Free Republic

When Sen. Barack Obama chose the Nissan Pavilion in the outer suburbs of Northern Virginia to kick off his general-election campaign, one of the 10,000 supporters there was David Bruzas, who recently moved to the fastest-growing part of a state that is moving rapidly away from its Republican past. "Being in this area has made me a lot more politically in tune with what's going on," said Bruzas, 27, a systems engineer from Illinois who moved to Fairfax County to work for Cisco Systems in 2005. "And I identify with Obama." Only a few hours west on Route 50, in...

GRENADA, Miss. (AP) - State Rep. Sidney Bondurant of Grenada has switched to the Republican Party. He was elected in 2003 and 2007 as a conservative Democrat in House District 24 in Grenada, Calhoun and Yalobusha counties. Bondurant, 61, is a physician. He said he decided to change parties after talking with his family and friends. He said Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and others encouraged him to make the leap. This past January, Bondurant supported conservative Democrat Jeff Smith of Columbus as Smith tried unsuccessfully to unseat populist Democrat Billy McCoy as speaker of the 122-member House.

Democratic state Senator Tom Butler will announce that he is changing parties and run for the state’s 5th Congressional District seat as a Republican, according to two sources close to the situation. Sen. Butler of Madison is one of the “dissident Democrats” who caucuses with Senate Republicans in a minority coalition. Many believed that Butler’s differences with Senate Democrats were more personal than political. State Sen. E. B. McClain (D - Midfield) once described Butler’s relationship with the party as wounded. (Another Senate insider described it to the Parlor in much the same way. See also here.) Democrats had hoped...

JACKSON (AP) — Sen. Nolan Mettetal, whose win in the Democratic Primary was disputed last year, said Wednesday he's leaving the party to become a Republican. "Switching is not the proper terminology. I'm just joining a party. The (Democratic) Party abandoned me," said Mettetal of Sardis, who has served in the Senate since 1996. Before Mettetal's switch, there were 28 Democrats and 24 Republicans in the Mississippi Senate. The balance is now 27-25. Mettetal said Wednesday that he felt the Democratic Party didn't support him in last year's election. He represents District 10, which covers Panola and Tate counties. Mettetal...

Elba's Jimmy Holley expected to announce decision Jan. 10 MONTGOMERY - A veteran Democratic senator will switch to the Republican Party, but his move won't affect the Democrats' stranglehold on the Alabama Senate. Sen. Jimmy Holley of Elba is expected to announce his decision at a news conference in his hometown on Jan. 10. Neither Holley nor Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, who is chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, would officially confirm Holley's switch Wednesday. But Hubbard called it "the worst-kept secret in the state." Holley, 63, who has served in the Alabama Legislature for 30 years, joined the GOP...

Louisiana state Sen. Robert Adley of Bossier Parish has switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party. Adley's move comes a month before the state's new Republican governor, Bobby Jindal, takes office. Adley called himself a conservative reformer with the same philosophy as Jindal. In discussing the party switch, the longtime Democrat Adley said he wants to be as effective as possible in dealing with the new governor. "I have worked with a number of reform governors and spent years trying to get reform in Louisiana," Adley said during his announcement at the Bossier City Municipal Complex. "We've gotten close;...

This essay is a response to a fascinating article by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira entitled "Back to the Future: The Re-emergence of the Emerging Democratic Majority." Judis and Teixeira argue that the 2006 election signals a realignment that favors the Democratic Party. I think their theory is underdetermined, and in this essay I shall offer my justification for that position. First, let me make clear that what follows is a non-partisan critique. I am not going to try to convince you that the facts point toward the opposite of what Judis and Teixeira argue. I'm not going to...

In 1950, when I was in kindergarten in Detroit, the city had a population of (rounded off) 1,850,000. Today the latest census estimate for Detroit is 886,000, less than half as many. In 1950, the population of the U.S. was 150 million. Today the latest census estimate for the nation is 301 million, more than twice as many. People in America move around. But not just randomly. It has become a commonplace to say that population has been flowing from the Snow Belt to the Sun Belt, from an industrially ailing East and Midwest to an economically vibrant West and...

