Free Republic

Though not widely reported, rumors slowly began circulating last month that former GOP presidential nominee John McCain may face a primary challenge in 2010 from former Congressman J.D. Hayworth. (Rep. Jeff Flake and Rep. John Shadegg were both likely candidates for the open seat if McCain were to win the presidency, but it appears unlikely either would challenge McCain.) McCain, of course, would be hard to beat. He garnered close to 54 percent of the vote in Arizona's general election. More importantly, he easily won the state's primary, garnering more than 47 percent of the vote (though exit polls show...

Just confirmed on Fox News: Shadegg will change his vote to a "Yes" on the bailout. He voted no previously.

We are the nation of Velcro, the light-bulb, the microwave, the Ford Model-T, and the Wright Brothers. We fought and defeated tyranny and fascism. We’ve walked on the moon. Where others see impossibility, our nation sees a challenge. Pessimism and hopelessness are not American characteristics. As the price of gas climbs higher and higher, doomsday scenarios are playing out in the media. Americans aren’t buying it, they’re demanding a solution. But our can-do nation is suffering at the hands of “can’t-do” congressional leadership. After months of prohibiting a vote on increased domestic oil production, House Democrats have gone on summer...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain may be thrust into the public spat between House Republicans and Democrats over the Democratic leadership’s decision to take summer recess without vote on offshore oil drilling. The Democratic leadership allowed the legislature’s scheduled summer break to begin August 1 without holding an up-or-down vote on increasing domestic oil drilling. Republicans stayed behind to protest the decision and have been delivering speeches on the floor of House in support of more drilling. In a briefing with bloggers in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office August 5, Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz ,said he would “love...

The Arizona House Republican is running for reelection after his colleagues asked him to reconsider. You heard it here first. In an interview moments ago, he told me: At the end of the day, there are two things that are important to me: My family and the fight for freedom. I had consulted with my family and reached the decision that I would fight for freedom from somewhere else. And there has been a reaction to that decision. The overwhelming reaction has been that people would like me to keep up the fight for freedom inside the U.S. House. I...

About the only consolation Republicans can take from the presidential race right about now is that the Democrats are even more screwed up than they are. Some consolation. But that might be the only glint of optimism for Republicans, as the mutiny by conservatives against the party's all-but-crowned presidential nominee is far wider and far deeper than many would care to admit. Let's face it, John McCain has gone out of his way to poke conservatives in the eyes for years, and conservative leaders who are now in open revolt command an awful lot of influence over millions of grassroots...

U.S. Rep. John Shadegg said Thursday he will reconsider his decision to retire at the end of his term. He began wavering after learning that more than half of the Republicans in the House have signed a letter asking him to stay. Shadegg, 58, unexpectedly announced his retirement Monday. The letter is the first of kind and scope in recent memory. One of its three authors, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, said he and the others collected 135 signatures in about two hours Thursday afternoon. Pence expected to obtain additional signatures today. Shadegg said he was aware the letter was...

Arizona Republican John Shadegg will give up his House seat at the end of the year — the latest in a string of retirements in the minority-party caucus. Shadegg said battling for conservative principles in the Democratic-led House has become more difficult, and “there are better places for me to fight that fight.” Shadegg left open the possibility of running for the Senate in 2010 if Republican John McCain of Arizona wins his White House bid. “At this point, there isn’t a seat. But the conservative movement gets me out of bed every morning. It’s what I believe in,” Shadegg...

Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) will announce this evening that he will retire from the House upon the conclusion of his current term, according to a well-placed Republican source.

Presidential candidate John McCain's sweeping victories on Super Tuesday revealed what could be a post-partisanship era in politics. Republican voters across the country turned away from the party's more conservative candidates and selected the Arizona senator again and again in primary contests from New York to California. The ultraconservative radio talk show hosts, bloggers and newspaper columnists simply didn't resonate with the party's majority members - the soccer moms and NASCAR dads who never attend precinct meetings, but showed up on election day. Whether those high-profile opinion givers like it or not, McCain is their man. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.,...

Here's Redstate's account of how House Republicans cleverly forced the Democrats out from behind the trees on the Kucinich plan to impeach VP Cheney."Shaddeg, you magnificent bast*rd."Read it, and laugh at how foolish the Democrats (continue to) look. Here's Michelle Malkin's play-by-play. The thing that totally made me crack up this morning---so loud that i feared I might wake my two-year-old in the next room---was the picture accompanying Redstate's post.Understand that I am really fond of VP Cheney. Personally, I feel like he's the nation's wry, kindly uncle. (Apparently other people think he's the devil, but those people are afflicted...

