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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum -- in a neck-and-neck race with Mitt Romney in Michigan -- joined his rival in releasing new TV ad footage on Tuesday aimed at the state's voters. Santorum's spots tout him as a "trusted conservative" and the choice of supporters of the "tea party" movement, social conservatives and evangelical Christians, all important elements of the Feb. 28 primary in Romney's home state. One of the ads uses mainly written words -- praise in the form of quasi-endorsements and favorable quotes -- from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, among others -- over an urgent sounding symphonic...

PLANO, Texas — Standing in front of a massive crowd at a rally in Plano, Texas, Rick Santorum unleashed criticism of Barack Obama and threw out some campaign red meat to supporters hungry for it, telling them the president has an “overt hostility to faith.”“(He’s) trying to weaken them, churches, trying to say that anybody who believes in the values of the Judeo Christian policies,” Santorum said to about 2,000 people in a converted barn, one of his largest audiences of the campaign. He told the audience at the raucous rally that Obama is restricting religious freedoms in this country,...

Reuters - Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum, a day after his stunning sweep of nominating contests in three states, scrambled in Texas on Wednesday to round up the support and money he needs to take on well-financed and well-organized rival Mitt Romney. After winning in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado on Tuesday, Santorum sought to build on his momentum, addressing Texas pastors, donors and activists with the loosely organized conservative Tea Party movement."Nobody ever thinks I can win anything," Santorum told about 600 people at a meeting with Christian pastors at the Bella Donna Chapel in McKinney, Texas. "The gift of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — On a political high, President Barack Obama capped a bruising year by securing a tax cut for millions of Americans — an achievement that overshadowed Washington's deepening dysfunction and the slow progress of the economy on his watch. The White House has ended a year with a political victory before. This time around the stakes are higher, and the president is by no means assured of carrying the momentum deep into an election year. Addressing reporters before heading to Hawaii on Friday, Obama looked like a president in command of the stage again, for now. He left...

<p>The economy showed signs it maintained speed into the fourth quarter as retail sales increased in October and a gauge of manufacturing in New York state rose this month for the first time since May.</p> <p>Other data on Tuesday showed muted price pressures at the wholesale level. That should provide the Federal Reserve scope to give more aid to the economy in the face of an increased threat to the recovery from Europe's debt crisis.</p>

The Herman Cain campaign just came out with a list of chairs and other backers in all 67 counties in Florida. It’s the most extensive network of supporters announced by any of the Republican presidential candidates so far. The release is 9 pages — and you can read it here: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/11/cain-blankets-florida-with-chairs-in-all-67-counties.html

Cain says Forbes concluded Perry camp was source of harassment leak Justin Sink November 3, 2011 Herman Cain said Forbes Magazine - and not his campaign - was responsible for the concluding that Rick Perry's campaign leaked the story of sexual harassment allegations during Cain's tenure as the president of the National Restaurant Association. "A reporter did this research and came up with these facts, we didn't," Cain said Thursday on Sean Hannity's radio show. "That was the reporter that wrote the report for Forbes." But despite adamant denials from the Perry camp, Cain said he still doesn't "see any...

Hometown favorite Mitt Romney is still winning Michigan in a new poll, but Tea Party sensation Herman Cain is close on his heels. Romney wins Michigan with 37 percent, in the MIRS/Practical Political Consulting robopoll. But that's down from the 43 percent the former Massachusetts governor had in August. Romney has locked up most of the money and political establishment in Michigan, including House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall), Attorney General Bill Schuette and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe). Cain, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, has been riding a wave of popularity since Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been on...

Fellow Conservatives: I'm writing to give you a brief update on the U.S. Senate race in Ohio and the amazing progress made by our endorsed candidate, Josh Mandel (R-OH). Liberal incumbent U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is in deep trouble. According to a recent poll conducted by a Democratic polling firm, less than half the voters in the Buckeye State want to re-elect him even though he's almost universally known. The poll also shows growing momentum for Josh Mandel (40%) against an increasingly vulnerable Sherrod Brown (48%). Mandel has already closed this race down to a single-digit gap (-8%), which...

Businessman Herman Cain has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney and now leads the field of 2012 Republican candidates, according to a new New York Times/ CBS News poll. Cain has 25 percent support among Republican primary voters, compared with 21 percent support for the former Massachusetts governor. The two candidates were tied at 17 percent in the previous NYT/CBS poll released on Oct. 3. The new poll shows Cain’s support among Tea Party conservatives climbed to 32 percent in mid-October — up from 18 percent just a few weeks earlier.