Michael Barone wrote yesterday that demography is destiny. He argues: “Americans are now moving out of, not into, coastal California and South Florida, and in very large numbers they’re moving out of our largest metro areas. They’re fleeing hip Boston and San Francisco, and after eight decades of moving to Washington they’re moving out. The domestic outflow from these metro areas is 3.9 million people, 650,000 a year. High housing costs, high taxes, a distaste in some cases for the burgeoning immigrant populations–these are driving many Americans elsewhere. “The result is that these Coastal Megalopolises are increasingly a two-tiered society,...

What would a Democratic victory -- likely now but not certain in the House races, possible if all the close ones go their way in the Senate races -- mean? Would it mean that we are heading into a political realignment, to a time when Republican positions can no longer rally a majority?Not really, I think. Right now, it doesn't look like Democrats will end up with the kind of popular vote percentage in House elections won by their party in 1974 (up from 46 percent to 58 percent in two years) or Republicans in 1994 (up from 46 percent...

DAYTON — State Rep. Dixie Allen of Jefferson Twp. switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican Friday and plans to screen Saturday for an appointment to take over the Montgomery County Commission seat of recently retired Vicki Pegg. State Rep. John White of Kettering, chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party, said Allen "is the favorite and front-runner" for the county commission appointment because of her experience and "the level of respect she has earned as a legislator and community activist." Allen, a retired Wright-Patterson Air Force Base manager, has been a member of the Ohio House of Representatives...

Alachua County Republicans gained two new allies and candidates for the 2008 elections Friday at an event intended to show the growth of the county party. Alachua City Manager Clovis Watson and Ward Scott, a Sante Fe Community College professor, traded in their Democratic party registrations for Republican ones and announced their intentions to run at a "switch event" held in downtown Gainesville. "I'm a man of action and ideas," Watson told a group of a few dozen Republicans who attended the event. "I cannot continue to support a party that uses criticism and calumny as its stock in trade."...

Most Israelis oppose Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to unilaterally withdraw from most of the West Bank, a public opinion poll released Monday showed. 50 percent of Israelis oppose the premier's realignment plan, whereby Israel would pull out of the vast majority of the West Bank while maintaining the large settlement blocs, while 46% of Israelis support the proposal, the Hebrew University poll found. While 54 percent of the Israelis polled said that the outcome of the last election grants Olmert a mandate to carry out his withdrawal plan, 58% believe a referendum should be carried out over the contentious...

Kadima official: Realignment impossible As Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gathers international support for his unilateral realignment plan, senior Kadima official says Israel will earn international backing for negotiated settlement Attila Somfalvi Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continues to travel the world in an attempt to sell his realignment plan to western leaders and convince them of its necessity, but in his political fortress, Kadima, optimistic, or maybe critical, opinions are being voiced. Senior Kadima ministers told Ynet over the last couple of weeks that a unilateral realignment plan is impossible. The remarks were made by some of the most senior government...

Olmert: Realignment in one step In exclusive interview, prime minister clarifies that contrary to reports, he doesn’t want West Bank withdrawal in stages because that would ‘traumatize public.’ Olmert stresses: Nothing will stop me, I hope at end of my term reality here will be completely different Ynet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he wanted to carry out West Bank withdrawal in one single step, which he believes will be less traumatic for the Israeli public. In an exclusive Shavuot interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, Olmert said: “I want to clarify that I am opposed to dividing the realignment into stages....

Official: Realignment methods unlike Gaza Disengagement architect predicts realignment will be very different - with no military operation. Evacuation-compensation law will lead to gradual desertion, 'until the supermarket will find it worthless to operate' Ahiya Raved The second disengagement, or the realignment as it has been recently dubbed, "will not be a military operation but rather a choice by the citizens to move out," predicts Brig. General (Retired) Eival Giladi, the architect and coordinator of the Gaza Strip disengagement. Speaking at the national security research center in Haifa University, Giladi said that a new evacuation-compensation law expected to be passed...

