Free Republic

How does an underfunded candidate defend himself against a big onslaught of negative attack ads? Newt Gingrich tried leveraging the media attention received from going nasty and personal in response and ended up flaming out in Florida and a string of caucuses in the last three weeks. Rick Santorum has decided to use humor to just attack the attack in a new ad running called "Rombo": CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO In its morning e-mail blast, Politico reports on the strategy, which purposefully avoids what it sees as the mistakes made by Gingrich in January: Campaign leaders feel that...

Conventional wisdom has Ohio being vulnerable to a Democratic rollback in 2012 after a GOP sweep in 2010. Approval ratings for Governor John Kasich have been low after his reforms of public-employee unions in a state where Big Labor is thought to have a wide reach. However, a new Quinnipiac poll on a proposed right-to-work reform may indicate that their power is not as broad as first thought: Despite the overwhelming victory by organized labor and its allies in repealing SB 5 in this past election, by 54 – 40 percent Ohio voters favor the idea of passing a “right-to-work�...

Republicans voting in the Ohio presidential primary March 6 will get to vote twice on the Republican nominee for president. However, supporters of former U.S. senator Rick Santorum in Alliance, Lexington Township and Carroll County can vote for him just once. Republicans will decide in the primary which groups of delegates, who support a particular presidential candidate, will represent Ohio at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August.

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

We’ve all heard the axiom, “as goes Ohio, so goes the nation”. In fact, no Republican has ever won the Presidency without winning Ohio. And for this year’s GOP presidential primary, Ohio is the top prize in what is turning out to be a critical Super Tuesday on March 6th. In fact, just yesterday analyst Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics identified Ohio as the key state between a Romney runaway and the possibility of a brokered convention. So the viability of a three-way split probably comes down to Ohio, which has a fair number of evangelicals, though not to...

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has been confirmed as the speaker for the Brown County Republican Party Lincoln Day this Friday. According to party chairman Paul Hall, the conservative Republican presidential candidate's visit will be a first for the county. "A few weeks ago, me and the vice-chair were talking and we said, 'Let's invite Rick Santorum. All he can do is say no.' But he talked to us, and put us in touch with his schedulers," Hall said Sunday afternoon. "He officially confirmed last night at 7:30."

Note: Photo and Graphic Included. NOTE The following text is a quote: FIGHTING TERROR 14 Indicted for Supporting al Shabaab 08/05/10 Two Americans are under arrest and 12 other U.S. citizens have been charged with acts of terrorism that include providing money, personnel, and other material support to the Somali-based terrorist organization al Shabaab. Results of an FBI-led global investigation were announced today at Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, where indictments were unsealed charging individuals in Minnesota, Alabama, and California. Twelve of the 14 under indictment are fugitives believed to be in Somalia. About al Shabaab On Feb. 29,...

A new poll from Public Policy Polling (D) shows that while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is sewing up the Republican nomination, the process is dragging him down in key swing states — PPP numbers from Ohio show that a 56 percent majority of general election voters now view Romney unfavorably, which leads to a seven point deficit in a matchup with President Obama. Obama leads Romney 49 - 42 in the new Ohio poll, a state where the political ground has shifted greatly over the last few months. After the massive defeat of SB 5, the anti-union legislation pushed...

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Mitt Romney might want to relish his likely victory in Florida because he has trouble ahead of him in Missouri and Ohio. According to a new Public Policy Polling poll, Romney is trailing Newt Gingrich 30-24 among likely Missouri caucus voters. Sandwiched in between Romney and Gingrich is Rick Santorum who polled at 28 percent in Missouri’s caucus. Missouri is voting in both a caucus and primary this year. The primary election won’t select the candidate the state is giving delegate to because Missouri was going to be penalized for moving its state election up this year....

MOORE, Okla. - While he wasn’t carrying a wrench and a plunger, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher — a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber” — offered a pumped-up Tea Party crowd in Moore a lot of common sense and “Average Joe” ideas on a blustery Friday night. Sponsored by the Oklahoma City, Norman and Grady County Tea Parties, along with the Bott Radio Network, Wurzelbacher spoke before a large dinner crowd of Republican and conservative activists at First Baptist Church of Moore as part of the “Renovate Washington, Not the Constitution” political event, as a way to kick off the 2012 election season. Wurzelbacher,...

