Free Republic

Former state Rep. Pam Byrnes, a Democrat from Washtenaw County's Lyndon Township, announced Thursday she's running for Congress to help fix a "broken system" in Washington. Byrnes is seeking the 7th District seat held by Tim Walberg, a Republican from Tipton who unseated Democrat Mark Schauer in 2010 to regain the seat. Walberg held the seat in 2007 and 2008 before losing to Schauer in November 2008. Byrnes will take her shot at unseating Walberg in 2014. "Washington is broken and Tim Walberg is part of the problem. He puts special interests and corporations ahead of middle-class Michigan families," Byrnes...

Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore had some harsh words for Sen. Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats after they decided not to include an assault weapons ban in gun-control legislation. Moore ranted against the Senate majority leader after Reid removed Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposal to prohibit military-style weapons from the bill because they wouldn’t have the votes. The director behind “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” said people need to “rise up” against the Nevada senator. “There will be an Aurora next month and there will be a Sandy Hook the month after that,” Moore told CNN.....

Opening the first immigration hearing of the new Congress, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee warned his colleagues not to use the term "illegal immigrant" as the debate goes on. "I hope no one uses the term illegal immigrants here today. Our citizens are not — the people in this country are not illegal. They are are out of status. They are new Americans that are immigrants," said Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat. As Congress begins the immigration debate, both sides are preparing for an emotionally charged fight, and language will be one of the battlegrounds. Many immigrant-rights...

Disappointing but understandable. If even the NRA was sufficiently cowed by public reaction to Sandy Hook to keep silent until today, how much political leeway did the Republican governor of a blue state have to expand gun rights — in schools? Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a bill this afternoon that would have allowed gun owners with extra training to carry their concealed weapons in schools, day care centers, churches and stadiums. In his veto letter sent to the Legislature shortly before 4 p.m., Snyder said the bill had a fatal loophole that didn’t allow for those institutions to opt out...

While all national attention is focused — indeed riveted — on the seven to nine swing or battleground states, a major shift is taking place in the rest of the country: Voters are turning off Obama and onto Romney. In the forty states where the Obama campaign has not spread toxic negative ads against Romney, the Republican is gaining by leaps and bounds and will likely carry a bunch of “non-swing” normally blue states. Specifically, Romney is now three points ahead in Pennsylvania, one point behind in Michigan, and only two points behind in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Together, these four...

On NBC, DEM Rep. --former . Gov Jennifer Granholm (D-MI)-- again repeated VP Biden's line that that was the info we got from the intel, at the time of the attack, and that it was the REP. that cut the defense, thus(as a result) it affected (somehow) the security around the embassy... My question is, why is it that liberals can not stop hammering us on Iraq and refuse to take the truthful answer that we all thought that Saddam Hussein had WMD according to our intel at the time? -- BTW The DEM Mayor Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) kept spinning...

Once again, the campaign for US President is a horse race in the battleground state of Michigan! The momentum has now shifted to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney because of his winning performance in the first of three scheduled debates against President Barack Obama. In September, the momentum was behind the President after he received a big boost from the Democratic National Convention. In a new and exclusive poll for WXYZ, the Detroit Free Press, and our statewide media partners, 48 percent say they would vote for Democrat Obama if the election were held today. Forty-five percent of the 600...

Prominent Middle East expert Dr. James Zogby tells Newsmax that President Obama is polling about 18 percent below his 2008 numbers among Arab-American voters. But those Arab-Americans who are Muslims now “overwhelmingly” support the Democratic candidate compared to four years ago, he adds. Zogby also discloses that Arab-Americans across the board consider jobs and the economy as the most important issue in this year’s elections. Zogby is founder and president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based organization that serves as a political and policy research arm of the Arab-American community, and author of the book “Arab Voices: What...

Charlotte: Unimpressed by US President Barack Obama's fiery speech seeking re-election, the two Indian-American Governors, Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal, today said that Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, is the best person to lead the country. Both Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, and Haley, the Governor of South Carolina, are rising stars of the Republican party and were quick to issue statements after Obama concluded his Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech. "The last time Barack Obama spoke before the Democratic National Convention, he told us of hope and change that we could believe in. What a difference four years...

he prolific Democratic polling firm has the president ahead, by tightening margins, in two swing states. Here's Colorado: PPP's first post-convention Colorado poll finds Barack Obama continuing to hold the lead over Mitt Romney in the state, 49-46. This is, however, the closest PPP has found the race in four Colorado polls this year suggesting that Romney may have received a modest bounce in the state. Last month we found Obama ahead by a 49-43 margin in Colorado. But in the wake of his selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate and the Republican convention Romney has consolidated the...