GALIVANTS FERRY, S.C. - Many species are rare, even threatened, in the swampy marshes along the southeastern coast, and perhaps none is closer to extinction than the "yellow-dog" Democrat of the Old South. For decades, straight-ticket, conservative white voters who displayed unyielding loyalty to the Democratic Party — they said they'd vote for a yellow dog if the Democrats ran one — transformed the South into a party stronghold. The tide began to turn in the 1960s, when the Civil Rights Act alienated some lifelong conservative Democrats and Republican President Nixon courted yellow dogs with his "Southern Strategy." Since the...

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2006 – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Fukushiro Nukaga, Japan's minister of state for defense, met at the Pentagon today to continue discussions about realigning U.S. forces in Japan, including moving 8,000 Marines from Okinawa. Today's session followed the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting session May 1 at the State Department. At that meeting, informally known as the "two-plus-two" session, Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Nukaga and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Aso to discuss the two countries' alliance and ongoing efforts to update it for the 21st century. During a press...

Result is dire for party switcher BY C. DAVID KOTOK The second-ranking Douglas County election official switched himself out of a job when he changed his party registration from Democrat to Republican. The No. 1 legal requirement for the Douglas County deputy election commissioner is that the person be of "a different political party than the election commissioner." Dennis Womack, the Democratic deputy, changed his party affiliation to Republican on April 18 without telling his Republican boss, Election Commissioner Dave Phipps, or Democratic Party officials. "Dumb luck" brought Womack's action to Phipps' attention Tuesday, Phipps said. Phipps said Womack's switch...

From Midwest Conservative: When ECUSA apostatizes again this June, I don’t think the Network needs to make a formal break right then and there. Since there won’t be a final Anglican settlement until 2008 anyway, a precipitous split might weaken the Network’s position, both legally and with the rest of the Communion.But while a de jure split doesn’t need to happen right away, a de facto one does. The Network needs to start acting like it is a separate entity and this measure is a good start. And with the support of conservative Anglicans around the world, orthodox Anglicans may...

Of all the midterm elections of the last century, the elections of 1910 have to rank among the highest in terms of significance. Republicans had won the previous four presidential elections beginning with William McKinley’s first victory over William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Indeed, among Democratic presidential candidates, only Grover Cleveland had won the White House in the 50 years since Abraham Lincoln was first elected. The GOP seemed solidly in control of Congress, and the Republican Speaker of the House, "Uncle Joe" Cannon, ran the House of Representatives with an iron fist. Yet all was not well in the...

Separatist fervour hits northern Ontario Residents would rather be Manitobans Mention secession in Canada, and the mind turns to Quebec, and perhaps the restive western provinces. Now add to that list the inhabitants of the northwestern part of Ontario, in the heart of the country. But rather than yearning to leave Canada, they want to leave their province and join Manitoba next door. If they get their way, Ontario would lose 60 per cent of its area, though just two per cent of its people. The ambivalent loyalty of these Ontarians has deep roots. When Canada became a confederation in...

THE EROSION of the Democratic Party's hold on the South is one of the most important changes in postwar American politics. In 1950, only a handful of congressional districts in the region even featured Republican candidates on the ballot. Today, the GOP holds the majority of House seats below the Mason-Dixon, and in 2004 President Bush swept the South's electoral-college votes. The historic switch from blue to red over the past half century not only robbed Democrats of their assured congressional majorities, it shifted the center of Republican political power from the Northeast to the Sunbelt.