Now at the top of the polls as the frontrunner among Republican presidential hopefuls, businessman Herman Cain electrified a crowd of thousands who braved the heat and mosquitoes to see him speak Tuesday night in La Marque. Cain took another leg of his White House bid to the Gulf Greyhound Park, a home of races and gambling, as the headliner of the Clear Lake Tea Party's rally. After a daylong media tour in Houston, Cain's largest public appearance began with a brief book signing with supporters, then he disappeared for two hours while the crowd heard from other speakers, including...

Look for an announcement soon about some top-tier political talent joining Herman Cain's Florida campaign team. Statewide chairs: Former St. Petersburg Mayor (and Mitt Romney supporter) Rick Baker; former State Sen. (and expected Rick Perry supporter) Carey Baker; former Jeb Bush chief Kathleen Shanahan; state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood. Tampa-based media consultant Adam Goodman is a senior strategist and media adviser and Arlene DiBenigno, a veteran of Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist, and Rick Scott campaigns, is another senior strategist. Deborah Cox-Roush, former state GOP vice chairwoman and Hillsborough County Republican chairwoman - she resigned as county chair today - is...

Freepers, not long ago I almost threw my TV at BOR for his glib dismissal of CAIN's candidacy. I steamed for over a week (and I still smoke abit). Citing no data or reasons other than BOR's superior intellect and mysterious 'sense' of universal truth, tonight BOR shocked me...he slathered all over this in his opening: 'Talking Points, wherein he defended Cain's 9-9-9, and said Cain deserves serious consideration.

It took me a couple of hours of reading, cogitation, and regurgitation to critique Mitt Romney's foreign policy positions. Clearly, I didn't think it was perfect, or even all that good in many places. But, I had to assess it, mull over the content... you know, think. Now, I desperately want to be an equal opportunity blogger, and at this point Herman Cain appears to be the co-frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. Sure, I've had my fun with him in the past, and he has no shortage of foreign policy gaffes, but I figured that impromptu utterances during debates...

Herman Cain’s catchy 9-9-9 tax overhaul system is gathering major supporters as the former pizza magnate consolidates his position at the top of the Republican field in the race for the White House. House budget committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan and Ronald Reagan’s economic guru Art Laffer both expressed their support for the plan which would replace the current tax code. The anti-tax Club for Growth also came out in favor of Cain’s plan which would cut income and corporate taxes to 9 percent and institute a new national sales tax at the same level. Payroll, capital gains and estate...

Herman Cain has the highest favorable rating of any Republican presidential candidate among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents polled by Gallup, according to a survey released today. Cain's 77-percent favorable rating edges out former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose favorable rating is 72 percent, says Gallup.Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is third at 66 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is fourth at 63 percent, former Sen. Rick Santorum is fifth at 62 percent, Rep. Michele Bachmann is sixth at 59 percent, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is seventh at 54 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul is eighth at 53 percent.The survey was conducted between Sept. 26 and Oct. 9. The...

Alternate headline: “Republicans really, really, really don’t want to nominate Mitt Romney.” Strong Tea Party support has Cain in the driver’s seat nationally, just as he has been on our last four individual state polls. With non-Tea Party Republicans Romney actually leads Cain 29-27. But with the Tea Party crowd Cain is getting 39% with Gingrich at 16%, Perry at 14%, and Romney in 4th place at 13%. Romney doesn’t need to win the Tea Partiers to be the Republican nominee. But he does need to finish better than 4th with them. There are indications within the poll that Cain’s...

The Japanese people are being introduced to Conservative GOP front-runner, candidate Herman Cain for the first time in PRIME TIME NATIONAL TV NEWS REPORTS. Great footage! (at URL stream) (hot link below).FNN (Fuji News Network) is one of the major, widely-viewed national Japanese TV networks. They sent a Japanese male reporter to the Values Voters event in D.C. and filmed Herman Cain's delivery from the perspective of audience reaction.Here is a short video clip (following the Japanese announcerette's brief lead introduction as to just who this Herman Cain is). Mentioned was that Cain requisitioned an Obama campaign slogan and...

The question from last week’s sudden shift in momentum towards Herman Cain in the GOP presidential primary race was whether Cain could actually vie for the nomination. After today’s poll from the Washington Post and ABC, the question may be whether anyone but Mitt Romney could stop him. Right now, it certainly doesn’t like Rick Perry could, whose fortunes have fallen faster than they rose after two bad debates: After a quick rise in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has experienced an almost equally dramatic decline, losing about half of his support over the...

