Free Republic

Mr. Ensign dismissed reports that contributions to the Republicans by disgruntled small donors are down this year. He maintained the party's contributor base is intact. The Republican Party long has boasted that it is the party of small donors while the Democratic Party has had to rely far more on wealthy contributors to finance election campaigns. He said the Republican Party never suffered a loss in small donors, only a shrinkage in the net amount of money raised - a decline that he said was not the result of small donors being disgusted with excessive Republican spending in Congress but...

Dear Republican Supporter, We did it. Less than an hour after Scott Bensing emailed you Friday, we smashed through our March fundraising goal -- setting a new online fundraising record for the NRSC. Thank you! I am pleased to report that the strong response helps fully fund our April grassroots plan for contacting voters and identifying new supporters. I believe March's strong response mirrors the momentum our Party and candidates are seeing nationally. We are depending on your support to help counter the efforts of radical groups such as MoveOn.org and Democracy For America. Each of these groups is targeting...

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) reported raising $2.6 million in August for its efforts to coordinate the party’s 2008 national campaign for Senate seats. In doing so, the DSCC continued to outperform its partisan counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), according to monthly reports filed late last week with the Federal Election Commission. There was some consolation for the GOP side, as the gap between the two committees was smaller than it has been in most of the months since the Democrats claimed control of the Senate in January. The Republicans’ Senate campaign unit raised $2.4 million in...

Entering the post-primary presidential campaign of 2004, political strategists, commentators and journalists believed that if any single state would represent the difference between victory and defeat in the general election, Ohio would be that state. As it happened, that universally accepted conventional wisdom proved to be absolutely correct. Thus, today, more than two years later, strategists from both parties are still scratching their heads over John Kerry's failure to legally transfer to Ohio, which he lost 51-49, a large chunk of the $12.4 million that remained in his pre-convention campaign account at the end of 2004.     In the same vein...

Republicans hope that will be one of MANY surprises on election night. They need them. With lots of struggling candidates, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is throwing a $900,000, buzzer-beating lifeline to the Wolverine State and Mike Bouchard, a sheriff who has been running an intense campaign against incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D), though with little national attention because of her lead in polls and fundraising. "Mike CAN win with the right resources and that's why we are coming in," says NRSC Communications Director Brian Nick. "He's running on the fact that the economy is the worst in the country...

this ad from the NRSC is simply devastating.

Contrary to published reports that the Republican National Committee has decided to "write off" the Ohio Senate race, the RNC is about to begin a new, statewide TV buy in Ohio on behalf of the candidacy of Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH). The buy, which costs in excess of $1 million, is scheduled to last for two weeks. Polling continues to show the Ohio contest between DeWine and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), to be close, though most state and national political observers believe that Brown has the advantage.

With a barrage of television advertisements and the mobilization of its get-out-the-vote machine, the national Republican Party has lined up in Rhode Island to beat back a conservative primary challenge to the most liberal Republican in the Senate, Lincoln Chafee. The outcome on Tuesday could help determine whether Democrats have a shot at taking back the Senate. In an extraordinary pre-emptive announcement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has said it will concede Rhode Island to the Democrats should Stephen Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, defeat Mr. Chafee in the primary.

Writing in Sunday's Washington Post, Marc Ambinder observed, “Both parties have well-financed internal agitators who yank tight the chains of ideological discipline -- think of MoveOn.Org on the left and the Club for Growth on the right ... The Republican base is fracturing around fiscal probity, immigration and cultural issues.” He's right. And it seems the Republican Party committees are actually working around-the-clock to expedite the process. It has been much noted that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has spent millions of dollars against conservative Steve Laffey in Rhode Island. But now, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has...

Sen. John Thune, who upset some Republicans last month when he suggested that GOP candidates distance themselves from President Bush on Iraq, has decided he won't seek the job of leading the Senate Republican campaign effort in 2008. Thune, who was considered a front-runner for the post, said the job would involve too much travel and time away from his family. Thune spokesman Kyle Downey said Monday that Thune would continue to raise money for GOP candidates on his own time. The freshman senator attracted attention in July when he advised candidates running this year to distinguish themselves from President...