The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Republican Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads 42% to 40% when matched against Democratic Representative Harold Ford. Corker is doing better against Ford than he did in our December survey, when he trailed 36% to 42%. Representative Ed Bryant is also in a toss-up with the Democrat, leading Ford 42% to 40%. Ford led Bryant by three percentage points in our previous poll. Representative Van Hilleary, also vying for the Republican nomination, leads Ford 43% to 37%, just squeaking past the poll's margin of sampling error of 4.5%. Hilleary too has gained slightly against...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Rep. Sheri McInvale, who became a Democrat four years before being elected to the House in 2002, is a Republican again. McInvale announced Tuesday she is switching parties - a decision that was met with cheers and applause by a large crowd of Republicans at her press conference, including Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings and Republican Party of Florida Chairman Carole Jean Jordan. "We love seeing those who find that their philosophy is attune to our philosophy," said Jennings. "We're proud of you seeing the light." Jordan gave McInvale a big hug and said, "Welcome, welcome, welcome," after...

District Judge Rose Vela's intention to run for the 13th Court of Appeals was well known in local political circles, but her intentions to run as a Republican instead of a Democrat apparently shocked many party stalwarts. One of her reasons for switching parties was to save herself from a bruising primary battle with incumbent Federico "Fred" Hinojosa that might become negative, she said Tuesday. She also said she had established roots in the Republican Party while growing up in a military family, voting for Ronald Reagan for president. The decision still took some soul searching, she said, hoping the...

APPLETON (Jan 3): Rep. Barbara Merrill Monday informed her constituents in Maine House District 44, and the leaders of the Maine House of Representatives, that she has unenrolled from the Democratic Party. As a result, the Democrats have 73 members, the Republicans 73, the independents four and the Greens one in the Maine House of Representatives. In her letter to her constituents, Merrill wrote, "I do not take this step lightly or without long consideration. I have talked directly with many of you about the concerns which have led me to this action, and I know that many support my...

RICHMOND -- For nearly 40 years, Donna Loring was a Democrat. Thursday, she became a Republican. Loring, a Richmond selectwoman and former legislative representative for the Penobscot Nation, said she's disappointed with Democratic leadership and believes Republican Sen. S. Peter Mills should be the next governor of Maine. "We need solid party leadership to get this state out of the quagmire it's in," she said after filing paperwork at the Richmond Town Office to change her affiliation. Loring spent eight years in the Legislature representing the Penobscot Nation. She ran as a Democrat for the state Senate in 2004 but...

WHY HILLARY MUST NOT WIN. WHY HILLARY CANNOT WIN. by Mia T, 12.10.05 When it comes to electing our first female president, we can do better than Hillary Clinton. We need to do better than Hillary Clinton, or the symbolism of a woman as president will be marred by electing a woman who has done almost as much to inflict mistreatment on real-life women as her misogynist husband. Candice JacksonTheir Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine   '04 ELECTION PROVIDES CLUE To better understand why this move is fatal for missus clinton, we must go back to November...

One current and one recent Florida county director for the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization have switched party designations from Democrat to Republican, showing some of the first signs that the Republican Party's efforts to reach out to blacks are working. Darryl E. Rouson, recent past president of St. Petersburg chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Derrick Wallace, Orange County chapter president, both have registered Republican in the past two months. The announcements were seen as a boon for state and national Republicans eagerly seeking allies in efforts to reach out to...

Orlando NAACP Chief Switches to GOP The head of the Orlando Florida NAACP - a long-time stalwart of the Democrat party locally and nationally - has stunned political experts by switching his allegiance to the Republican Party. "I've thought about this for two years," Derrick Wallace, head of Orange County's NAACP told the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday, just a few hours after returning from the elections office where he enrolled as a Republican. "This is not a decision I made yesterday." His decision sent shock waves through Central Florida's political establishment - Orlando is located smack in the middle of the...

BATON ROUGE, La. The state Republican Party can count three more members among its fold in the Legislature. Representatives Ernest Wooton of Belle Chasse, Dan "Blade" Morrish of Jennings and William Daniel of Baton Rouge have jumped to the G-O-P. Their switches bring the G-O-P membership in the Legislature to 55: 40 members of the 105-member House and 15 members of the 39-member Senate

Baton Rouge State Representative William Daniel has switched from Democratic to Republican Party registration. Daniel made the move this week to become the 40th Republican in the 105-member State House of Representatives. Daniel ran for Baton Rouge Mayor-President in 2004. He then served as city-parish public works director for winner Kip Holden. Daniel oversaw a reorganization of the department.