Lost amid the daily uproar over embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin's refusal to drop his Missouri bid is a growing effort by the GOP to spotlight a tightening presidential race in the Upper Midwest. The Republican National Committee has pounced on new polling data in Michigan and Wisconsin that show President Obama losing ground to Mitt Romney after the latter announced Paul Ryan as his running mate. And in what may -- or may not -- have been a coincidence, Vice President Joe Biden made a pair of campaign stops in Minnesota on Tuesday and will make several more in...

Fox News in Detroit reports that a new poll shows Mitt Romney pulling substantially ahead of Barack Obama in Michigan. Romney is a native of the state, but it looks from this poll as if adding Paul Ryan to the ticket pushed him over the top. The poll, produced by Foster McCollum White Baydoun, showed Romney leading Obama in Michigan by 47 to 43 percent, which is just outside the poll’s 2.35 percent margin of error. Paul Ryan was said to make Michigan voters more likely to vote for Romney by an 8 percent margin. Ryan’s budget proposals, which are...

After a gaffe-filled week, Vice President Joseph R. Biden will go back on the campaign trail next week with visits to three relatively "safe" Democratic states. Mr. Biden will travel on Tuesday for campaign events in Minnesota, where President Obama leads presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney by an average of 10.5 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of polls. On Wednesday, the vice president will campaign in Michigan, where the Democratic ticket is ahead by an average of 7.7 points. And on Friday, Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill, will attend campaign events in New York state, where...

States that traditionally have been considered Democrat strongholds are now moving toward Mitt Romney, Bay Buchanan, a senior adviser to Romney, tells Newsmax. “When we came into this general election, it was assumed that the battleground states would be the same ones that they were in the past,” says Buchanan, who was treasurer of the U.S. under President Reagan. “Well what’s happened is a lot of the Democratic states are now looking like Mitt Romney could win them. They are now swing states.” That means that Democrats have to focus on an additional five states: New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and...

It’s hard to think of a more liberal Republican that occupies a more consequential position in Congress than Fred Upton. It’s not just the fact that the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful House panels, is a big supporter of green energy. It’s not just the fact that this same man was the Thomas Edison of the incandescent light bulb ban. It’s about Republicans shedding an image of hypocrisy. Upton is charged with oversight over Obama’s Solyndra-like loan guarantees, yet he pushed for the same type of loan for United Solar Ovonics, whose parent...

Michigan has become a clear swing state in the 2012 election, a new poll released Thursday by Michigan polling agency Foster McCollum White and Associates found. And a Democratic pollster warned that if President Barack Obama doesn't change his message and tone in the campaign, he will be in severe danger of losing the state — and the election — to Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The poll shows that Obama's lead in Michigan — much like in fellow Midwestern state Wisconsin — has all but evaporated. He has just more than a point lead in the state, a similar finding...

Jack Hoogendyk and Fred Upton will have a second debate on July 3 on WKZO 590 AM. The live broadcast will begin at 3 p.m. and last for an hour, according to Upton.

Ficano scandals hurting President Obama and Democratic candidates for November. Mixed results for organized labor and business community on collective bargaining rights and the Emergency Manager Law. President Obama’s Michigan lead has deteriorated into a dead heat with Republican nominee Mitt Romney. President Obama leads former Governor Romney with a scant 1.41 point margin, 46.89% to 45.48%. Michigan was considered solidly Democrat, but based on the feedback from Michigan respondents, Michigan will likely be a very competitive state. Foster McCollum White & Associates, a Political and Governmental Affairs and Organizational Development consulting firm based in Troy Michigan and Baydoun Consulting,...

It's been 24 years since a Republican presidential candidate won the state of Michigan. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced a new effort Monday to snap that streak. Romney will campaign in Michigan on June 19 as part of his "Every Town Counts" bus tour, where he will meet with small town business owners and families. He is expected to visit at least three cities in the state, though the Romney campaign has yet to disclose the details. Romney's decision to compete in Michigan comes on the heels of an EPIC-MRA poll showing Romney statistically tied with President Obama...

A former state senator from Canton Township wants the 11th Congressional District seat currently belonging to Republican Thaddeus McCotter. Republican Loren Bennett tells the Detroit Free Press Friday that he is planning to run as a write-in candidate. He was in the Michigan Senate from 1995 to 2002.

Congressman Fred Upton and challenger Jack Hoogendyk will debate in Kalamazoo on June 10. The debate will take place at Western Michigan University's Schneider Hall from 7 to 8 p.m. It is co-sponsored by the MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette and WMUK (102.1 FM). During the debate, the candidates will discuss the state of the economy, energy, health care, government spending, and how the candidate would help the 6th District. Each candidate will make opening and closing statements. Hoogendyk's campaign manager Steven Mobley said Friday that the campaign still wants to have a total of six debates in the district before the Aug....