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Democratic and Republic parties have raised $695 million in "hard money" in the last 18 months, the U.S. Federal Election Commission says. The FEC totaled funds raised for national, state and local elections from Jan. 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, and said Democratic committees were given $289.3 million while Republic committees took in $405.7 million. Republicans boasted some $112.1 million in cash on hand and the Democrats have $89.9 million in cash to draw on. Both parties have debts of about $2 million, the FEC said. The commission said individuals gave Democrats about 77 percent...

national Republican political committee that supports Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee yesterday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against the senator's Republican primary opponent, Stephen P. Laffey, accusing the two-term Cranston mayor of using taxpayer money to advance his Senate campaign. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group of Republican senators chaired by Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, claims that a letter from Laffey sent to Cranston residents last month with their tax bills was "a promotional campaign mailing at city taxpayer expense," according to a statement from the NRSC. A campaign spokeswoman for Laffey called the complaint "ridiculous and frivolous."

The campaign arm of Senate Republicans has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Republican candidate that they don't want in Rhode Island. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is backing Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a liberal Rhode Island Republican who is being challenged by conservative Stephen Laffey, the mayor of Cranston. The complaint focuses on a letter that Mr. Laffey sent to city property owners with their tax bills last month. In the letter, Mr. Laffey said he ran for mayor to put the city back on its feet and saved it from bankruptcy by creating a...

Sen. Debbie Stabenow's incompetence is catching up with her. It may have slid under the radar for a little while there but now it's officially out in the open -- thanks to a new website launched this past week by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The interactive site details how Debbie's incompetence has hurt more than helped her Michigan constituents back home. It exposes the senator's inability to deliver solutions to pressing issues -- such as the economy, Michigan's roads, immigration and medical malpractice. Hence the phrase used repeatedly on the website: "Thanks for Nothing, Debbie!" "In the six years...

President Bush suggested last night that Republicans must remain in control of Congress for the country to effectively combat terrorism and keep the economy healthy, speaking at a $27 million fundraiser meant to provide a needed boost to the campaign war chest of congressional Republicans. "The most important responsibility we have in Washington is to defend the people of the United States," he said. "When this country sees a threat, we must deal with it before it fully materializes." Bush addressed about 5,000 of the GOP's strongest supporters at the "President's Dinner," the largest fundraiser of the year for the...

Senate and House Democrats, optimistic about their election-year prospects, have more money in the bank for the midterm contests than their Republican counterparts. Some four months before the voting, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has $33.5 million cash on hand compared to $18.3 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the groups said Tuesday. The Democrats raised $4.7 million in May; the Republicans collected $4.3 million in the month. "Our fundraising success reflects a deep desire for change and recognition that the best way to get things back on track is by electing more Democrats to the Senate," said Sen....

From :  Senator Elizabeth Dole <news@gopsenators.com> Sent :  Friday, May 19, 2006 8:49 PM To :  <Brilliant> Subject :  Important Immigration Update | | | Elizabeth DoleChair, NRSC Hello folks, The Senate has been debating various aspects of immigration this week to strengthen border security and reform our nation's immigration policy. I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know what's really been going on, and where Republicans and Democrats stand on these critical issues. When given the opportunity to vote for true border security--including 370 miles of triple-layered fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers along our border with Mexico--15 Democrats voted against the proposal....

We know the Democrats have had no legislative agenda during this Congress, but their political agenda is becoming clearer by the day. They want the White House in 2008. But they know their policies won't fly with the American people. So they've embarked on a plan to take control of Congress in 2006 and then use Congress to initiate a long series of investigations and possible impeachment to win the White House in 2008. You know that Senator Russ Feingold has introduced legislation to "censure" President Bush. He has called for hearings and has vocalized his support for possible impeachment....