Akron, Ohio, January 26, 2012 — FirstEnergy Corp. generation subsidiaries will retire six older coal-fired power plants located in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland by September 1, 2012. The decision to close the power plants is based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which were recently finalized, and other environmental regulations. The total capacity of the competitive plants that will be retired is 2,689 MW. Recently, these plants served mostly as peaking or intermediate facilities, generating, on average, about 10 percent of the electricity produced by the company over the past three years. The following plants...

The Barack Obama administration is quietly in the process of rigging use of the US Census of 2010, which deliberately counted millions of illegal aliens, for the purpose of restructuring the apportionment of the US House of Representatives. Accordingly, as candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of one of the negatively affected states (Montana), Mr. Bob Fanning and I have joined with several others in becoming amici curiae in a pending federal lawsuit brought by the State of Louisiana against the US Secretary of Commerce, et al., which was filed January, 13, 2012 in the United States Supreme Court. What...

As rancorous and partisan as Congress was in 2011, Capitol Hill looks to be even more politically charged this year, as House Republican leaders plan a sustained attack on the Obama administration’s domestic agenda. House Speaker John A. Boehner said Friday he has asked all House committee chairmen to review President Obama’s economic and jobs policies to find ways to counterbalance “the devastating impact these policies have on our economy.”

Auroras may dazzle more people than usual this weekend as Earth receives a glancing blow from an enormous solar outburst that erupted on Jan. 19. The outburst, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), was detected by sun-watching satellites. Researchers at the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute predict that auroras should be visible from Seattle, Des Moines, Chicago, and Cleveland, to Boston and Halifax, Nova Scotia Saturday and Sunday nights, weather permitting. ... Space Weather Center forecasters say they expect the encounter to generate a weak geomagnetic disturbance beginning around 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Sunday Jan. 22 and lasting...

I think John Kasich would be a great choice for the Newt's VP. The Governor or Ohio, an important swing state and someone that worked on balancing the budget with Newt in Congress. This would also lay the groundwork for a conservative successor to 8 years of Newt. We could have 16 years of conservative leadership to undo all the damage the O did in the last 4 years.

Republicans in the House of Representatives said on Wednesday they plan to introduce a bill to advance TransCanada's Keystone XL oil pipeline to try to override President Barack Obama's rejection of the $7 billion project. House Speaker John Boehner told reporters "all options are on the table" to craft a bill to fight for the pipeline, which Republicans say would create thousands of jobs and bolster the economic recovery. "There are legislative vehicles that will be moving in the weeks and months ahead," Boehner said. House Republicans have not yet decided what kind of legislation they will push, said Lee...

Link only per FR copyright rules: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/16/portman-will-endorse-romney-probably-pretty-soon/

President Barack Obama stood in the gymnasium of upscale Shaker Heights High School in suburban Cleveland on Jan. 4, in front of high school students and supporters. “Hello, Ohio!” he declared. “Ah, it is good to be back in Ohio … good to be back in Shaker Heights, home of the Red Raiders.” “Mr. President, I love you!” an audience member shouted. “I love you back,” he said, to the delight of the crowd. “And I'm glad to be back. I'm glad to be here.” Obama has traveled to Ohio 17 times since becoming president. His vice-president, Joe Biden, has...

Hollywood Casino will hold a series of job fairs this month to fill some of the 800 to 900 positions needed to staff the Toledo gambling facility. The casino will hire about 1,200 people, and the job fairs are an efficient way to conduct interviews, said Chrystal Herndon, vice president of human resources for Hollywood. The casino has been flooded with job applications, and the job fairs ensure people are not left wondering whether their application has been vetted, Ms. Herndon said. The job fairs are scheduled for: 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at Raceway Park, 5700 Telegraph Rd. 11...

The foul-mouthed Canton, OH police officer who threatened to shoot an armed citizen in the head over his concealed pistol last summer has been fired, but he reportedly plans to appeal. Harless confronted a private citizen named William Bartlett in early June 2010 when the officer stopped to check out a vehicle parked on the side of the street. Bartlett’ sin was in not immediately advising Harless and another officer that he was carrying a concealed handgun, as required by Ohio statute. The problem, as can be seen by viewing the video, is that Harless never gave Bartlett the chance,...

