Free Republic

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — A new high-powered ad spot—and hefty buy behind it—aims to finish off incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and help former Sen. Scott Brown across the finish line. The ad comes from Ending Spending Action Fund, which is spending approximately $1.25 million in the final days pushing this message via television, radio, Internet, forthcoming print advertisements, and direct mail. That’s in addition to an existing $601,000 buy the group is already running in local television markets, meaning the group is up with more than $1.85 million backing Brown in the final week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaAteJWDNI4 The television ad,...

This landed in my inbox a few hours ago from the ‘New Hampshire for Scott Brown’ press team (emphasis mine): Today, Scott Brown received the endorsement of the former Democratic Leader of the New Hampshire State Senate, Bob Preston. Preston, who served nine terms as a State Senator including eight years as Democratic leader, penned the following open letter encouraging voters to support Scott Brown next Tuesday:

As you can imagine, I was alarmed, but not very surprised, when I received reports of rioting at the Pumpkin Festival in Keene, NH. The residents of Keene hold the Pumpkin Festival annually. Their mission is first and always to amass the most number of jack-o-lanterns in history. In 2013 they broke the previous record held by Boston when they brought together 30,581 jack-o-lanterns, according to accounts by the Keene Sentinel.But into their 30,581 points of light this year was inserted sinister, dark forces. Forces that were nonsensical, dystopian and anarchical.And those forces descended into the hallmark expression of Obama’s...

While Sen. Ted Cruz may be a star among tea party faithful and other more socially conservative Republicans, he has been less active on the midterm campaign trail as some candidates fear he could polarize voters, The Hill reports. More welcomed in states with tight midterms contests have been Cruz's conservative brothers in the Senate, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who have been counted on to support election bids across the country, the Hill noted. “It’s almost exactly a year ago to the day when [Cruz] led to the government shutdown," Republican strategist Rich Galen told...

As if Democrats needed anything else to worry about, there is the New Hampshire situation. Former naked Senate person Scott Brown enjoyed being a senator. What’s not to like? You get to work in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body and deliberate until the cows come home. Then he lost a reelection bid to Elizabeth Warren in 2012 and couldn’t be a senator anymore. So he moved to New Hampshire and said, sure, this is good enough, I’ll be a senator from here. New Hampshire is a blue state — redder than some other New England states, sure — and his...

The contrast between New Hampshire’s two candidates for U.S. Senate couldn’t have been clearer this past weekend. In one town, Senator Jeanne Shaheen spoke to the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers over a pancake breakfast, and in another, former Senator Scott Brown received a rowdy and enthusiastic reception at a tailgate organized by College Republicans at the University of New Hampshire. It sounds like a normal weekend in October, so why the significance? I can’t help but marvel at the juxtaposition: a traditional, pre-planned campaign event with the candidate as the main attraction and the other, a tailgate loosely organized...

I’m not exactly sure what the reasoning is, here. It’s not because the race isn’t competitive. It is – or, more accurately, it could be. Jeanne Sheehan is ahead of Scott Brown by 6.5 points in the current RCP average, sure. But she’s also under 50% in the aggregate polling, which is the usual rule of thumb for an incumbent in trouble. This is the sort of situation where throwing some advertisting cash into the mix could really come in handy. Of course, it’s a little late for that now – back in May the Democrats blocked out about $1...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday ripped U.S. Senate Democrats for blocking his bill that would revoke the U.S. citizenship of those who join the ISIS terrorist organization, noting that they are abandoning something Hillary Clinton supported when she was Secretary of State. The Democrats blocked Cruz’s bill on Thursday, a bill that would revoke citizenship from Americans who join ISIS. Cruz’s bill is very similar to one that then Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)—who is now running in New Hampshire against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)—and then Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) offered a couple of years ago.“As then-Secretary of State Hillary...

The New Hampshire Republican Party amended its platform this weekend with stricter abortion provisions, including support for "personhood," which defines life as beginning at conception.Personhood has become a hot-button issue in Senate races across the country this year, such as Colorado, where Democrats have successfully attacked Rep. Cory Gardner for having supported such a measure in the past.Now, the issue could spread to New Hampshire, following the state party's decision at its convention.The platform now states: "Support the pre-born child's fundamental right to life and personhood under the Fourteenth Amendment, and implement all Constitutional and legal protections."It added: "Support a...