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has dedicated a section of its website to the reelection of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (D-R.I.), one of the liberal Democrats who voted against Justice Alito's confirmation this week. Oddly, the NRSC seems to be under the misimpression that Sen. Chafee--who in 2004 proclaimed that it was "impossible" for him to vote for President George W. Bush's reelection in light of the President's "divisive," "far-right-wing agenda"--is a Republican. Equally peculiarly, the NRSC site attacks Steve Laffey, the lone Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island. The NRSC page attacking Laffey has a comment section,...

A multimillionaire businessman entered the GOP race to challenge Sen. Robert C. Byrd on Wednesday, hoping to deny the 88-year-old incumbent Democrat a record ninth term. John Raese, 55, said he would campaign on a platform touting free enterprise ... a rebirth of capitalism... The National Republican Senatorial Committee heralded the filing by Raese, a former state GOP chairman who has sought office before. Though four other Republicans are running in the party primary, the GOP committee called Raese "the first financially credible opponent Byrd has faced since 1982." Raese's last major foray into election politics came nearly 18 years...

Who Is Harry Kidding? In Speech Blasting Republicans For A Culture Of Corruption Harry Reid Demonstrates His Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds Reid Pointed Fingers At President Bush For "Stonewalling" About His Connections To Jack Abramoff Reid Today: “Finally, we must hear the President commit to honest leadership. In his 2000 campaign, George Bush promised to bring ‘dignity’ to the White House, but we’ve since found that he brought Jack Abramoff instead. President Bush needs to quit stonewalling about his White House’s connection to corruption, and finally tell us how he’s going to reform Washington. Honest leadership is not a partisan...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic committee that handles races for the U.S. Senate holds more than a 2-1 financial advantage over its GOP counterpart at the start of this midterm election year.The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has $25 million in the bank and raised $44 million in 2005. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has $10.5 million in the bank after raising $35.5 million last year. Neither committee reported any outstanding debt.Democrats said it's the first time in their memory they have had such an edge over the GOP in cash on hand. "Americans don't like what they're seeing in Washington...

WASHINGTON — Republicans say open races in states where a Democrat is retiring offer them the best chance to increase their Senate majority. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, offered an upbeat perspective on the 2006 races Monday. The GOP holds a 55-44 advantage in the chamber, with one Democratic-leaning independent. Dole cited Minnesota, where the party has a single candidate, Rep. Mark Kennedy, running against a number of Democrats hoping to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton. The same is true in Maryland, where the GOP is backing Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, while several...

Raese pressed to take on Byrd By Peter Savodnik  The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) are pressing John Raese, a West Virginia media mogul, to challenge Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) this year.Raese is a former state Republican Party chairman who owns radio stations and a newspaper in the state. He ran for the Senate in 1984 and for governor in 1988, both times unsuccessfully.NRSC spokesman Dan Ronayne said Raese had met with Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), the committee’s chairwoman. “We’re really excited about this guy, and we hope he gets in,” Ronayne said. Raese also...

A Republican Problem? Not So Fast Senator Reid Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid Has Tried to Distanced Himself From Abramoff, While Labeling The Scandal A Republican Problem Reid Called Abramoff A “Republican Scandal.” “So don’t lump me in with Jack Abramoff. This is a Republican scandal. Don’t try to give any of it to me.” (Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), “Fox News Sunday,” December 18, 2005) Reid Says He Has “Not A Thing” To Worry About With Regard To Abramoff. “Reid said at a news conference in Carson City that he has ‘not a thing’ to be worried about as far...

