Free Republic

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown is blasting Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration for calling the National Guard to check whether Brown’s enrollment takes him out of the heated race to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy.

Senior Democratic officials are expressing serious concerns about the political risks posed by Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium Thursday evening. From the elaborate stagecraft to the teeming crowd of 80,000 cheering partisans, the vagaries of the weather to the unpredictable audience reaction, the optics surrounding the stadium event have heightened worries that the Obama campaign is engaging in a high-risk endeavor in an uncontrollable environment. A common concern: that the stadium appearance plays against Obama’s convention goal of lowering his star wattage and connecting with average Americans and that it gives Republicans a chance...

DENVER - Democrats gathering here for their nominating convention are significantly more nervous about Sen. Barack Obama's prospects this fall than they were a month ago, and are urging him to use the next four days to address weaknesses in his candidacy and lingering party divisions from the bitter primary fight. Obama's aides said they had learned from what they described as the mistake of the 2004 Democratic convention - when aides to Sen. John Kerry's campaign sought to forbid convention speakers from going after President Bush - and would use these four days to draw sharp contrasts with Sen....