Free Republic

CONCORD, N.C. — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell warned Democrats today that the Republican attack alleging that President Barack Obama gutted the welfare work requirement is taking hold. "It’s starting to resonate," he told the Maryland delegation at a breakfast. "It’s starting to affect blue-collar white voters.” Rendell predicted that pushing back on the widely criticized attack will be a central component of the last Democratic president's speech. "I think the man that will push back on it will be the man that pushed for it and signed it — President Bill Clinton," Rendell said, "but he can't do it...

President Barack Obama says he'll try not to let his daughters see him cry tonight as he watches the first lady's speech at the Democratic National Convention. Obama calls Michelle Obama "the star of the Obama family" and says he gets "all misty" whenever she speaks. The president made the comments before a mostly African-American crowd...

Speakers for Tuesday's session of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena, as released by the Democratic Party (all times EDT): ___ 5-6 p.m. Call to Order: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chair, Democratic National Committee Invocation: His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, bishop of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Detroit Presentation of Colors: Disabled American Veterans, The Stanly County Chapter 12 Honor Guard Pledge of Allegiance: 3rd Grade Class, W.R. O'Dell Elementary School, Concord, N.C. National Anthem: Amber Riley, singer/songwriter and "Glee" actress...

Why are we here? Why did the Obama reelection team pick North Carolina for the Democratic convention? As the convention begins, prominent Democrats are still grumbling about that question. They fear the Tar Heel State is no sure win for the president. Recall that in 2008, Barack Obama won North Carolina by 0.4 percentage points over Arizona Sen. John McCain (R). Before that, the state had gone Republican in every presidential election since 1976. Current polls have Obama and Romney tied in the state. When then-President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he famously told an aide...

CHARLOTTE — After being pummeled for days at the Republican National Convention for his remark that business owners “didn’t build that,” President Obama heads to the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina this week facing mounting questions about how he will respond to charges that he is hostile to free enterprise. On Sunday, senior Obama advisers suggested that they will not address the anti-business allegations directly but will instead try to turn the tables on their GOP rivals by accusing them of being dishonest about what Obama meant. David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser, said in an interview Sunday...

Charlotte, NC – Former DC Mayor Marion Barry hit the Democratic convention Monday and, as per usual, the divisive and wildly popular figure immediately drew onlookers and media interviews. Barry was barely 10 feet into the Charlotte convention center before convention goers and reporters started queuing up to talk to him. Although extremely controversial thanks to numerous arrests for crack possession, Barry remains very popular in Washington and many parts of the black community nationally. Sporting a bright red t-shirt that read “I’m a Democrat and I support DC Statehood,” the 76 year old Barry was clearly in his element....

New tone alert... According to a just released report from the San Francisco Chronicle, California Democratic Party Chair John Burton compared Paul Ryan and the GOP to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Let's see how - or if - the media reports this outrageous comment. Had this been a Republican, you would have already heard about it, as opposed to having to read it here. From the Chronicle (who will be posting audio shortly): Greetings from the California delegation breakfast at the DNC where before he had a cup of coffee Democratic Party Chair John Burton – much like his ol’...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - College students from across North Carolina will arrive in Charlotte by the busload. Same with members of predominantly black churches in neighbouring South Carolina. Their goal: help fill a 74,000-seat outdoor stadium to capacity when President Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination Thursday night. Anything short of a full house on the final night of the Democratic Party's national convention will be instant fodder for Republicans eager to use empty seats as symbols of waning voter enthusiasm for Obama. Democrats have been fretting for months over whether the president can draw a capacity crowd at Bank of...

After a well-executed Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., it is now time for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. The Democrats already are responding to the Republican convention and changing their speaker lineup. According to Donovan Slack of Politico, the Democrats are adding women and minorities to their roster, which I take to mean that the Republican convention was effective. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s speech was presidential — it wouldn’t be hard to imagine her giving that if she were the nominee. Just as stirring was that of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Some left-wing critics...

The Circus? I’ve been working the night shift at the Media Research Center for the past week and given the reactions from MSNBC’s Matthews, Maddow, Schultz, Sharpton, and Hayes–I expect Abortion Fest 2012 the Democratic National Convention to be a nothing short of entertaining. If the fact checking failures, such as falsely slamming Paul Ryan for saying that the Janesville GM plant closed in April of ’09, were indicative of anything, it is that September 4th and proceeding seventy-two hours will be the most ludicrous the mainstream media has ever broadcasted to an American audience. Just look at how MSNBC...