Dems Two-Faced Over Abramoff Bankrupt Of Real Ideas, Montana Democrats Continue Playing Politics With Tenuous Abramoff Connections MONTANA DEMOCRATS DEMANDED A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL RECUSE HIMSELF FROM ABRAMOFF INVESTIGATION BECAUSE OF HIS TIES TO SEN. BURNS This Week, Montana Democrat Party Chair Dennis McDonald Sent A Letter To U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer Suggesting He Recuse Himself From Any Abramoff Investigation Involving Senator Burns Because Of “A Very Obvious Conflict Of Interest.” (Montana Democrat Party Website, www.montanademocrats.org, Accessed January 6, 2005) Recently, A Montana Democrat Party Spokesman Admitted Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Was A “Centerpiece” Of Their Campaign Against Burns. “Democratic...

- - A Red-State Survival Manual: Do’s And Don’ts For Liberals Entering A Strange And Unfamiliar World “Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning a five-city tour of ‘red’ states early next month . . . . Going after Bush in states he’s won twice in presidential elections, Reid’s whistle-stop tour is designed to send a message that Democrats intend to compete in places they have largely ignored in recent election cycles . . . . Reid will be making stops in Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Neb., and Pocatello, Idaho.” (Paul Kane, “Reid To Make Case In...

Despite being New York's less-famous senator, Charles Schumer stayed busy in 2005, keeping a hand — or quote — in almost every major congressional battle. Now he is out to prove he has the strategy to elect Senate Democrats and maybe wrest control from the Republicans. Schumer, the head of Senate Democrats' campaign efforts, said Tuesday he is focusing on seven states where he believes they can take GOP-held Senate seats in 2006: Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, and Arizona."If the stars align right we could actually take back the Senate," Schumer said. The Senate currently has 55...

  Make your voice heard!The members of the United States Senate need to hear your opinion on Immigration reform policy.Click here now to take our National Survey on Immigration Policy.Making your voice heard is important because Immigration reform is a critical issue that needs to be addressed.You can make an impact by stepping forward today and registering your opinions on questions leaders in the Senate will be debating in the coming weeks.  Elizabeth DoleChair, NRSC Illegal immigration is putting a major strain on local, state and federal government. It impacts our national security, our economy, education system, and health...

Laffey – A Conservative Alternative?? “I don’t have a plan, no one has a plan that actually lowers taxes.”–Mayor Steven Laffey, 1/29/2003 Today, Club for Growth, a self-described conservative 527 organization, endorsed Steven Laffey for Rhode Island’s U.S. Senate seat. In a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, Club for Growth Chairman, Pat Toomey, implies that Mr. Laffey will carry the Ronald Reagan torch for limited government and tax reductions. In fact, Club for Growth portrays Mr. Laffey's record as Mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island as one that highlighted hard-nosed spending cuts to correct Cranston’s troubled budget woes. That is plainly and...

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is planning a public-relations offensive tying leading Democrats to lobbyist Jack Abramoff in an effort to neutralize accusations that Republicans have been embroiled in a “culture of corruption.” The campaign will zero in on Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, both Michigan Democrats; and the Democratic Senatorial Committee (DSCC), among others, for taking money from Abramoff’s former clients. Stabenow is up for reelection next year; Reid and Levin are not. With the entry of Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard (R) into the Senate race in Michigan, many leading...

The latest from PoliticalMoneyLine shows Republicans with leads in nearly all categories. But in some cases, the margins are not as big as they used to be, and in the case of the Senate fundraising race, the numbers show that top Democratic fundraiser Charles Schumer is pursuing contributions with the same energy that he pursues TV cameras, which is not good news for the GOP. Receipts 10/1/05 to 10/31/05: Republican Natl Cmte $7,576,417 Democratic Natl Cmte $5,224,453 National Republican Congressional Cmte $4,210,410 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte $1,582,746 National Republican Senatorial Campaign Cmte $2,350,853 National Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte $3,030,580 Cash...

Warwick, R.I. -- Liberal Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee refused to support President Bush in the last election, opposed the GOP tax cuts and was the only Republican to vote against the use of military force in Iraq, a war he has likened to Vietnam. So why, a year before the election, is the GOP embracing Chafee and spending close to $200,000 on television ads aimed at undercutting his conservative rival in the Republican primary, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey? Like him or not, Republicans consider Chafee their best chance to win in heavily Democratic Rhode Island.

