Free Republic

Just over a month away from critical elections across the country, the wide Democratic enthusiasm advantage that has defined the 2018 campaign up to this point has disappeared, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. In July, there was a 10-point gap between the number of Democrats and Republicans saying the November elections were "very important." Now, that is down to 2 points, a statistical tie.

For Republicans in Wisconsin, it’s a time to be sentimental — and scared. BURLINGTON, Wisconsin — Picnics aren’t supposed to be maudlin. But last weekend, as they piled their plates with bratwurst and tipped back cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon at Speaker Paul Ryan’s annual Fall Fest, Wisconsin Republicans wrestled with their mortality as a powerhouse in state and national politics. Gov. Scott Walker, who is seeking a third term in November, delivered the biggest buzzkill. Believe the polls, he told the nearly 300 activists gathered here inside a tarpaulin tent in the middle of an apple orchard. Even the...

Just over a month away from critical elections across the country, the wide Democratic enthusiasm advantage that has defined the 2018 campaign up to this point has disappeared, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. In July, there was a 10-point gap between the number of Democrats and Republicans saying the November elections were "very important." Now, that's down to 2 points, a statistical tie.

“You're bound to get idears if you go thinkin' about stuff” ― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of WrathI understand Kurt Schlichter has a new book out called THE MILITANT NORMALS and it sounds like a fun read, for us “normals” anyway.From the Amazon blurb: (highlights mine) Written by one of the conservative movement's wittiest commentators, is a no-holds-barred takedown of the preening elites who have all but made normalcy a crime in America.Donald Trump is only the beginning of a mighty disruption in American politics and culture, thanks to the rise of the militant Normals in America. They built this...

Republicans are performing critical triage to their midterm spending strategy as they seek to hold on to their House majority in a difficult midterm year. The House GOP’s campaign arm pulled the plug on its remaining ad buys last week for the Pittsburgh media market, where Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-Pa.) is desperately fighting to hang on to his seat in a race against Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.). It’s grim news for Rothfus, who has largely been seen as a dead man walking since redistricting left him with a Democratic-leaning district and a difficult opponent in Lamb. For the GOP, it’s...

Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh warned congressional Republicans against folding on the confirmation of Supreme Court associate justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh. According to Limbaugh, if Republicans do fail to confirm, they will compromise any chances they had at holding on to either chamber of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections. Partial transcript as follows (courtesy RushLimbaugh.com): So Chairman Grassley has a job to do here, because if he gives Democrats enough time, they’ll produce a woman claiming to be Kavanaugh’s secret Russian wife who Trump paid to urinate on that bed in Moscow. If...

The rubber is about to meet the road for Senate Republicans. They have a simple choice: they can vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, thereby ending the baseless and unsubstantiated Democrat- and media-fueled smear campaign against him, or they can kiss House and Senate majorities goodbye for the next decade, if not longer. [....] A refusal to vote to confirm Kavanaugh in the face of a blatantly obvious Democrat smear campaign, orchestrated in concert with a compliant and obscenely partisan national media, will be strike three, and there will be no more at-bats. I have spent a career...

The new NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey, taken six weeks before Americans head to the polls, shows Democrats leading Republicans by 52 percent to 40 percent for control of Congress. If it holds, that 12 percentage point margin would suggest a "blue wave" large enough to switch control of not just the House but also the Senate.

Voters elected political newcomer Pete Flores to the Texas Senate on Tuesday, flipping a Democratic district red for the first time in 139 years and further bolstering Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber ahead of the November elections. A retired game warden, Flores defeated former state and U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego for the Senate District 19 seat after receiving backing from some of the state’s most prominent politicians, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and U.S. Sens John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. “We conservatives are conservative in the way we make approaches. The gun fight’s not over until the...

Conservative news giant Matt Drudge on Friday made a somber prediction about Republicans’ chances in the November midterm elections, predicting President Donald Trump will see his party lose 60 seats in the House of Representatives. Drudge, who runs the influential Drudge Report, compared the upcoming midterms to the electoral bloodbath Democrats suffered in the 2010 midterm elections under former President Barack Obama.