Ames, Iowa — This has been quite a week or ten days for Republicans. As this is written, down in South Carolina, Rick Perry has just announced he’s running for president, while here in Ames, most of the votes have been cast, but none has yet been counted, in the Iowa Republican straw poll. Yesterday Sarah Palin walked slowly through crowds at the Iowa State Fair and addressed voters there on the set of Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel program. Pundits will parse the Iowa results and the Perry polling to determine which candidate is up and which down or...

Sarah Palin, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann are surging in Iowa, according to a recent American Research Group poll of Republican voters. Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn.) received 21% of the nods from the poll of 600 likely Republican caucus voters, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who came in second with 18%. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who Wednesday said he wasn't "cut out to be in politics," came in a respectable third place with 14%. But Palin's results were impressive. In April a similar poll found her receiving only 4%, but now a similar group of Iowans put her in...

Reporting from Detroit — Detroit's on a roll. But can it last? American auto brands Chevrolet and Ford are outselling Toyotas in the United States for the first time in years, thanks to a new stable of better designed and more reliable cars. General Motors Co., meanwhile, has become the top foreign automaker in the fast-growing Chinese market. At the same time, painful cost cuts — including trimming employment and health expenses, and rewriting union contracts — have fattened the bottom line for domestic automakers, with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. earning nearly $4 billion combined in their most...

With the last update from the NBC Political Unit prior to election day, every change analysts have made concerning House of Representatives elections have shifted in favor of the Republican. This in no way means Republicans are favored in the race, but is a clear indication of momentum for Republicans. More here, but here is the current House breakdown... HOUSE RATINGS CHANGES TX-17 TOSS UP TO LEAN R TN-8 TOSS UP TO LEAN R NV-3 TOSS UP TO LEAN R WI-8 TOSS UP TO LEAN R NJ-3 LEAN D TO TOSS UP MO-4 LEAN D TO TOSS UP IA-3 LEAN...

Good evening. We have a great deal of new polling that’s flooded in. Much of it is interesting too, so rather than pick and choose which polls I’ll cover in depth and which I will omit, instead I’ll give a quick look at all the good ones. We’ve got Senate races in Nevada, Connecticut, West Virginia, Ohio, New York, Missouri, and Delaware, plus races for Governor in Illinois, Rhode Island, New York, Hawaii, and Florida. I told you it was a lot.

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2010 – Coalition forces are making steady progress in Afghanistan, and the coalition and government are regaining the momentum from the Taliban, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command said today. Video But Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, who commands the corps-sized group, is not sanguine about the progress. “The situation remains serious, and we still face a tough and resourceful insurgency,” he said in a teleconference with Pentagon reporters. “But the momentum is beginning to shift to the Afghan forces’ advantage.” The influx of 40,000 more U.S. and coalition troops this year...

(CNN) - After a poll Thursday showed Tea Party favorite Nikki Haley surging to the front of the pack in the race for the South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial nomination, her opponents acknowledged - but sought to downplay - her fresh momentum. Haley, a state representative with little money and a meager statewide profile, entered the race last year as a dark horse candidate after supporters of Gov. Mark Sanford urged her to run under the reform mantle. Her small government views won over national conservative activists, but she struggled to make headway in her own four-way GOP primary. That changed...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2010 – Operation Moshtarak, now in its 18th day in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, is “progressing extraordinarily well” and is moving from the clearing phase to the holding phase, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today. “There are still pockets where we believe there to be some Taliban hiding out, perhaps lying in wait,” he said. “We are determined to clear out those pockets, as well.” Pockets of fighting probably will continue for weeks, he added, even as signs of normalcy emerge there. Because of the operation, the Afghan government now is in control of the Helmand cities...

Times change, and in the case of the 2010 governor's race, so do political endorsements, apparently. Just ask GOP Rep. John Campbell of Newport Beach: he's switched his backing. A few months ago, Campbell issued glowing statement endorsing California GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner -- and this week, the 48th CD representative issued another glowing endorsement statement, this backing former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Here's Campbell on Poizner last December, talking about his backing of the state Insurance Commissioner in the 2010 governor's race: "Steve is the right man at the right time for California. As our nation grapples with...