TAMPA, Fla. – Several prominent Democrats, led by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, made unexpected appearances in Tampa this week, prompting Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to respond that Republicans aren’t fazed. “They can do what they want, but whatever they do we can do 10 times over,” Priebus said Thursday. “What goes around comes around.” Led by two Maryland politicians — O’Malley and U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Montgomery — a contingent of Democrats have slammed Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in Tampa. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, also made an appearance...

HIGH POINT, N.C., Aug. 29, 2012 - A new High Point University Poll of registered voters finds that 50 percent of survey respondents selected Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate who would do the best job at reducing the federal deficit, compared to 38 percent of voters who selected Obama for the same issue and 11 percent who weren't sure. Romney was also chosen by 49 percent of respondents as the candidate who would be most effective at creating jobs, while 41 percent selected Obama and nine percent weren't sure. The respondents were split between Obama and Romney regarding who...

Our presidential elections, pundits sometimes remind us, are not national contests, but rather contests in 50 states and the District of Columbia. And since most states lean heavily to one party or the other these days, the only real contests are in a dozen or so target states. Once upon a time, most states were in play. In the 1976 contest between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, 30 states with 396 electoral votes were carried by less than 10 percent of the votes. Three-quarters of voters lived in those states. In 2008, the field of play was much smaller. The...

The YG Action Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), is taking out its big guns in North Carolina’s 8th district. The group reported today that it was spending about $450,000 backing Richard Hudson, a North Carolina GOP Congressional candidate in a competitive runoff with Scott Keadle, a candidate aligned with the Club for Growth. That brings the total spent by group in support of Hudson in both the primary and the runoff to $525,000. The Club for Growth and its affiliated entities have spent more than $720,000 backing Keadle in the runoff and the...

A day after a poll in North Carolina showed a stunning loss of support for President Barack Obama among African-American voters, a new poll from the same firm finds the same thing is happening in Nevada. The survey, from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, gives Obama 69 percent of the African-American vote. Republican nominee Mitt Romney gets 28 percent. If these numbers are accurate, than this is astounding. In the North Carolina poll released Tuesday, Obama got 76 percent of the African-American vote, to Romney's 20 percent. Much like North Carolina, Obama garnered the vast majority of African-American support in Nevada...

My election Shaman paid me a surprise visit today. He was standing just outside my front door as I retrieved the mail. He rattled his beaded stick a couple of times and then said: "Focus on the cost!" He then vanished in a puff of blue smoke, leaving behind only a damp bar napkin with some smudged charts scribbled on it and a few peanut shells clinging to its corners. I thought at first that he might have been talking about campaign finance or the pension plans in San Jose. After reflection, I am pretty sure he was talking...

Mayor Rick Murphrey’s views on tax policy, the national debt and social issues like same-sex marriage have led the lifelong Democrat to switch his party affiliation to Republican. Murphrey and his wife, Sandra, filed new voter registration forms on Wednesday, Cleveland County Deputy Elections Director Meloni Wray confirmed. The seven-term mayor said his conservative political views more closely match those of the Republican Party. “As we look at both parties and focus on the upcoming election, we want to be in a party that is focused on reducing the national debt and that is lowering corporate taxes so industries can...

Not too long ago pundits were arguing that Mitt Romney’s path to 270 electoral votes was “narrow.” We didn’t buy it. Lo and behold, conventional wisdom has now changed. The Associated Press writes: “Warning signs for Obama on tight path to 270.” The AP explains: Obama’s new worries about North Carolina and Wisconsin offer opportunities for Republican Mitt Romney, who must peel off states Obama won in 2008 if he’s to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to oust the incumbent in November. Iowa, which kicked off the campaign in January, is now expected to be tight to the...

Former MSNBC contributor and conservative author Pat Buchanan appeared on Fox’s America Live with Megyn Kelly on Monday where he said that President Barack Obama’s recent embrace of gay marriage imperils his presidency. He said that gay marriage rights is the “heart of the cultural war” and that Republican voters are “right now riding to the sound of the guns” to get behind Republican candidate Mitt Romney as a result of Obama’s support for same-sex marriage rights. RELATED: Pat Buchanan To Hannity: Liberals ‘Use Terms Like Bigot… To Set Up An Inquisition’ What the President has done is forfeit –...

Richard Hudson, who worked with former Eighth District Republican Representative Robin Hayes, is closer to securing the district for himself after gaining more votes than the other four Republicans in the GOP primary on Tuesday. Since Hudson could not reach 40 percent of the vote, he faces a primary runoff with second-place finisher Scott Keadle in June or July. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, Hudson had 31.3 percent of the vote, followed by Scott Keadle at 22.2 percent, Vernon Robinson at 17.8 percent, Fred Steen at 15.1 percent and John Whitley at 13.5 percent. “This was a huge victory for...