Actual title is : Obama violated Senate norms to appoint this guy? New financial protection chief accused of misusing state funds (FR needs more space for title- I always have to alter Aaron's titles to post them) Sparking Republican charges he violated Senate norms, President Obama today used his recess appointment powers to name a head for the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. KleinOnline first reported last month that consumer groups had been calling on Obama to seize rarely-used powers in to make a recess appointee for Richard Cordray, the nominee for what the government bills as a new consumer...

Should Obama have appointed Cordray to his new watchdog position? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Yes No Not without support from Senate Republicans Unsure

Kucinich to challenge fellow Ohio DemBy Cameron Joseph - 12/28/11 11:24 AM ET Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) will run against fellow Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur next year. He will file the paperwork on Wednesday afternoon, he announced. Redistricting erased two House seats in Ohio, pushing the two incumbents into a single district. The new district contains areas of Kucinich's Cleveland base and Kaptur's Toledo base. After publicly shopping for a district in Washington state and mulling a challenge to Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Kucinich decided enough of his base was intact to mount a primary challenge against Kaptur, who is...

With the Iowa caucuses just days away, the Republican crack-up threatens the future of the Grand Old Party more profoundly than at any time since the GOP's eclipse in 1932. That's bad for America. The crack-up isn't just Romney-the-smooth versus Gingrich-the-bomb-thrower. Not just House Speaker John Boehner, who keeps making agreements he can't keep, versus House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who keeps making trouble he can't control. And not just the GOP establishment versus the Tea Partiers.The underlying conflict lies deep in the nature and structure of the Republican Party. And its roots are very old. As political analyst Michael...

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) — For "Anybody but Romney" Republicans in a key conservative region of Ohio, Newt Gingrich has been picking up support as an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. The former House speaker has moved to the top in recent polling in Ohio, just as Republican presidential candidates prepare for the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, followed closely by the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Ohio's presidential primary is scheduled for March 6, one of the biggest prizes for Republicans among about a dozen states voting on "Super Tuesday." Mitt Romney hasn't excited some of the...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Scanners Cuyahoga County has used to tally election results since 2008 are defective, missing some votes, freezing up inexplicably and failing to log problems, according to a federal government agency. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission released its findings this week, after a 20-month investigation spurred by an April 2010 Plain Dealer story. The paper reported a tenth of the machines arbitrarily powered down and locked up, failing certification tests required by federal law. The manufacturer, Omaha-Neb.-based Elections Systems & Software Inc., tried to fix the problems this year, but the upgrade actually created more problems, according to...

Gov. John Kasich (R., Ohio) swears he never lost his focus on jobs. But last month, he and his allies in the state legislature suffered a significant defeat. In a ballot initiative, Ohioans voted 61 to 39 percent to repeal Senate Bill 5, which had limited public employees’ ability to use collective bargaining. Kasich had hoped to incorporate the legislation into the state budget — and thus shield it from a repeal effort — but a rogue state senator introduced the bill as a stand-alone, and eventually, Kasich had to defend it. With a 36 percent approval rating, however, Kasich...

FREDERICKSBURG, Ohio -- An Ohio sheriff says a man cleaning his muzzle-loading rifle accidentally shot and killed a 15-year-old Amish girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away. Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly said Tuesday that the accident occurred Thursday night when a man fired his loaded rifle to clean it. He says the victim, Rachel Yoder of Fredericksburg, was nearly 1.5 miles away when she was shot in the head. No charges have been filed. Yoder was shot while traveling to her home in adjacent Wayne County, between Columbus and Akron. She was riding alone after attending...

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday said Senate Democrats are done negotiating with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). "Trying to negotiate with Speaker Boehner is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall," Schumer said on MSNBC. The Senate passed a two-month extension of the backed payroll tax cut legislation in a 89-10 vote on Saturday morning. The House was expected to pass the proposal until Boehner voiced the rejection by House Republicans on Sunday. Boehner said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that legislating tax policy two months at a time is "kicking the can down the road." Schumer expressed...

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner says he opposes a Senate-approved bill extending a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months and wants congressional bargainers to write a new measure that would last an entire year. The Ohio Republican said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the Senate's two-month bill would be "kicking the can down the road." He mentioned items in the House version of the bill that were not in the Senate legislation, including restrictions on Obama administration curbs on industrial pollution. Boehner's comments came a day after the Senate easily approved a...