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he hopes to see signs that the new strategy in Afghanistan is working over the next year to 18 months as Afghan security forces improve. Speaking to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee yesterday about benchmarks in Afghanistan, both Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed hope that momentum would shift away from insurgents within 12 to 18 months. But Gates cautioned that the operation would last beyond that timeline. “This problem will not be over in 18 months. This problem will...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and NATO forces are close to achieving "irreversible momentum" in their battle with insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, a senior commander said on Wednesday. The Taliban and other insurgent groups have been strongest in eastern and southern Afghanistan but U.S. Army Major General Michael Tucker said security had improved this year in the east, where U.S. forces lead NATO troops. He said about 80 percent of insurgent activity now took place in southern Afghanistan, where the United States plans to deploy thousands of troops in the coming months to reinforce British, Canadian, Dutch and other NATO soldiers....

A declining Europe must focus on the nitty-gritty By Leif Pagrotsky Published: August 14 2008 19:20 | Last updated: August 14 2008 19:20 At this time of failures in Iraq and on Wall Street, when the US has lost its role as model and inspiration for policymakers and others around the world, a golden opportunity has arisen for Europe to offer an alternative to look up to and find inspiration from. But Europe is not in good shape. It is not just about the Irish vote. The Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty in June is merely a scapegoat for...

**EXCERPT** The old head-scratcher — what happens if an irresistible force meets an immovable object? — now gets its test in the Democratic presidential primary. The force is Barack Obama. His sweep of the Potomac primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC on Tuesday gives him seven straight wins since Super Tuesday, not to mention his first lead in pledged delegates. Unprecedented amounts of money are pouring into his campaign coffers. He now has momentum that any challenger would envy in any year. Indeed, in any other year, a candidate with his numbers would have the nomination locked up tight....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2008 – More than 180 representatives of 122 troop-support groups gathered today at the Pentagon to share information and insights about ways to boost their efforts during the third annual America Supports You National Summit. Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Allison Barber, the program’s architect, opened the all-day session welcoming the participants she credits with making America Supports You such a big success. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is slated to close the summit, thanking the groups for their contributions. The Defense Department launched the America Supports you program in November 2004 to showcase support for the country’s...

FLORISSANT, Mo. - Political momentum now shifted her way, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to Missouri, a key Feb. 5 battleground state, while rival Barack Obama hoped to rejuvenate his candidacy with the help of black voters in the South. "Now we're back here in the Midwest, where I'm from. I'm so happy to see all of you," Clinton, a Chicago native, said to cheers at a campaign rally late Saturday in this St. Louis suburb. Nevada's presidential caucuses gave Clinton a big boost, powering her to a second straight win over Obama in the first Western contest of the...

Sorry, Rudy: In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina. "As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again. He becomes...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 5, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates talked with Iraqi leaders and U.S. commanders here today to explore ways to maintain momentum built in recent months and continue to build on it. Gates met with Iraqi President Jalal Talibani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Defense Minister Abd al-Qadir al-Mufriji and U.S. commanders. Here on his sixth visit as defense secretary, Gates noted vast security improvements. During a joint news conference with Mufriji, Gates cited “recent months of dramatic change in the security situation across the nation, a decline in violence to levels not seen since the Samarra mosque...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2007 – Terrorist-committed violence in Iraq has plummeted since the start of the surge of forces, a senior U.S. officer reported yesterday from Baghdad. “Terrorist attacks are at their lowest level since January 2006,” Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. The overall number of attacks in Iraq is 55 percent lower than the period before the surge took hold in June, Smith said. Civilian fatalities across Iraq are down by about 60 percent during the same period, Smith said. And civilian deaths in Baghdad...

A snapshot in time of anything can't tell the whole story or firmly establish things like patterns. Yet they can give an indication of what is happening. Reuters offers a daily round-up of news from Iraq, much if not most of which doesn't get much coverage. Here is October 6:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces have “tactical momentum” in the country, but they need to develop “irreversible momentum,” Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said today during a Pentagon interview. Odierno, the commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, said coalition and Iraqi forces have made significant progress against al Qaeda in Iraq and are making progress against Shiia extremist groups as well. “September is the lowest month for incidents we’ve had going back to January 2006,” he said. The numbers of improvised explosive device attacks and car bombings are at the lowest level in 18 months. For...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces must maintain the momentum generated by the troop surge in Iraq to defeat terrorists and insurgents, a senior military official in Baghdad said today. Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff for Multinational Corps Iraq, talked about results of the increase of offensive operations made possible by the troop surge. Anderson spoke during a joint conference with Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman. In the wake of Multinational Force Iraq Commander Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ recommendations to President Bush and testimony before Congress, forces in...