Democrats maintain a wide lead over Republicans in the race for control of the House of Representatives, a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS finds, including a 10-point lead among those most likely to turn out this November. Poll Methodlolgy here http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/09/13/rel8d.-.2018.elections.pdf

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Democrats – if they didn’t exist, no one in their right mind would dream of making them up. – In an interview on Monday, San Fran Nan said she agrees that, where the Democrats are concerned, “it’s time for new blood and we should move on.” That’s the good part. But in her next breath, she promised to continuing clinging to power so long as Donald Trump is President: “to have no woman at the table and to have the Affordable Care Act at risk, I said, ‘As long as he’s here,...

A blue wave? Get real.The so-called “blue wave” has never been anything more than a leftist construct, a piece of propaganda designed to influence what is hoped is a gullible electorate. It was cooked up far too long before the midterms to be based on anything like objective data. Tracing the frequency of the phrase during the 2018 electoral cycle, on-line citations of a blue wave began to climb around the first of March of this year and have since never dropped to their earlier levels. So the attempt by left-media to hype this trope has been ongoing, but it never had...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Republicans have added more than 58,000 registered voters since Donald Trump took office while Democrats have lost more than 2,500. The GOP registration boom nudged the number of registered Democrats below 50 percent in June for the first time in memory. The impressive registration gains have boosted the GOP’s confidence they can prevent a blue wave this November.

WASHINGTON - The two top-ranking Democrats indicated Tuesday that their confidence is growing that their party will retake the House majority in November's midterm elections, as a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed voters turning sharply against congressional Republicans. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent a letter telling colleagues on Tuesday that Democrats "must Be Ready for the prospect that we will be in the Majority in January." Pelosi said that the top Democrats on House committees will write bills reflecting the party's "For the People" campaign agenda, with an emphasis on reining in health care coats, raising wages...

Not the best adjective, perhaps, but an appropriate one.Before I get accused of eeyorism, let me remind you that back in May, when the GOP suddenly closed the gap with Dems, I wrote — let’s see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven posts about it. (Fine, the seventh was in early June.) I wrote about Trump’s improving numbers too. Ed flagged some rosy poll numbers as well. Things really were looking up!And now? Nothing but toilet before us:Not since late February have the Dems enjoyed a lead as big as 9.5 points, which is definite blue-wave territory, and...

Signs of a blue wave are increasing as lawmakers return to Washington for their final few weeks of legislative work before the crucial midterm elections. Democrats have led Republicans by at least 11 points in five of the last six polls asking voters whether they favor a generic Democrat or a generic Republican in the race for Congress. That margin only slightly trails the Democratic advantage in 2006, when the party won back control of Congress. Democrats also enjoy a fundraising advantage, one that is perhaps bolstered by polls showing their party is more enthusiastic about turning out to vote...

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday said that "everything" is at stake for Democrats in the upcoming midterms. “Everything. It’s simple: everything," Biden said in response to a question from a Politico reporter on the importance of November's general election. Biden made the comments as he prepared to march in the Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh. His statement comes just a couple months before a midterm election that Democrats view as a chance to retake control of the House and maybe the Senate. Democrats hold a 6-point edge over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot, according to a poll...

We’ve been hearing it for months: the blue wave is coming. The Democrats are going to retake the House. The Democratic ballot advantage is significant. Well, if that does occur, a blue wave, congressional Democrats will move to impeach President Trump on bogus charges. There is still zero evidence to suggest the president’s campaign colluded with the Russians. Oh, what about campaign finance? The Obama campaign was fined for violations. Did he ever face impeachment charges? It’ll be a circus, a pervasive parade of nonsense, hyperbole, and liberal whining the likes of which we’ve never seen. And we’ve seen a...

Several findings point to the potential for a blue map in November: – President Trump’s job rating remains underwater. – Republicans alone say the economy is in positive shape. – The GOP tax law is less popular (40 percent favorable) than Obamacare (51 percent favorable). – The Republican Party is less popular (39 percent favorable) than the Democratic Party (50 percent favorable). – Optimism about life for the next generation of Americans is down eight points from last year. – There is greater enthusiasm to vote in the midterms among out-of-power Democrats. Meanwhile, the Trump/Russia probe isn’t going away. Approval...