Free Republic

Upcoming Healthcare EventsI wanted to let you know about 2 very important events coming up this week related to healthcare. The first event is a live call in show on UNC-TV concerning the issue of healthcare. This event will be on Tuesday, August 25th at 9:00pm. I will be joined by Congressmen Watt, Etheridge, Price and Miller. I encourage you to call into the show to not only ask me about where I stand on the issue of healthcare, but where these other elected officials stand as well. You may submit questions in advance at, www.unctv.org, or by calling the...

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said Wednesday he is giving some thought to running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year. Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, said he has been courted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a potential candidate. "I'm evaluating it," Etheridge said during a meeting Wednesday with reporters and editors at The News & Observer. Etheridge said he met recently with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and had discussions with family members and a few key supporters. Etheridge said he hoped to make a decision by September. The backing of the DSCC is important because Senate races...

Former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker is being courted as a possible Democratic opponent to Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr next year. And while he is not committing to anything, he is listening. Wicker, a Sanford resident who practices law in Raleigh, said he has had conversations with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, former Gov. Jim Hunt and others. "I'm still passionate about creating jobs and a higher standard for education and affordable health care," Wicker said. "And I still have those pangs of emotion about being involved in public service. "But I have been focused on my practice and I've...

Rep. Heath Shuler is being recruited again to run for the Senate, and the Western North Carolina congressman might take them up on that idea. Shuler, D-Waynesville, told the Times-News in November that he was considering challenging Sen. Richard Burr in 2010. After some thought, he announced that he was not going to run against Burr, citing the time he would be away from his family during a statewide campaign. In recent weeks, however, the buzz has started again that Shuler was exploring a run against Burr. The flames were only fanned when Attorney General Roy Cooper said he was...

PPP looked at seven potential challengers to Richard Burr last week and found the incumbent leading them all by varying degrees: -He has an 11 point advantage over Elizabeth Edwards (46-35) and Dan Blue (44-33) -He has a 13 point lead over Richard Moore (47-34) -He has a 16 point edge on Bob Etheridge (47-31) and Heath Shuler (44-28) -He has a 19 point margin over Walter Dalton (48-29) We also tested Cal Cunningham, providing a two sentence biography of him as part of the question to compensate for his low name recognition, and found him trailing by just eight...

Our poll this month has incumbent US Senator Richard Burr holding onto a slim one point lead over potential Democratic challenger, Attorney General Roy Cooper 35% to 34%. 32% of voters say they are undecided at this point. We also asked favorability ratings of each. Burr has 33% favorable, 18% unfavorable for a net +15 favorability rating. 49.5% of voters either had no opinion or had never heard of Burr. For Cooper, he has 28% favorable, 8% unfavorable for a net of +20. 64% of voters either had no opinion or had never heard of Cooper. So basically, the status...

February 28, 2009 - 7:33 AM Radio Address by Senator Richard Burr To listen to the audio of Senator Burr’s radio address, please click here. “Hello, this is U.S. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina.“This week, President Obama shared with all Americans his priorities and concerns about the serious economic challenges we are facing.  I appreciated his optimism and agree with him that our country has the ability to overcome this significant economic challenge.  The strongest tool we as Americans have is our ability to rally together and find solutions with unity of purpose.  There is no limit to our...

The first poll of the 2010 Senate race came out today. With the dust barely settled on the last race, Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released numbers comparing U.S. Sen. Richard Burr with possible Democratic opponent Attorney General Roy Cooper. The poll shows a competitive race, with Cooper leading Burr by five points, 39 to 34 percent. It also shows Burr with a 32 percent approval rating, compared to Cooper's 44 percent approval. "If Attorney General Roy Cooper decides to run for the Senate in 2010, you can put Richard Burr's name right to the top of the list of...

The ballots had not yet been put away for the Nov. 4 election before the chattering class started speculating on 2010. Ordinarily, we watch the sport from afar. But now that the 11th District draws a national spotlight and North Carolina is in play as a swing state, the pastime has come home. Who will run, and for what? Democrat Heath Shuler made national headlines when he ousted eight-term incumbent Charles Taylor in 2006. That election would prove to be the first cycle of a wave that swept Democrats into office. Barack Obama boosted other Democrats in North Carolina by...

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr doesn’t think the Bush administration is making the right call on the financial bailout. Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, supported the bailout when Congress passed it this fall. But today he questioned Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s decision to reverse earlier plans on the $700 billion financial bailout, reports Barb Barrett. Paulson announced that the federal government will not focus on buying troubled bank assets, but rather will turn to other financial entities that lend money. “The only reason I supported the federal government in the rescue business was the fact that you have no economy if you...

