Free Republic

Who’s likely to do well in New Hampshire’s 2016 first-in-the-nation presidential primary? It’s a preposterous question, here in 2014, but what the heck? We asked six experts to weigh in on some of the biggest political players. Our analysts are Wayne Lesperance, political science professor at New England College; Phil Boynton, president of the University of New Hampshire College Republicans; Peter Burling, Democratic national committeeman; Dante Scala, professor of political science at UNH; Jess Steever, vice president of the Plymouth State University Democrats; and Brandon Lemay, public relations officer for the PSU Democrats. Today, our panelists consider the Republicans. Tomorrow,...

**SNIP** Midterm elections are often a reflection of the approval rating of the incumbent president and now President Obama stands at 42.8%. And elections in the 6th year of a PresidentÂ’s term are usually not good for the incumbentÂ’s party. To make things even worse for Democrats, the issues of a weak economy and Obamacare make November look bleak for Harry Reid and his Senate Democratic cohorts. â—¾Alaska, Mark Begich â—¾Arkansas, Mark Pryor â—¾Louisiana, Mary Landrieu â—¾Michigan, Open Seat (liberal Democrat Carl Levin retiring) â—¾Montana, John Walsh â—¾North Carolina, Kay Hagan â—¾South Dakota, being vacated by retiring Democrat Tim Johnson...

Residents in some towns have begun standing up to the large armored vehicles that local police departments are receiving from the federal government. Six-figure grants from the Department of Homeland Security have been funding BearCats and other heavily fortified vehicles in towns and cities nationwide since soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Beginning last summer, the government also has handed out 200 surplus vehicles built to withstand mines and bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is considering requests from 750 more communities. Most police and citizens welcome the extra protection, saying recent mass shootings show any local force could find...

Two articles in two local papers provide two takes on the two to one vote that defeated the "universal background check" or "ban on private sales" a week ago on the 12th of February. Depending on whether you read the seacoastonline or the New Hampshire Union Leader, the bill went down to defeat because of confusing parliamentary wrangling (the house is controlled by Democrats 215-177) or the Democrats want the bill to go down, but did not want their names attached to its defeat. From seacoastonline: HB 1589 would have required most private sellers to conduct background checks through...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a message for Donald Trump about BuzzFeed blogger McKay Coppins, and it's one that other Republican officials might heed when liberal journalists come looking to "humanize" them. "This nervous geek isn't fit to tie the Donald's wingtips," Palin told Breitbart News after Trump ripped Coppins for lampooning him with what he alleged were out-of-context quotes and boorish behavior at Trump's Florida resort. "Don't ever give him attention again."Coppins tricked Trump's advisers into thinking he would profile Trump as a potential "major" GOP 2016 presidential hopeful. As Breitbart News reported, the Jan. 5 email...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is expected to receive a "hero's welcome" when he travels to Iowa and New Hampshire in the coming months after he again stood up against the GOP establishment on the vote to raise the debt ceiling without any reductions in spending. Conservative activists, according to the The Hill, are cheering Cruz for forcing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and others to vote to advance the legislation. On March 18, Cruz will keynote a Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators rally. On April 12, Cruz will attend the New Hampshire Freedom Summit, which is sponsored by Americans For Prosperity....

"Why could we not expel a student based on an allegation?" That astonishing question was posed at a conference on how colleges respond to sexual assault issues by Amanda Childress, Sexual Assault Awareness Program coordinator at Dartmouth. According to Inside Higher Ed, Childress continued: "It seems to me that we value fair and equitable processes more than we value the safety of our students. And higher education is not a right. Safety is a right. Higher education is a privilege." Give Childress credit for candor--even the campus spokespersons for increasing the number of guilty findings in campus tribunals usually aren't...

What's your line in the sand? When do you finally say, "Enough," decide to sell your house, pack up your things and move your life to another state that offers more freedom and liberty? For me and my family, the straw that broke the camel's back was the ludicrous and oppressive gun legislation enacted last year in Connecticut by progressive Democrats and weak-kneed, unprincipled Republicans. We are gun owners. We had been members of Connecticut Citizen's Defense League and many other Second Amendment and liberty organizations. There was no way we were going to submit to registration of anything that...

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Area firefighters were responding to an explosion at manufacturing plant in Peterborough Monday afternoon. The explosion took place at New Hampshire Ball Bearings, at 175 Jaffrey Rd. in Peterborough, N.H., according to the Jaffrey, N.H. Fire Department. Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/24684158/2014/02/10/explosion-reported-at-plant-in-peterborough#ixzz2sxOkKDoT

Looks like he is running. Typing in 'Scott Brown for Senate' gives a #1 Google result entitled just that, and it links to this website http://www.scottbrown.com/ So, the race is on in New Hampshire, since Shaheen has been running scared from two dangerous polls that show her in deep trouble against Brown. Personally, I don't like him, I don't trust him, and I probably wouldn't vote for him if I lived in NH... but Shaheen is just so damn unlikable. The woman looks like the kind of grandmother who'd give crappy presents. I admit it would be nice to see...

GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) on Sunday urged House Republicans to take up immigration reform, despite a “trust deficit” with President Obama. “Here’s the deal: The status quo is totally unacceptable,” she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer. “I think we should solve this. I think [Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)] can find a way forward. Certainly, the bill that came out of the Senate was not perfect, but it was a good solution to a hard problem,” Ayotte continued. “I think it’s an important issue to solve – not only for the country, but for the Republican...

**SNIP** Most notably, the president “stressed how important keeping the Senate is this year,” this person said. The discussion comes amid rising anxiety among some Democrats about how the president’s declining popularity might affect the party’s ability to maintain control of the Senate. Republicans are increasingly hopeful of picking up six or more seats to narrowly retake control of the chamber. Aides to two of the most at-risk Democrats – Mark Begich (Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) – confirmed that their bosses attending the meeting.

The Obama administration will announce the establishment of regional hubs focused on mitigating climate change on Wednesday. The hubs are the first-ever regional centers that will focus solely on risk adaptation and climate change solutions at seven locations across the country. "On the heels of passage of the farm bill, the administration will take executive action to help farmers, ranchers and rural communities combat climate change and adapt to extreme weather and other damage it causes," a White House official said in an email ahead of Wednesday's announcement. Dubbed "climate hubs," the new centers will address issues like increasing risks...

Gut-check time: Am I enough of a hack to blog a poll as silly as this purely to goose my readers with a frisson of anxiety over another Romney run? Even by the usual hot-garbage standards of early presidential polling, this one’s hard to redeem. They’ve got a guy in the lead who’s definitely, assuredly not running — per the “Mitt” documentary, he only ran in 2012 because he knew he was next in line for the nomination — and they’ve omitted two guys in Marco Rubio and Scott Walker who very well might be. How informative is a poll...

Not all juries are created equal. These days, nowhere is that clearer than in New Hampshire. A bill introduced earlier this month in the Granite State's House of Representatives would require judges to tell juries in every criminal case that they are free to exercise a long-standing but controversial power called "nullification." That means jurors can vote to acquit defendants not only if they have reasonable doubt of guilt, but also if they simply don't agree with the underlying law. Juries in criminal cases in the U.S. have long had the power to acquit using the nullification principle. But New...

Milford, NH --(Ammoland.com)- I know that New Hampshire Firearms Coalition ( NHFC ) President Jon Evans and I have been asking a lot of you lately. However, you the grass roots gun owners are our strength. To be honest, whenever the legislature is in session, our Second Amendment rights are at risk. We must be vigilant.While we have been warning you about SB 244, a bill that would create a new gun ban for tens of thousands of Granite Staters, the anti-gun activists have been preparing to pass a ban on private gun sales.The gun ban crowd is pushing HB 1589,...

The facts 1. There are 21 US Senate seats held by Democrats in the 2014 election. 2. There are nine US Senate seats held by Democrats in the 2016 election. This is likely to be 10 due to a special election in HI in 2014. 3. Republicans need to pick up six senate seats to have a majority. The Analysis The failures of ObamaCare and broken promises by Democrat senators create a target rich environment in 2014. This is a year Republicans have to do well. Winning a majority in the senate by only one seat or maintaining the status...

For years, American students have consistently ranked poorly compared to most developed nations. And according to a recently released study, the U.S. education system remains mediocre, receiving a C− grade, for the third year in a row. Click here to see the states with the best school systemsClick here to see the states with the worst school systemsEducation news and research publication Education Week released its 18th annual survey of the status of education in all 50 states. The K-12 Achievement Index is one indicator in Education Week’s “Quality Counts” report that measures key education outcomes and provides ranks and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bowing to a flurry of cost-cutting amendments on a bill extending unemployment benefits, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will allow votes on “reasonable” reforms. But he didn’t say when. Reid’s shuffle comes after Republicans blasted the Nevada Democrat for unilaterally blocking amendments that could yield $70 billion in taxpayer savings. “I am not surprised that Senator Reid is backtracking,” said David North. The immigration-law expert praised GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., for her amendment to halt IRS child tax-credit refunds going to illegal immigrants.

The Republican National Committee unveiled a slew of new radio ads Tuesday targeting vulnerable Democratic senators and Senate hopefuls on Obamacare -- including in two races where major would-be Republican challengers have yet to join the race.The ads are set to air in 40 media markets nationwide, including in New Hampshire, where Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is seeking re-election, and Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is running for a second term. Neither seat had been seriously considered to be in play, but a prominent Republican is now weighing a bid in each race: former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown in...