Free Republic

In an attorney general’s race that remains too close to call, Republican Mark D. Obenshain began today with a 17-vote edge over Democrat Mark R. Herring. But by afternoon, the pendulum had swung the other way when the numbers in four Richmond precincts were updated, putting Herring ahead by 115 votes out of more than 2 million cast statewide.

Governor Chris Christie’s darkest moment, at least in the eyes of some members of the Republican establishment, came on a chilly Sunday night in early November of last year, just days before the presidential election. What Christie and his team did that evening, in a series of terse e-mails and calls with the pleading Romney camp, remains murky. On Capitol Hill, insiders still treat the episode like the Zapruder film, analyzing it and trying to discern, from limited context, what exactly happened. But what didn’t happen is indisputable: Christie didn’t attend Mitt Romney’s rally at Shady Brook Farm in Lower...

Allies of Senator Mitch McConnell pushed Matt Bevin, a Kentucky businessman on the cusp of announcing he will run against McConnell in the state’s GOP primary, to stay out of the race, according to an adviser close to Bevin. McConnell’s campaign denies the allegations. “Mitch McConnell’s people reached out to Matt for several months through all different avenues trying to convince him not to run,” the adviser close to Bevin tells National Review Online. “They can pretend like they’re not afraid, they can call him a nuisance, but they were desperate not to have him. Because they are scared.” “First...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has hinted he could mount a 2016 presidential bid, is already taking shots at his potential competition in the Republican primary. The freshman senator was asked Monday night during an appearance on Fox News about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) announcement he would not seek reelection — a move that has prompted speculation that Perry could again run for the White House. “If Gov. Perry decides to run for president, I think there would be three good reasons why he could be president: Texas is a big successful state, he’s a long term governor and...