For decades, Republicans have struggled to reach out to black Americans. But now in Orange County, the GOP has to reach no further than the NAACP. As of this week, Derrick Wallace, head of Orange County's NAACP, has switched parties -- to become a Republican. "I've thought about this for two years," Wallace said Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours after returning from the elections office. "This is not a decision I made yesterday." It is, however, a decision that rang out like a shot among political circles. Republican Party leader Lew Oliver described himself as "extraordinarily pleased," while Democratic...

HOPKINSVILLE - State Rep. James Carr of Hopkinsville, elected last year as a Democrat, announced Monday he was switching to the Republican Party. "I am and have always been a Christian conservative," said Carr. "Today I see too many Democratic leaders not willing to make a stand." Carr was accompanied by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield as he made the announcement. "The leadership of the Kentucky Democratic Party is out of step with many rank-and-file Kentucky Democrat voters who hold issues such as gun control, abortion and the military close to their hearts," Carr said. With...

FRANKFORT - Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield announced yesterday that they had persuaded a freshman Democratic state representative from Western Kentucky to switch parties. The registration change of Rep. James Carr, of Hopkinsville, ended a weekend of speculation about the subject of the McConnell-Whitfield press conferences in Hopkinsville and Frankfort that were announced without details late Friday. Whitfield tacitly acknowledged that the secretive nature was designed to spur interest. At the news conference in the Frankfort GOP headquarters, McConnell also maintained his silence about recent controversies surrounding the Kentucky Republican Party's leadership and Gov. Ernie...

Melvin Everson on Tuesday became the first black Republican since Reconstruction to win a contested election for the Georgia Legislature. In a squeaker of an election decided by a mere 27 votes, Everson defeated Warren Auld in a runoff for the state House District 106 seat in south Gwinnett County. Auld, a former Snellville city councilman, is white. "This is a great day for Snellville and it's a great day for me," Everson said. "It's just a prelude to what the Republican Party has to offer to African-Americans. A door has been opened and we need to seize this opportunity."...

He's been courted by the likes of Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist and legions of Tampa Bay Republican activists. Last week, Darryl Rouson, the never dull former president of the St. Petersburg NAACP, took the plunge and became a Republican. "It's our heritage, and it can be our legacy," said Rouson, invoking past Republicans including Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and Frederick Douglass. "I know it's not a very popular thing among a lot of African-Americans, but I just believe we should be at every table and speak the truth." The St. Petersburg lawyer and vocal antidrug crusader had already...

Aug 26, 2005, 3:16 PM The Department of Defense took its final vote on Ft. Huachuca. It will not be one of 33 major bases closed, but it will be one of the 29 bases realigned.That means a loss of 371 jobs.The DOD is moving the communications security division from Ft. Huachuca to a base in Maryland, taking those 300-plus jobs with it.It's a tough move for families, but experts say it will have little impact on the base, considering the 12,000 other positions at Ft. Huachuca remain intact. Sierra Vista's city manger also projects little trickle-down economic impact.Mary Jacobs, Sierra Vista Assistant City Manager says, "What...

CANTON - The Van Zandt County district attorney and the Precinct 2 commissioner have announced they are switching parties from Democratic to Republican, marking the county's third and fourth party switches since June. District Attorney Leslie Poynter Dixon said the Democratic Party's press release regarding the party switch of Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Ronnie Daniell prompted her to announce her own change of heart. "I had planned to formally announce my candidacy for re-election in December 2005 during the statutory filing period," Mrs. Dixon said in a written statement. "While, personally, I feel more comfortable discussing party affiliations...