In an address to a Michigan Tea Party group in early May, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) called for a government office to verify presidential candidates' citizenship and lamented Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) opposition to questioning President Obama on his birthplace. When asked about Obama's birthplace, Hoekstra said he wanted to see a three-person governmental panel check candidates' legal credentials to be president. "At any future election someone would have to walk into that office and prove that they meet the minimum qualifications to be president of the United States," he said, suggesting "an FBI person, maybe a CIA person...

Jack Hoogendyk has received another endorsement from a conservative Political Action Committee. The Madison Project endorsed Hoogendyk this morning. In a press release, Madison Project Political Director Drew Ryun said: Fred Upton’s 26-year career has been marred by fiscal and social liberal votes that are too numerous to count. Perhaps, the most egregious aspect of his career was his involvement in anti-free-market energy policy, most notably, his lead role in the 2007 energy bill that banned the incandescent light bulb. Amazingly, Upton has been granted the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the most important domestic policy panel....

Barack Obama crushed John McCain in Michigan in 2008, 57.33%-40.89%. Obama must win Michigan in 2012, it’s part of every scenario for him to get to 270: (VIDEO AT LINK) Yet a poll just released in the Detroit News shows Obama up by only 5 points over Romney, via The Hill: President Obama is leading Mitt Romney by 5 percentage-points in Michigan, according to a new poll of likely voters in the state. The survey, conducted by the Glengariff Group and reported in the Detroit News, shows an even wider margin for Obama among female voters. He leads the former...

Upton was on The Rocker Morning Show on WRKR-FM 107.7 today, and amid jesting with the hosts, talked about what's coming up in Washington D.C. for him and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which he chairs. At the end of the interview, co-host Mike McKelly told Upton, “I don’t consider you a career politician.” Upton responded, "I'm not." Upton, 58, served his first year in Congress in 1987 and has been in office for 25 years. Before that, he worked on the staff for U.S. Rep. David Stockman from 1976 to 1980 and was in the Office of...

Remember Herman Cain? Well, Jack Hoogendyk certainly does. The Kalamazoo Republican, who is running for Fred Upton’s 6th District Congressional post, has been endorsed by the former presidential candidate. Cain sent out a press release Thursday, welcoming Hoogendyk into the “Army of Davids.” In the release, Cain said Hoogendyk has committed to his so-called “9-9-9 plan,” calling for a 9 percent tax rate on personal income, 9 percent on corporate income and 9 percent on national sales tax. “The current tax code is confusing and counter-productive. It stifles prosperity,” Hoogendyk said in the release. Cain praised Hoogendyk’s limited government conservatism....

Livonia, Michigan—Rick Santorum is running on fumes. His is the curse of insurgent presidential campaigns—too much passion and too little sleep. You could hear it in his voice Monday morning talking to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Livonia as the decibel level grew higher, the diction grew muddier, and the logorrhea grew more obvious. An open-ended question on Social Security prompted a nine-minute Santorum monologue. Challenged from the audience about whether he was too conservative for the general election, Santorum out of nowhere unleashed a vicious non sequitur: “They mock conservatives, that’s what the media does. They mock the...

The topsy-turvey GOP presidential season just flipped again as a new poll shows Mitt Romney has jumped to the lead in both Michigan and Arizona just days before pivotal primaries in both states. The former Bay State governor has 40 percent of the vote to 34 percent for red-hot rival Rick Santorum in Michigan, Rasmussen Reports states today. The survey of likely Republican voters was taken last night a day after the CNN debate where Romney went on the attack against Santorum’s record in the U.S. Senate. Michigan holds its primary Tuesday night. So does Arizona, where Romney is also...

Mitt Romney, during campaign stops in Michigan yesterday, embraced his Michigan roots for all they’re worth. As he watches his popularity plummet in the state in which he grew up, he seems to be grasping at anything to keep from sinking any further. Romney tried to hit all the right buttons in order to resonate with Michigan voters leading up to their February 28 primary, by making himself one of them again. “I was born and raised here. I love being in Michigan,” Mr. Romney said. ”Everything seems right here. You know, I come back to Michigan; the trees are...

Former U.S. Rep Pete Hoekstra will trot out Herman Cain, who bowed out of a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, around Michigan next week to drum up support, his campaign said today. Cain will appear in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Ypsilanti and Troy on a blitz across the state as they tout the Holland Republican’s Tea Party ties and taking incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow to task for her spending policies. Cain suspended his quest for the presidency in December amid rumors of marital infidelity. “The Tea Party conservatives have been increasingly supporting Pete Hoekstra over the years as a result...

