “grilled ecofriendly pork chop” and “black spaghetti with Maryland jumbo lump crab.”(continued)

President Obama: rolling up his sleeves for America's middle class Yet again it is the British press doing the job the American mainstream media chooses not to. The Telegraph has a story (prominently headlined on the highly influential Drudge Report) about the US president’s dog Bo, being specially airlifted to the exclusive Massachusetts resort of Martha’s Vineyard to join the First Family for their summer vacation. As The Telegraph’s Nick Allen reports: Rooms have to be found for dozens of Secret Service agents, someone has to carry a selection of presidential basketballs, and of course the family dog needs his...

Newt Gingrich: Gingrich has lived full-time in a McLean, Virginia, home outside of D.C. that he and his wife, Callista, bought in May of 2000 for $995,000. The two-story home is on more than 5,000 square feet and has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and three fireplaces. (Newt can't even beat Jon Hunstman.)

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A 2-month investigation into the expenses of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has found a pattern of what appears to be extravagant spending at taxpayer expense, even as the mayor suggests shutting down City Hall for a dozen days and raising taxes. The expenses include stays at 5-star hotels in Washington D.C. such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton, on his many travels away from Oakland, although Dellums owns a luxurious home in the nearby exclusive enclave of Georgetown. The data obtained though the California Public Records Act also shows expensive meals, limousine services and even hundreds...

Al Gore has been downplaying speculation that he may jump into the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, but he’s just hired an operative who served as Joe Lieberman’s deputy campaign manager in 2004. Brian Hardwick — who worked in Gore’s fundraising operation in 2000 — was most recently a vice president at Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, the company co-founded by Clinton pollster Mark Penn. He joins Gore’s new environmental advocacy group, The Alliance for Climate Protection, Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed to Politico.com. The Web site notes that with Hardwick, Gore’s circle “includes a group of political...

Seventeen University of Virginia students staging a sit-in at the school’s administrative headquarters were arrested Saturday evening on day four of a standoff between students and administrators squabbling over giving all UVa employees a “living wage” of $10.72 an hour. Many of the handcuffed students were carried out of Madison Hall into waiting paddy wagons at 7 p.m. At least one of the students was screaming, and many were crying, according to witnesses. The student protesters had been squatting in the building to force the university into increasing its lowest pay rate, which currently stands at $9.37 per hour. President...

Detroit mayor ran up $210K on credit card Associated Press DETROIT - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose city is struggling with a projected $230 million deficit, has charged at least $210,000 for travel, meals, drinks and other purchases on his city-issued credit card, public records show. The charges, reported Tuesday by the Detroit Free Press, cover the first 33 months of Kilpatrick's four-year term that began in January 2002. They include 78 charges for meals from January 2002 through September 2004, some of them at restaurants in New York and Washington. Kilpatrick spokesman Howard Hughey said the mayor's travels have been...

Former Venezuelan Minister of Defense travels in style, despite US' Patriot Act By Lorenzo Barquero 10.01.05 | Reporter Patricia Poleo of El Nuevo Pais, publishes today information that former Minister of the Interior and Defense in the Chavez administration General Lucas Rincon was picked up right before Christmas at a local Venezuelan airport by a Lear Jet, number N 58 ST, owned by The Wilmington Trust Co. a subsidiary of financial group The Wilmington Trust Corp, which engages in banking and wealth management activities. The retired General reportedly traveled to the US on Dec. 21st with his whole family in...