By Liz Sidoti, The Associated PressEuropean edition, Thursday, August 25, 2005 J. Scott Applewhite / AP With fate of the Navy submarine base at New London, Conn., at stake, Anthony J. Principi, center, chairman of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, leads the vote to keep the Atlantic Coast sub facility, rejecting the Department of Defense recommendation for closure, during the BRAC hearing in Arlington, Va., Wednesday. The verdict ... Stars and StripesThe nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted Wednesday to shutter major Army bases in Georgia and Michigan, and to close nearly 400 Army Reserve and National Guard...

Adam Hunter, an ambitious law student with bright eyes, an easy smile, and plenty of charisma, seems practically destined for politics. A half century ago, his grandfather helped register blacks living in rural South Carolina to vote. Hunter's father, born on a tobacco farm and taught in segregated schools, was inspired by the civil rights movement to join the Democratic Party. His parents have both headed the local Democratic committee in their New Jersey town, and Hunter himself worked as a campaign volunteer before he was old enough to vote. Hunter, 22, is a first-year law student at Howard University,...

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/006422.shtml#more Guest Blog: Dude, Who Stole My Party? Guest poster Tom Glennon laments the loss of his Democratic Party. There's a lot of that going around. Dude, Who Stole My Party? by Tom Glennon I have a confession to make. It should be made public now, before Dan Rather and the 60 Minutes Team shows up at my door with documents about my past that, although forged, are still accurate. I admit, now and publicly, that I was a Democrat, for more years than I should have been. I was born just after World War II ended, so I am...

CANTON - Van Zandt County Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Ronnie Daniell announced that he is switching parties and will run as a Republican in 2006. Daniell ran for office in 2003 on the Democratic ticket. He said his change of heart comes from his disappointment in certain leaders of the Democratic Party. "It's just very simple: I'm a person who believes in trying to be a peacemaker," he said. "With the leadership I've noted in the national and local party, I cannot in good conscience follow that party." Daniell said he has been considering the switch for awhile,...

A seven-year legislative veteran is switching parties, giving Republicans a milestone 100 seats in the House of Representatives. State Rep. Greg Morris, a Vidalia Democrat and entrenched party insider, is set to appear before friends and supporters in his hometown today to announce his defection to the GOP. His decision bolsters the comfort level of the new Republican leadership in the 180-member House, which heads into the 2006 General Assembly session in control of 100 seats, nine more votes than they need to pass most legislation. His defection is significant for Democrats since Morris, 41, was part of former Democratic...

A seven-year legislative veteran has switched parties, giving Republicans 100 House seats and added momentum to the party going into the 2006 governor's race. State Rep. Greg Morris, a Vidalia Democrat and party insider, is set to appear before friends and supporters in his hometown tomorrow to announce his defection to the GOP. His decision bolsters the comfort level of the new Republican leadership, which now heads into the 2006 legislative session with nine more seats than they need to win any vote in the 180-member chamber. His defection is significant for Democrats since Morris was part of former Democratic...

By Jeff Quinton Special to World Defense Review The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) committee process is always approached with trepidation by civilian leadership in military communities across the United States. There was a great deal of national table-talk regarding the preparations states and communities made in an attempt to stave off the closure of local bases, and lots of discussion surrounding the initial reactions after the list was released earlier this year. Let's now take a look at the various ways in which states and communities attempt to save their bases already slated for closing. Like the previous BRAC...

Van Zandt County Sheriff Pat Burnett announced Tuesday that he is switching parties. Burnett, formerly a Democrat, has aligned himself with the Republican Party. He said his decision has nothing to do with the people of the Democratic Party, but hinges entirely on platform issues. "I'm committed to doing the right thing," he said. "I thought it was the appropriate time to do it. It's not right before my election so it becomes an issue, it's the issue now." Burnett also said it's no secret that he ran as a Democrat in 2000 because "my mother asked me to." "I...

Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell has switched to the Republican Party almost 10 years in office as a Democrat, saying his work within his department is more in line with the principals of the GOP.

Clarion County District Attorney Mark Aaron announced Monday he is changing to a Republican party affiliation...Aaron, a native of Limestone Township, added he found it difficult to gather support for his objectives through his current affiliation.