Now comes citizen Newt, clear of voice, deepened in his determination to tackle an issue that is basically his alone to tout; because unlike his leading rival Romney who can not get his arms around something that he can’t take two different positions on; Newt is the real solid constitutional deal. Iowa is not the only state where this should be stirring some turbulent political waters. Conservatives in states like South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan, as well as other GOP political king making states, should be taking careful notes. Core values issues like preserving life, a...

The Ohio General Assembly approved a measure to combine the two scheduled 2012 primaries into a single date, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Yesterday House Bill 369 repealed the change to two primaries which would have pushed Ohio's 2012 Presidential primary into June. The change from the traditional "Super Tuesday" date was deemed necessary because the new political redistricting map was not yet approved. Governor John Kasich signed the bill into law, making March 6 officially the 2012 primary date, according to the Dayton Daily News.

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Josh Barro has a great piece in NRO today about the President embracing private sector compensation reform rather than layoffs. Obama cites Marvin Windows and Doors, a Minnesota company that cut pay and benefits but avoided any layoffs during the economic downturn. It's worth reading in full, but here's an excerpt: But let’s take a closer look at the Marvin model that Obama is praising. The president noted that Marvin’s workers “agree[d] to give up some perks and some pay,” but there wasn’t really an agreement — the workers’ options were to take the pay cut or quit. As one...

On Tuesday morning, the braintrust of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign gathered a select handful of reporters to make a simple case: the incumbent has a number of different paths — five, to be exact — he can follow to win the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure a second term. Since we’ve spent lots and lots of time breaking down the electoral map — and making the case that Obama is stronger than his job approval ratings indicate — we thought it might be fun to look at each of the paths laid out by his team to see...

Last week, the Cleveland city council held an emergency meeting to determine its stance on Occupy Cleveland as well as the Occupy movement at large. Resolution 1720-11 was approved by the City Council will a vote of 18 yeas and only 1 nay. With a population of 2,250,000 people, Cleveland joins other large cities like Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago in public support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Excerpts of the Cleveland Resolution, which was sent to President Barack Obama and all members of the U.S. Congress, are reprinted below: WHEREAS, Cleveland community members, like others across the United...

After a childhood spent moving around, Patti Gorcheff vowed that she'd never uproot her daughter. But she says an oil and gas drilling frenzy in her area has forced her to change her mind. She and her husband are selling the family home and fleeing with their 15-year-old before the drinking water becomes contaminated, said Gorcheff, 56, of rural North Lima in northeastern Ohio. She's heard the accounts from neighboring Pennsylvania of contaminant-laced water being discharged into rivers _ and of fears there that, despite officials' assurances, drinking water might be harmed. "I've never been so afraid," she said. "They're...

Ohio Democrats hope 2012 ballot measure will help ObamaBy Kim Palmer | Reuters – 21 hrs ago **SNIP** On Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted certified that enough signatures were collected to put legislation dealing with voting procedures up for approval by voters next November. The law's implementation is on hold unless the voters decide to keep it, so it will not be in effect during the 2012 presidential election. The law passed by the Republican-led Ohio Legislature includes new restrictions on early and absentee voting which opponents said will make voting harder for working and low-income people, who...

Hundreds gather downtown to rally against cuts to government programsBy: Scott Newell, newsnet5.com Last Updated: 1 hour and 25 minutes ago CLEVELAND - A couple hundred protesters, worried about looming cuts to social programs, loudly raised their voices in Cleveland today, shouting, "No cuts now, no cuts ever." They are worried about cuts to some programs that have become staples for Americans: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. "This is a promise that our government has made to the American people, said protester Wynne Antonio. “They worked in good faith all their lives and paid in to these systems and they...

This morning, an article in The Washington Times noted that Newt Gingrich’s campaign was likely to miss the Ohio filing deadline to be on the GOP primary ballot — Wednesday, December 7, 4pm EST. But that’s not the full story: that is an old deadline because the Ohio legislature recently moved its GOP presidential primary from March to June, and with it, the filing deadline. Gingrich is not missing the actual deadline. In Ohio, the deadline for filing to be on the primary ballot is 90 days before the primary, which means that the new deadline for now-scheduled June primary...

Newt Gingrich is surging in the presidential polls, but his campaign organization has not caught up - making it possible he’ll miss Wednesday’s deadline to file enough signatures to even appear on Ohio’s primary ballot. Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker whose once-moribund presidential campaign has been resurrected in the polls in recent weeks, already missed the deadline for Missouri’s ballot. With several other state deadlines looming this month, his campaign is showing growing pains as it strives to meet them. “We are going to give it our damnedest. We are going to do everything in our capacity to meet...