Mitt Romney, once seen as a sure bet to win the Michigan Republican presidential primary, now appears locked in a surprisingly tight race with challenger Newt Gingrich. Michigan is home turf for the former Massachusetts governor. His late father, George Romney, was a popular governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the younger Romney grew up in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. But with the state’s primary approaching on Feb. 28, Mr. Romney’s lead remains small, given his home-court advantage. A poll released last week by the Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV found that 31% of likely voters supported Mr....

Mitt Romney’s father, liberal Republican George Romney, met with and endorsed infamous progressive activist Saul Alinsky; meanwhile, in a defense of Mitt Romney against charges of racism, the National Black Chamber of Commerce points out the significant influence the elder Romney had on son Mitt and credits the Romneys for a long history of progressive activism. Emphasis mine. No, Mitt Romney is not a racist. As I researched history, over the years I have come to find that the opposite is the case. The Romney Family has a legacy of pro-civil rights, progressive activism and an understanding of how poverty...

BLOOMFIELD, Mich.—Not since George H.W. Bush​ carried Michigan over Michael Dukakis in 1988 has a Republican presidential candidate won the Water Wonderland’s electoral votes. In the 24 years since, Democrats have all swept Michigan with ease. In ’08, John McCain​’s high command publicly wrote off Michigan, causing major embarrassment to his instate supporters. But 2012 will be light years' different from those races, vows State Republican Chairman Bobby Schostak. In an exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS on Sunday, the party chieftain said without hesitation: “The race here is so close that [Michigan’s 16 electoral votes] are Barack Obama​’s to lose.”...

ROCHESTER, Mich. – With under two months before the first votes are cast in the Republican presidential primary, the GOP candidates gathered for a debate in a state that has suffered gravely during the nation’s economic recession – but what stole the show were the varying fortunes of the two candidates that pose the biggest threat to Mitt Romney’s chances of securing the nomination: Herman Cain and Rick Perry. While the former has surged in the polls and continues to enjoy support despite new allegations of sexual harassment, the latter has plunged in recent months, even falling outside the top...

In the past few weeks we’ve seen the media scrambling to promote a cat fight between Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. As the UK’s Telegraph recently wrote: The first shots have been fired in what could become an ugly battle between Sarah Palin and her potential rival Michele Bachmann for the Republican presidential nomination. [...] A Republican consultant who declined to be named because he is aligned with a rival camp, said: “The claws are out. It’s the cat fight everyone has been waiting for – Queen Sarah being taken on by the Palin mini-me.” This is all obviously designed...

...Now we turn our attention to 2012. America must elect a new President. It is that hope, that necessity, that challenge, that draws me to announce my candidacy for the Chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. I don’t take lightly the fact that I am challenging a friend and colleague for the Chairmanship. When Michael was elected Chairman, I was the only candidate who stepped forward to attend the next morning’s RNC breakfast meeting, agreed to join the transition team, and later took on several roles as a team player on the RNC…and have attended every meeting since. Given my...

It seems each day brings some poll almost too good to be true for Republicans. In Michigan: A new independent poll has the dean of the U.S. House, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., trailing his Republican opponent, Rob Steele, by 4 percentage points. The automated phone survey of 300 people in the 15th Congressional District shows Steele getting 43.8 percent of the vote while Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat and the longest-serving member of Congress, at 39.5 percent and undecided voters at 11 percent. The gap is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points. The poll...

New Health Microsite Launched How will the new health care law affect me, my family, my job, my business, my country? How much will it cost? How will we pay for it? Could we really lose the health care coverage we have now? Americans deserve answers to these questions about how the massive health care overhaul will impact our country. But they aren't getting these answers from Washington, D.C. That is why I have launched a comprehensive online source of information, "Fix My Health Care Now," with facts, figures, and unknown or unreported details of how this new law will...

Abolish Michigan’s criminal/felony child support laws! A National plea goes out to Boycott Michigan Business (see list below)as an effort is under way to stop Michigan from prosecuting its citizens with Criminal felony’s con-victions for child support. The State of Michigan is convicting its citizens with felony, child support charges and sending them to prison for up to 4-years at the expense of taxpayers. The majority of these people are non-violent, low income citizens who can’t afford attorneys.