The senator's bill says a 'mentally defective' vet can buy a gun unless a judge finds him dangerous. WASHINGTON - Since a severely mentally ill student went on a shooting spree at Virginia Tech last year, killing 32 people before turning a gun on himself, Congress and several states have worked to tighten rules on who can legally purchase a firearm. But a push by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina would prevent the federal veterans agency from adding the names of veterans declared "mentally defective" to a background check database unless the agency goes through the judicial system....

This story via a blogger who I won't name until he says it's all right to do so. Okay, he said it's all right -- it's Phin of Agent Bedhead, who also is the guy currently fixing this awful site. (He's really good!) Another update: Ask for "Allie"! She's the Burr shill whose either so misinformed or mendacious as to be claiming to people that the cloture vote isn't "real." Only the vote on the bill itself -- virtually guaranteed passage! -- is the "real" vote, where Burr will probably cast a knowingly-meaningless symbolic vote against. Douchebag-- we care not...

Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina is emerging as one of the upper chamber's most conservative members. The latest evidence: His three recent votes -- all to the right of fellow Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole -- on issues such as Iraq and spending. In each case, Burr of Winston-Salem joined a small band of the Senate's more conservative members, while Dole of Salisbury voted with the majority -- including the chamber's GOP leaders. Consider: • Last Tuesday, the Senate voted 79-19 to require that President Bush identify a strategy for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Burr voted no. Dole voted...

The Debacle of Delphi The industrial welfare state forces the auto-parts giant into bankruptcy. by Richard Burr 10/21/2005 12:00:00 AM WHEN THE LARGEST INDUSTRIAL BANKRUPTCY in American history happened more than a week ago, Washington barely noticed. But the fight between the automotive parts giant Delphi Corporation and its unions could take a big bite out of taxpayers' wallets. The rhubarb started when Delphi, the former in-house parts supplier for General Motors, warned that it was near financial collapse. It couldn't afford to keep paying its workers $25 to $31 an hour, about $52,000 to $64,500 a year--plus benefits. Delphi...

WASHINGTON Call them the five horsemen of the Republican Revolution: incoming US Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota, and David Vitter of Louisiana. Their arrival in the US Senate next week gives a powerful boost to both fiscal and social conservatives on issues ranging from judicial nominations and abortion rights to tax reform. It also tips the number of former House members in the Senate to 52 percent - the first time it has passed a majority. More than just an additional five GOP votes, they...

Burr heads to U.S. Senate at opportune time By STEVE HARTSOE, Associated Press Writer November 7, 2004   1:24 pm RALEIGH, N.C. -- Richard Burr heads to the U.S. Senate on a conservative wave similar to the one he rode to Congress 10 years ago.The Winston-Salem Republican was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives when Georgia's Newt Gingrich led a GOP sweep in the 1994 election that gave the party control of the House for the first time in decades.In this year's election, the GOP cemented its hold on the House and Senate, adding seats in both chambers,...

RALEIGH, N.C. - A $10 billion payout from a Republican Congress to tobacco growers this week and a tidal wave of television advertisements have elevated Rep. Richard Burr (news, bio, voting record) into a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Erskine Bowles, former President Clinton (news - web sites)'s White House chief of staff. For months Bowles held an 8 percent to 10 percent point lead, an advantage many credited to name recognition from his unsuccessful 2002 Senate campaign against Elizabeth Dole (news - web sites). Among other things, the candidates are battling over who should get credit for a tobacco quota...

U.S. Senate candidates Erskine Bowles and Richard Burr are in a full court press. Two months ago, a WRAL News poll gave Bowles a commanding 10 point lead. After the latest poll, new numbers show only one point separates the two candidates with 11 percent undecided.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- U.S. Senate candidates Erskine Bowles and Richard Burr battled Monday night over trade and health care, accusing each other of harming North Carolina workers and seniors. Each of the candidates, participating in a broadcast debate at the University of North Carolina television studios, charged the other with failing to represent the state's citizens. On the issue of trade, the Bowles accused Burr of continuing to support expanded free trade. Bowles, who helped advance free trade deals while in the Clinton administration and later as White House chief of staff, said he won't support additional treaties...

RALEIGH - A new poll shows the race for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina tightening, with Republican Richard Burr closing to within 3 percentage points of Democrat Erskine Bowles. In other polls so far, Bowles - who ran for the Senate two years ago against Republican Elizabeth Dole - has led by 8 to 10 percentage points. But the poll for N.C. FREE, a trade group in Raleigh that tracks state elections, found Bowles with support from 44 percent, Burr with 41 percent and 12 percent undecided, according to N.C. FREE members who have seen it. The statewide poll...