Dem Recruit Attacks GOP Congressman for Backing ObamaBy Josh Kraushaar November 30, 2011 | 12:05 PM Here's a telling sign of how much President Obama's fortunes have changed since 2008 -- a leading Democratic Congressional recruit is now attacking a Republican congressman for supporting the president. Former Ohio Democratic congressman Charlie Wilson, who was attacked relentlessly for being too close with President Obama in last year's losing campaign, kicked off his comeback bid today by accusing his Republican rival of the same sin. Wilson, who represented a rural, blue-collar district along the Ohio River, is seeking a rematch against freshman...

$22 million incentive package helped bring Chiquita to CharlotteBy: Becky Bereiter Updated 1:12 PM CHARLOTTE — More information is being released about incentives package that helped persuade Chiquita Brands International to move its corporate headquarters to Charlotte. Chiquita CEO Fernando Aguirre is not hiding the fact that the $22 million incentives package played a major role in bringing the company to the Queen City. $20 million came from the state and $2 million came from the city and county. Aguirre said in order to get the $22 million in incentives, the company has to meet a number of requirements. Primarily,...

Case of 200-pound 8-year-old in Ohio renews question: Should parents of obese lose custody?Article by: THOMAS J. SHEERAN, Associated Press Updated: November 29, 2011 - 7:16 AM CLEVELAND - The case of an 8-year-old Cleveland Heights boy taken from his family because he weighs more than 200 pounds has renewed a debate on whether parents should lose custody if a child is severely obese. The boy was removed from his family and was placed in foster care in October after county case workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight. The boy, at his weight, is considered...

Via the Antiplanner The California High Speed Rail Authority has reason to be thankful this week as the U.S. Department of Transportation gave it another $900 million, keeping hopes alive for the state’s rail program. That means the feds have given the state a total of about $4.5 billion which, when matched with state bonds (which can only be sold when matched by other money) brings the authority’s total funds to $9 billion. I have written any number of times that this project is simply doomed. Either it will fail to complete, after spending billions, or worse, will spend well...

A body discovered by authorities Friday morning in Akron may be that of a missing Jackson Township man. The body of a man was found in a shallow grave behind Rolling Acres Mall, said FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson. She said the identity of the man has not yet been confirmed. An ambulance carrying the body left the scene around 1:40 p.m. to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office. Investigators are working at a wooded area on the north side of the mall, north of Harlem Street. “We had information to go looking there,” Anderson said. Anderson declined to say...

Companies are flooding low-income households with free cell phones and minutes under a plan overseen by the federal government that is prone to abuse, a Dayton Daily News investigation has found. The investigation found the free cell phone program is growing rapidly because cell phone companies are promoting it heavily and is so commonly abused that 26,500 Ohioans this month have been notified they are violating the rules. The program is paid for with fees mandated by the government and tacked onto most cellphone and home phone bills, often listed as the Universal Service fee. It is redistributed to phone...

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Police say an Ohio Salvation Army bell-ringer outside a Kmart store was robbed of his red kettle by four men with a knife. North Canton police say they don't know how much donated money was in the kettle when it was taken Saturday evening. Police Sgt. Frank Kemp tells WJW-TV (http://bit.ly/vPzm84) the four men, all wearing dark clothing and hoodies, threatened to use the knife. Kemp says the bell-ringer followed the Salvation Army's standard procedure in such cases and did not put up a struggle. The robbers took off on foot. Police are asking for...

It could, if a Tea Party-inspired group gets its way. It could also ensure Barack Obama's reelection.Fresh off a resounding ballot-issue victory at the polls, many of those who worked to pass Issue 3, the “Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment,� on November 8, thereby hardwiring a statewide rejection of ObamaCare’s mandates into Ohio’s Constitution, have begun the process of getting a right-to-work initiative on the ballot in 2012 or 2013. A spokesman for the usually aggressive John Kasich indicates that the Buckeye State’s governor, fresh from the stinging defeat of Issue 2, his signature public-sector cost control and collective-bargaining reform law,...

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Police say an Ohio Salvation Army bell-ringer outside a Kmart store was robbed of his red kettle by four men with a knife. North Canton police say they don't know how much donated money was in the kettle when it was taken Saturday evening.