State Sen. Jason Allen is joining a very crowded Republican field for this August’s First District congressional primary. “He going to get in it,” said Allen’s Chief of Staff Norm Saari Friday, who added that the necessary paperwork to form a campaign committee and start raising money should be filed by “early next week ... hopefully it’s Monday.” Allen, who had previously been eyed as a potential Lieutenant Governor candidate this fall, became the subject of Republican speculation as a potential candidate within a just a few days of Rep. Bart Stupak’s announcement that he would retire from Congress.

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land says she won't be running for the congressional seat currently held by fellow Kent County Republican Vernon Ehlers (AY'-luhrs). The 76-year-old Ehlers announced Wednesday that he'll retire at the end of this term. Land, 51, had been considered a likely successor to Ehlers when he stepped down. But Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard has chosen her as his running mate in this year's GOP gubernatorial campaign, complicating Land's potential run for federal office. The Byron Center resident ended speculation Friday in a Bouchard campaign e-mail, telling supporters: "For those of you who might be...

• Terri Lynn Land: She is term-limited as secretary of state and lives in the district. But she is a running mate for gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard. Will she ditch him for a job she has long desired? • Kenneth Sikkema: The former state Senate majority leader from Kent County was long viewed as a potential heir apparent to Ehlers. Now he' i a "senior policy fellow" with Public Sector Consultants Inc., a Lansing lobbying firm. Is it too late for a comeback? • Jerry Kooiman: The former Grand Rapids state legislator began his political career 25 years ago as...

The Capitol is shut down for the third straight day, but two new retirements have been announced by members of the House of Representatives. AP reports that the threat of a primary from his right has led Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) to retire. He's serving his ninth term. "Each of us should recognize that the world doesn't depend just on us and I've been there 16 years now and that's more than enough time for most people and I've accomplished a great deal," Ehlers told AP. "I just felt this was a good time to go." State Rep. Justin Amash...

Former three-term state Rep. Bill Huizenga jumped into the race the day after Hoekstra announced he’d forgo another term in the House to run for governor. The two men have a long history together, as Huizenga was Hoekstra’s director of public policy for six years and ran three of his campaigns. Michigan’s term-limit law barred Huizenga, a former chairman of the state House Commerce Committee, from seeking re-election in 2008. His jump start for the 2010 campaign has helped him secure a number of early endorsements from current and former legislators in western Michigan. State Sen. Wayne Kuipers has taken...

(Headline courtsey of "THE BOSS" from "My Hometown") Obama was to speak at the Macomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan where he would inform them that the thousands of jobs lost in the collapse of the auto industry would never return and it was time to start looking to new industries for future employment, as well as the training of workers for those jobs. As to just what those industries might be or any specifics on the type of training needed it was too soon to say... Entire text at: http://www.edistojoe.com Edisto Joe "INCREASE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT"

Former Michigan and Buffalo Bills tight end Jay Riemersma has designs on Congress. Riemersma has filed paperwork to run for U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra's (HUCK'-struhz) 2nd District seat in southwestern Michigan. Hoekstra, a Republican, has announced his candidacy for governor in 2010. Riemersma also is a Republican. He is listed as Regional Director of Development on the web site of the Family Research Council.

State Rep. Bill Huizenga jumped first, but he likely won't be alone in seeking a U.S. House seat being vacated in 2010 by longtime Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra. At a press conference today, Huizenga was to tout his legislative experience and his ties to Hoekstra in announcing he would seek to replace his former boss. "A lot of people have asked me to run and I feel I need to fill a void that Pete's announcement has created," said Huizenga, R-Zeeland. "I've been through every part of the district and I know it from every aspect, from fruit growers to...

One of the greatest Democratic tricks this past 8 years has been the Patriotism Dodge: their inexplicable ability to convince the press that their patriotism was being attacked at every turn. Sadly, the press rarely followed up the Democratic harumphing with a simple corrective: "However, nothing had been said about their patriotism." Their feigned outrage after the Max Cleland ad was probably the first notable example of this misdirection tactic, but they used it routinely. Even more impressive, if that is the word, has been the Democratic ability to play the martyred patriot even as they were explicitly questioning the...

Question Of The Day: Many in Michigan reacted Friday with disappointment and outright disgust to news that a $14 billion emergency bailout for Detroit's automakers collapsed late the night before in the U.S. Senate. Does the bill failure anger you? Yes No I don't care Poll is near the bottom of the page...

Michigan Christians for Life, a non-denominational Christian organization since 1997 endorsed McCain-Palin on September 19, 2008. There has been no reply from McCain-Palin notwithstanding MCFL's telephone calls, Email, snail mail and weekly Fax copies to Campaign offices in Arlington, VA and Michigan. What is going on? They need help in getting the message to Sen. John McCain or Gov.Sarah Palin, can YOU help?