Free Republic

Seven former democrats are now with the ranks of the republican party after making their formal switch Wednesday. Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef said since democrats took control of the White House, more than 50 state and local democrats have moved to the GOP. Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner is one of those making the party change. Waggoner said he feels the Democratic party has fallen out of line with the country's moral standards. "This is enough. We've gone too far. We've gone down the road of moral decay too far. It's time to stop it. It's time to...

The owner of Mississippi’s only abortion clinic on Thursday accused Republicans of “hiding behind words like ‘safety’ and ‘women’s health’” in pushing a bill that is expected to become law soon that she says could shut down the facility and leave thousands of women without the option. Diane Derzis, who owns the Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Jackson, Miss., told POLITICO in an interview that she believs the passage of a bill in the state Senate on Wednesday that would require all physicians performing in abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a local hospital was directly targeted at closing...

...This was blue collar vs blue blood. The pundits tried all evening to sound intelligent as they attempted to explain the vote. They failed miserably. In his victory speech, Rick Santorum nailed it, "This campaign is about ordinary folks doing extraordinary things, just like America." As he ended his speech he told his supporters the campaign was about "Free people, a free economy, the integrity of the family and the centrality of faith in our lives". Just as he finished that line, a campaign worker informed the candidate that he had also won Mississippi. The entire room broke into an...

WASHINGTON -- Mississippi has not been "used to mattering" in presidential politics, according to one close observer. But on the heels of hosting 2008's most important presidential debate, along comes Tuesday's Republican presidential primary with the potential to alter the course of the 2012 race for the White House. Along with Alabama, Tuesday's primaries in the Deep South are "do or die" contests for both former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and former House speaker Newt Gingrich and should shape the race as either a three-way long slog into summer or a two-person contest going forward. Few expect front-runner former Massachusetts...

(CNN) – Newt Gingrich is edging out his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in Mississippi, according to a new poll. The American Research Group survey of likely Republican primary voters released Friday showed Gingrich with 35% support, followed by Mitt Romney with 31%, Rick Santorum with 20% and Ron Paul with 7%. Gingrich's margin over Romney increased slightly among those who said they will definitely vote in the March 13 primary, 37% to 30%. Santorum garnered 17% support and Paul received 5% among the same group. The poll was conducted after Super Tuesday, when each of the GOP White...

MERIDIAN, Miss. – A pair of new polls are giving hope to Newt Gingrich’s Deep South strategy, as he stresses religion and steps up attacks on rival Rick Santorum. The former U.S. House Speaker leads in Mississippi according to an American Research Group poll out Friday morning has Gingrich leading with 35 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 31 percent and Santorum at 20 percent. A Rasmussen Poll of Alabama shows a dead heat: Gingrich at 30 percent, Santorum at 29 and Romney at 28. ......Santorum is best known as a strident social conservative, but while representing...