ASHLAND, N.H., Sept. 3 -- Former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee will grab most of the headlines this week as he enters the race for the White House, but Mitt Romney likes where he stands in the contest for the Republican nomination. "When I started running seven months ago, I was at 5 percent in the national polls," the former Massachusetts governor said at a question-and-answer session here. "Now I won the Iowa straw poll; I'm ahead here in New Hampshire, ahead in Michigan, ahead in the Nevada." The energetic Romney, who is shown jogging in a television ad that...

From Rossputin: Historically, the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary have received the perception of being, if not president-makers, at least highly reliable launching points for presidential aspirants. Indeed, these early contests correctly predicted the final choice of nominee five out of seven times for each party. Iowans’ views were not shared by the rest of the country on the Democratic side in 1992 (Tom Harkin won) and 1988 (Dick Gephardt), and on the Republican side in 1988 (Bob Dole) and 1980 (George H.W. Bush). New Hampshire didn’t create a victor on the Democratic side in 1992 (Paul Tsongas)...

Is it possible that one or both of the major party presidential nominations could be, for all practical purposes, decided after just two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, have voted? This may sound crazy to the casual observer of American politics, but the answer is yes. But how can that be, with Iowa and New Hampshire being such small states and accounting for only a miniscule portion of the national delegate count in either party? The catalyst is here not the size of the states or their raw numbers of delegates, of course, but the momentum those states can provide....

If you throw enough money at something, will the problem go away? It will if you’re Willard Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts and someone who is, clearly, the front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination. The momentum is with Mitt Romney – and it could carry him through the primaries to the White House. Look how far he’s come. Romney’s campaign flagged at the outset. His polling was risible – matched by his poor national standing. Videos flooded YouTube with Romney’s sound-bites supporting abortion and extending gay rights. Soon the self-appointed champion of social conservatism faced the ire...

By Sean J. Miller .... sean@dmcityview.com Iowans warm up to Romney The former Massachusetts governor is riding high among Republicans Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, during two campaign stops in the Des Moines area last Wednesday, outlined his plan for increasing the size of the military, confronting international terrorism and providing healthcare to uninsured Americans. Romney’s message is resonating with Iowa Republicans. The former governor and business consultant enjoys a 12-13 point lead over his rivals Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani among Republicans caucus-goers polled by The Des Moines Register May 12-16. His...

BOSTON -- For Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire venture capitalist turned Olympic savior turned politician, all is going according to plan. With an eye-popping $21 million raised in the first quarter of this year for his presidential campaign and a steady stream of television advertising, the one-term former governor of Massachusetts has caught the attention of both voters and political insiders. Star turns at the first two Republican debates gave his candidacy yet another shot of credibility. And now, recent polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire show Romney surging with a double-digit lead over Sen. John McCain...

Sunday, February 25, 2007 -- East County Congressman Duncan Hunter drew a sellout crowd to his first major campaign breakfast in San Diego. KUSI's Doug Curlee shows us how the presidential candidate is trying to reel in local voters.

T wo leading Republican presidential candidates will skip next month's New Hampshire debate, a WMUR-TV source said yesterday. Faxed letters arrived at the WMUR newsroom yesterday, announcing that Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani planned to bypass the debate. McCain is scheduled to visit Iraq, said Jill Hazelbaker, his New Hampshire spokeswoman. The cancellation was not intended as a slight to New Hampshire, where McCain won the 2000 Republican primary, Hazelbaker said. "The Senator looks forwards to frequently visiting New Hampshire and talking straight with voters," she said in an e-mail. A scheduling conflict...

The former mayor of New York City gets the nod as the Republican candidate for president in last week's Business Pulse survey. We asked: "Who should the Republicans pick as their 2008 presidential candidate?" The results: Rudy Giuliani, former mayor, New York City, 44 percent; Sen. John McCain, Ariz., 27 percent; Mitt Romney, former governor, Mass., 12 percent; Tommy Thompson, former governor, Wis., 3 percent; Mike Huckabee, former governor, Ark., 3 percent; Sen. Sam Brownback, Kan., 3 percent; Rep. Ron Paul, Texas, 2 percent; Rep. Duncan Hunter, Calif., 1 percent; Jim Gilmore, former governor, Va., no votes.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter on Thursday named a South Carolina adviser who boasted about telling an illegal immigrant worried about an abused child to "get back to Mexico." At a news conference at the Statehouse, Horry County Auditor Lois Eargle talked up her hard-line stance on illegal immigrants. The former county GOP chairwoman said an illegal immigrant with three children came to her office this week asking for free legal help for an abused child. "I told her the best thing for her to do was to get back to Mexico," Eargle said. Hunter, a California...