In a bizarre tactic that has left many Democrat strategists and centrist Democratic groups puzzled and disturbed, the Democratic leadership has jumped even further to the left since their last election defeats. The results have been staggering and numerous, and well-documented in the press, and have caused an acute case of political heartburn among many Democrat members and liberal pundits. Shortly after the 2004 election, left-wing radical group Move-On.org proudly pronounced that “Now it’s our party: we bought it, we own it and we’re going to take it back.” And it was of course correct on all accounts. Enter Howard...

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE Instructions: Complete this survey by clicking the box next to your answer for each question. You do not need to answer every question. Click submit when you are finished answering your survey. Take Survey! Do you believe illegal immigrants already in our country, holding jobs, should be granted a conditional amnesty? Yes No Unsure Should the U.S. military be empowered to patrol the border with Mexico? Yes No Unsure Do you support an expanded guest worker program that allows foreign nationals to come to this nation for a limited time if they are sponsored by companies...

Is Laffey the Best Medicine? Meet the Pat Toomey of 2006. Steve Laffey wants to become the Pat Toomey of 2006, with one important difference. Whereas former congressman Toomey failed in his bid to unseat liberal Republican senator Arlen Specter in last year’s Pennsylvania GOP primary, Laffey hopes to upset liberal Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee in next September’s Rhode Island GOP primary. “Our nation is not in good financial shape,” says Laffey. “I want to give the smallest state the strongest voice in the Senate.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee is so concerned about Laffey that it’s already running a...

On Monday, The Washington Post ran a story about the supposed failure of Republicans to recruit capable candidates for some 2006 Senate races. The article paraphrased a “senior Republican” operative blaming a “confluence of problems from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina and high gasoline prices” for the failure to attract GOP candidates. Simply blaming “hard times” for recruitment failures is a cop-out. Hard times present just as many opportunities as perils to the recruitment process.If there are McCain-like Republicans seeking to run on a platform of independence, what better time? You can run against one part of your own party’s record...

For GOP, Election Anxiety MountsCandidates Need Convincing for '06 By Charles Babington and Chris CillizzaWashington Post Staff WritersMonday, October 10, 2005; A01 Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to run for Senate next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals a broader decline in GOP congressional prospects.Prominent Republicans have passed up races in North Dakota and West Virginia, both GOP-leaning states with potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Earlier, Republican recruiters on Capitol Hill and at the White House failed to lure their first choices to run in...

For GOP, Election Anxiety Mounts Candidates Need Convincing for '06 By Charles Babington and Chris Cillizza Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, October 10, 2005; A01 Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to run for Senate next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals a broader decline in GOP congressional prospects. Prominent Republicans have passed up races in North Dakota and West Virginia, both GOP-leaning states with potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Earlier, Republican recruiters on Capitol Hill and at the White House failed to lure their first...

The NRSC quickly waded into US Senator Linc Chafee's 2006 re-election race. The party organization is already running harsh TV spots in the state attacking investment banker and Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, Chafee's conservative GOP primary opponent. The commercials try to tie Laffey to the unpopular oil industry and high gas prices, blasting Laffey for having previously run "a company selling oil industry stocks on Wall Street. Profiting from offshore oil drilling. The oil companies made a fortune. Steve Laffey made a fortune."

This is not how Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) hoped things would turn out. High-profile candidates she hoped could defeat incumbent Democrats are shying away from 2006, and some of her own Republican colleagues are looking vulnerable. On Monday, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) bowed out of a race next year against Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Late last week, Gov. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he wouldn’t challenge Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) next year. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which Dole chairs, has failed to recruit candidates it considers top-tier in Michigan, Florida and Vermont; no one is challenging Sen. Jeff...