Voters have soured on President Obama. National and statewide trends favor Republicans. And here in his new home state, Scott Brown’s truck is gaining speed. Analysts and recent polls have found Brown closing in on US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent he is vying to unseat, in a race that has become increasingly nasty and expensive. Once largely dismissed by critics as an unlikely second act in a state he moved to only last year, Brown’s Senate bid is increasingly seen as a plausible path back to the US Capitol. Observers see a race that may be largely determined...

I’m so disgusted with the Republicans that I’m actually expecting nothing from the coming election. Nevertheless, there are a few nettlesome facts that kind of stand in the way of those who are ready to throw themselves over a cliff worrying about a Democrat comeback. In Iowa, for example, Joni Ernst is up 6 points in a race that is supposed to be “thisclose.” In Colorado, Cory Gardiner is up 8 points and Democrat Governor John Hickenlooper is down by 10. The actually embattled Mary Landrieu is down 13 points (51/38) to Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Scott Brown is...

Sen. Ted Cruz tried to get the Senate to consider a measure Thursday providing that any American who joins the fight with terrorist groups such as the Islamic State would immediately renounce their U.S. citizenship, but a Democratic senator objected, saying more time is necessary to weigh the significant constitutional issues it raises. Ahead of the Senate’s scheduled consideration Thursday afternoon of a proposal to arm and train Syrian rebels, part of President Obama’s strategy to combat the terrorist group, the Texas Republican asked for unanimous consent to pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act he introduced earlier this month. The measure...

Jim Geragthy, acclaimed author and National Review’s chief campaign analyst, has been grousing about the lack of quality polling in key Senate races this year. His frustration is well-founded. So yesterday must have felt like Christmas in September for Jim and political junkies everywhere, as two pollsters released a deluge of surveys covering the most contested races in the country. In light of the results, I’d expect that national Republicans are kicking off the week with an extra spring in their step, as well. We were leaked an advance copy of last week’s much-anticipated Politico/GWU Battleground poll, which was packed...

The closest race at the moment is the one no one has been talking about. Allan Fung and Ken Block are locked in a dead heat. 2 vote diff with 6% reporting. Allan Fung (Declared) - Mayor of Cranston Ken Block (Declared) - Founder and former head of the Rhode Island Moderate Party Gina Raimondo (Declared) - State Treasurer appears to be winning the dem nomination. In NH, Scott Brown has been declared the winner with 23% reporting against 9 other candidates. Bob Smith is coming in THIRD. Frank Guinta and Melinda Garcia are taking the republican house nominations. Big...

As Republicans contemplate the possible size of their November victory, outlier races may get interesting. Scott Brown, a few weeks ago considered certain to lose, may well win in New Hampshire. Most folks would not have thought that Republican Terri Land had a chance in a blue state like Michigan, but she continues to run close to Peters in the race. Al Franken also cannot pull away in his re-election fight, and all the polls show that race tightening. Surely the trophy in any general election is for one party to knock off a legislative leader of the other party....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

MANCHESTER, NH – Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed pro-abortion Republican Scott Brown over his pro-life rival in the primary to see who becomes the GOP's candidate for U.S. senator from New Hampshire.

Caller: "Mr Brown, I'm very interested to get your thoughts on Eric Cantor's defeat. Your reply to Howie Carr's question on what happened in Mississippi. Here is my translation of what you just said: "I am very happy that the corrupt Republican leadership defeated the person who was voted in; who won the Republican votes." Scott Brown blames Cantor's loss on running for Speaker. Then he talks Cochran. Brown:"And we need to unify regardless of who's in charge right now, who's been elected and who's nominated. It's down south. It's a different state. I don't care. I'm focusing on right...

There’s been an interesting, but largely overlooked development in the New Hampshire GOP Senate primary race this week. One of the candidates, Karen Testerman, has dropped out of the race and tossed her support to former Senator Bob Smith, issuing the following statement. It is time for all of us to put aside pride and focus on our greater GOAL, that of fighting for Family, Faith and Freedom. I will not force our principle-driven primary voters to make a self-defeating choice. After much prayer and consultation, I will step aside to allow Senator Bob Smith to be the ONLY conservative...

Scott Brown's campaign manager has fired off a memo "to interested parties" on what Eric Cantor's primary loss in Virginia means for the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire. Colin Reed says the Cantor upset by a Tea Party surging candidate "contains worrisome lessons for Senator Jeanne Shaheen." Here are Reed's five points, verbatim, from his memo: 1. Supporting President Obama's Immigration Policies Is A Liability There is a crisis building on the southern border right now, with large numbers of young people seeking to enter the country illegally, encouraged by the pro-amnesty policies of President Obama and Senator Shaheen....