Friday in Washington, the remaining House Republicans gather to vote for minority leader and minority whip. If they want to position themselves in the near future to change those modifiers from "minority" to "majority", they would best serve their party by voting for reform candidates untainted by associations with Hastert-era leadership. Republicans need to elect Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, their minority leader. Head of the Republican Study Committee, Pence is a principled, well respected conservative who.....

WASHINGTON -- The depleted House Republican caucus, a minority in the next Congress, convenes at 8 a.m. in the Capitol Friday on the brink of committing an act of supreme irrationality. The House members blame their leadership for tasting the bitter dregs of defeat. Yet, the consensus so far is that, in secret ballot, they will re-elect some or all of those leaders. In private conversation, Republican members of Congress blame Majority Leader John Boehner and Majority Whip Roy Blunt in no small part for their midterm election debacle. Yet, either Boehner, Blunt or both are expected to be returned...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio upset a former deputy to indicted Texan Tom DeLay on Thursday to become majority leader of the scandal-rocked U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Roy Blunt had appeared to be the front-runner, based on a long list of public commitments, but Boehner, who campaigned on a vow to seek to renew the party's "spirit and vision," defeated Blunt and Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona in a secret election by fellow Republicans. Boehner had 122 votes to Blunt's 109. Shadegg dropped out after a first ballot loss. Boehner's election represented a shake-up in...

The Associated Press is reporting that House Republicans failed to elect a new leader on the first ballot of voting today. Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R.-Mo.) fell seven votes short of the 117 needed and will now face Rep. John Boehner (R.-Ohio) in a runoff.Here are the totals, according to the AP: Rep. Roy Blunt: 110 votes Rep. John Boehner: 79 votes Rep. John Shadegg: 40 votes Rep. Jim Ryun: 2 votes Stay tuned for more details.

As some House Republicans campaign to oust their scandal-blemished GOP leadership team, they are facing an obstacle back home. It seems many voters could not care less. In interviews, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers who are home for a long January break said constituents are talking a great deal about high gas prices and even a best-selling book about killing the Internal Revenue Service, but not much about the intrigue gripping Capitol Hill. Even many of those voters who are closely following the leadership contest or the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal reportedly tend to deride all lawmakers as money-grubbing...

Maverick Republican Sen. John McCain today endorsed his fellow Arizonan, Rep. John Shadegg -- throwing a new quirk in the race for House majority leader, which will be decided tomorrow in a private meeting among Republicans. Although McCain has at times bucked the GOP (most notably on campaign finance reform), Shadegg welcomed the endorsement from his home-state senator. (HUMAN EVENTS first reported on January 12 that Sen. Jon Kyl would support Shadegg.) "I appreciate having Sen. McCain's support today because he is a long-time advocate of reform in this area," Shadegg said. "Neither of us discovered this issue in the...

Corruption Scandals Cast Shadow on GOP Leadership Race By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 30, 2006; Page A01 In eight concise paragraphs, two moderate and two conservative House Republicans put into writing last week what they say many of their colleagues quietly fear: the GOP's plunging poll numbers, rising public support for a Congress controlled by Democrats and the increasing belief among voters that the Republican Party is corrupt. House Republicans will gather Thursday to elect a successor to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) as majority leader, and the perceptions of corruption, though "neither fair nor accurate ....

Growing opposition to Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.) among conservative bloggers threatens to generate political momentum against his campaign to permanently replace Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as House majority leader, according to those who have studied the growing influence of alternative media in politics. A growing number of influential conservative bloggers are throwing their support behind Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), who is also running for majority leader, while Blunt is drawing negative reviews. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the third candidate in the race, is receiving a better reaction from conservative bloggers than Blunt. But Boehner has garnered fewer accolades in the...

The editorial page of The Washington Times has reviewed the interest-group and ideological ratings and rankings of the three Republican House members -- John Boehner of Ohio (first elected in 1990), John Shadegg of Arizona (1994) and Roy Blunt of Missouri (1996) -- seeking the post of House majority leader, which Tom DeLay permanently vacated recently. >snip Mr. Shadegg, who has compiled five 100% ratings in 10 years from the American Conservative Union (ACU), has a lifetime ACU rating of 97.6. With four 100% ratings over 14 years, Mr. Boehner's lifetime ACU rating is 93.4. Mr. Blunt, who has received...