Please click the link! Take Action! Sign a Petition in Support of John Roberts Sign the NRSC petition in support of President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge John G. Roberts Jr. The extreme left-wing special interest groups like MoveOn.org and Alliance for Justice are working to smear Judge Roberts. They will say and do anything to prevent the confirmation of a commonsense, and strict constructionist judge to the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, their liberal allies in the Senate, Senator Dick Durbin and Senator Ted Kennedy are ready to do everything in their power to stop Judge Roberts'...

WASHINGTON -- Mired in August's dog days, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) last week released a four-page opposition research paper on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. The female Democratic senator deserving greater scrutiny, however, was Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. A vulnerable Stabenow appears headed for a second term, pointing to broad Republican failure. The hard truth is that the NRSC's 2006 recruitment under Sen. Elizabeth Dole's chairmanship has mostly failed. The remote possibility of Rudy Giuliani running was the only conceivable threat to Clinton. Stabenow offered a more realistic target, but recruitment of a viable challenger fell...

Washington, D.C. – Today the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) announced a large advertising buy in West Virginia beginning tomorrow. The television spot, titled “Change,” will focus on the evolution of Senator Robert Byrd’s (D-WV) voting record in Congress. This is the first media buy for the 2006 cycle by the NRSC. The ad can be viewed at: https://www.gopsenators.com/byrd Script: Announcer: “Nineteen fifty-two . . . War in Korea . . . and Robert Byrd went to Congress. Lot’s changed since then . . . Byrd voted for soldiers in the fifties . . . Today, against body armor in...

"Six months into the 2006 election cycle, Senate Democrats have set a torrid fundraising pace and have roughly twice the available campaign cash their GOP counterparts do, soon-to-be filed fundraising reports will show," Roll Call reports. "Senate Democrats’ fundraising has been buoyed by a variety of factors, including the high-profile battle over judicial nominations and the tenacity and New York fundraising base of DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer."

NRSC Orders a Pizza (CEO) By Nicole Duran Roll Call Staff July 5, 2005 National Republicans are hoping for a delivery from Domino’s Pizza; and they’re willing to wait more than 30 minutes to get it.

Frustrated with the White House and a key Republican, supporters of Rep. Katherine Harris' (R-Fla.) 2006 Senate campaign lashed out at the administration yesterday for seeking to convince another prominent GOP official to enter the race. "It's unimaginable that the White House folks and the National Republican Senatorial Committee would be so disloyal to Katherine Harris, especially after all she has done for the Bush family and the Republican Party," a Florida political operative who supports Harris said. "It's unconscionable and a stab in the back." Harris backers are irritated that State House Speaker Allan Bense met with White House...

With all due respect to the political insight of Dick Morris (and he deserves much), he is quite wrong about his belief that Cong. Shelley Moore Capito--D-WV has a chance to defeat Sen. Robert Byrd--D-WV. It is unlikely that he will come down to defeat when otherwise Republican business owners won't cough up the money to make the Republican machine work. The WV GOP was severly choked in 2004 because these businesses were unwilling to buck Democrats who held and wielded a serious threat of reprisal. In the aftermath, the GOP there is in shambles. More of that later. Morris...

Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, issued the following statement on the judicial compromise: "Although I am pleased that some of the President's qualified judicial nominees are finally getting the fair up or down vote they deserve, I am disappointed that not all nominees will be afforded that same courtesy. The understanding made by the group of fourteen made clear that judicial philosophy is not a legitimate reason to filibuster qualified judges. If Democrats should choose to continue their unprecedented use of the filibuster, we should immediately move to the constitutional option. Although I believe...

President Bush was attending his second Republican fundraiser this year, a private affair to collect cash for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group working to expand the GOP's majority in the Senate. Bush made an appearance Wednesday night at a committee reception at Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's home. The event was expected to raise at least $3.5 million, according to the committee. The committee, led by Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., raises funds and recruits Republican candidates for the 2006 Senate races. In the 2004 election, the GOP expanded its Senate majority by four seats. The NRSC raised about...