Free Republic

Republican voters in Utah ousted Rep. Chris Cannon in Tuesday’s GOP primary, expressing their dissatisfaction with the six-term congressman over his left-of-center positions on immigration by nominating a challenger who made crackdowns on illegal immigration a central part of his platform. Cannon was trounced by Jason Chaffetz, the former chief of staff to Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah.) With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Cannon trails Chaffetz by 20 points – 60 to 40 percent. The AP has called the race for Chaffetz.

The Senate began what is expected to be a weeklong, contentious debate Monday over legislation to combat global warming by mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.Senators voted 74-14 to proceed to the bill, but immediately it became clear Republican opponents were not going to make it easy. A request by Democrats to begin considering substantive changes in the bill was blocked by GOP opponents until Wednesday at the earliest. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada promised a thorough debate that will probably last through the week, if not longer. He said it's clear that "global warming...

The Republican Party is dead. That’s what the smart people say. The “brand” has lost its meaning. I don’t know if the party is dead, but I do know it has lost its soul. It has abandoned its traditions and principles, and America seems to be just about done with it. Ironically, those who want to save it are the ones who have killed it. When Arnold Schwarzenegger says he wants to chart the course of the Republican Party, you might as well turn off the lights and go out of business. The Republican Party has lost its purpose by...

From Charles, a commenter at Fred File. He makes a strong case why, despite what the media & his opponents would like to see, Fred Thompson should continue in the race to the White House. The Job Interview Process Is Not Over The United States of America is the greatest enterprise to ever exist in the history of the world. It is looking for its’ next CEO and yesterday 71,000 of its “shareholders” have asked Fred Thompson to return for his next “interview”. I am hoping that he continues campaigning as they see this process the same way I do:...

Over the weekend, Kansas Republican leaders formed what they’re calling a “loyalty committee,” a move that’s ticking off moderates and conservatives alike. It is never a sign of strength when your group, country or otherwise starts imposing loyalty oaths, or so I told Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kris Kobach over the phone on Tuesday. “That’s probably a fair criticism,” he said. Yet, beginning next January, the state GOP will begin purging its leadership — all the way down to the precinct level — of any party official who actively supports non-Republicans for office. “One weakness we’ve had is that on...

I've long assumed that the Republican Party platform included pro-life, pro-family and pro 1st and 2nd amendment planks. Is this true or false? Or is the platform amended each election cycle to conform to the positions of the top polling potential presidential nominee (ie, the one with the most money or star billing and the MSM eye)? If these planks are based on longstanding, sound conservative principles and are sincerely respected and upheld by the majority of the members, then I'd like to propose a motion that before being seriously considered by the official party powers that be, prospective nominees...

--Advertisement-- --Advertisement-- Evolving wisdom and original reporting from the staff of the Hotline « WH 08: "Run, Tom, Run" | Main | The Big Number: 30 » September 08, 2006 House Race Hotline Update: Huff Over Huffman An unusual GOP primary is taking place 9/12 in AZ 08, where the NRCC is attacking front-runner Randy Graf while the DCCC is rooting for him. Graf has a loyal base of support because of his hard-line stance on immigration. But many GOPers fear he's unelectable in the general. Instead, they're spending over $100K to back state Rep. Steve Huffman, who fits...

WASHINGTON - An Arizona congressional race has sparked a rift between Rep. Tom Tancredo and the Colorado Republican Party. Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, is backing a fellow, hard-line opponent of illegal immigration, Randy Graf, in Tuesday's GOP primary in an open-seat race. Much of the national Republican establishment has lined up behind another candidate, Steve Huffman. This week, the Colorado Republican Committee sent Huffman a $5,000 contribution, Federal Election Commission records show. The Colorado contribution angers Tancredo, who has used his profile on immigration to boost state Republicans recently. "He's definitely not happy about it," spokesman Carlos Espinosa said Friday....

LEBANON, Pa.--The Republican primary of 2006 in this state has been called a "political massacre," an "earthquake" and "payback." It has been discussed in media outlets across the country and across the political spectrum. Now, more than two weeks have elapsed since May 16, and pundits, editorial writers and political analysts are still trying to figure out what led to the defeat of 16 incumbent state legislators--including Pennsylvania's top two state Senate Republicans--at the hands of underfunded, and in several cases--including mine--unknown challengers. Many, including some of those incumbents who lost, are crediting (or blaming) the huge pay raise of...

Kean and Menendez "Perfect Together" On Broken Border Crisis In Advance of Bush Speech to Nation (Ridgewood, May 15, 2006) - John Ginty, the conservative candidate in this year's Republican U.S. Senate primary election in New Jersey, challenged liberal candidate Tom Kean, Jr. to a wide-ranging debate on border security and the uncontrolled flow of illegal aliens from around the world into American territory. In an email sent to the Kean campaign and in advance of tonight's speech by President Bush about the worsening border crisis, Ginty said, "Republican voters deserve to question the candidates for the U.S. Senate nomination...

Readers are all over me for calling the Board of Directors of the California GOP “nuts” this morning. Okay, the members of the Board aren’t actually insane—Duf Sundheim, the chairman of the party, is a lawyer here in Palo Alto whom I know to be hard-working and public-spirited, a man who is only too happy to perform an unpaid job that lots of people wouldn’t touch. But I still think endorsing Arnold was a whopper of a mistake. How come? As far back as the 1966 gubernatorial campaign of Ronald Reagan, the California GOP has been divided into two camps,...

Is Free Republic too "Republican?" I've been receiving a lot of complaints lately that FR is not really conservative, it's Republican. Is that a bad thing? When I started FR (see the wayback machine) I don't think I even used the labels conservative or Republican. But, even though I was a registered Democrat at the time (I registered when I was very young), I was definitely anti-Democrat. And definitely anti-big government, anti-government corruption, anti-government abuse, anti-liberalism, etc. And I still am. As FR became more and more popular, people started referring to it as a "conservative" web site and so...