Free Republic

Donald Trump's campaign team has dismissed the finding of a poll that suggests Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be the preferred 2024 Republican candidate against Joe Biden in key swing states. A survey from GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies shows that DeSantis, who has not confirmed he is running for president but is expected to do so soon, would beat Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania in a hypothetical 2024 face-off by 48 to 42 percent and 45 percent to 42 percent respectively. The poll of 500 registered voters in Arizona and Pennsylvania also showed that Trump would lose to Biden...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has tapped a new Ukraine war commander to take centralized control of the next phase of battle after its costly failures in the opening campaign and carnage for Ukrainian civilians. U.S. officials don’t see one man making a difference in Moscow’s prospects. Russia turned to Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and — according to U.S. officials — a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war theaters. Up to now, Russia had no central war commander on the ground. The general’s appointment was confirmed...

Obama aides Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs knew what they were doing when they declared Rush Limbaugh the leader of the Republican opposition. They were putting Republican politicians in a trap. Repudiating Limbaugh would mean alienating millions of conservatives and declaring Limbaugh's plainspoken conservatism - which many of those politicians share - outside the lines of the national debate. But neither could Republicans allow the insinuation that they take orders from a radio host stand. If voters got that impression, they would look weak. Worse, the polls show more people dislike Limbaugh than like him. The Republicans escaped this trap...

The conservative magazine National Review urged Republican U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris to get out of the Senate race against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson, saying she can't win. "Many Floridians simply refuse to support her," the publication said in an editorial released Monday. "In February, a GOP poll of likely voters found her to have a favorable rating of just 35 percent and an unfavorable rating of 45 percent. Those numbers are fatal." The publication said Harris should step aside and let another Republican try to beat Nelson, who it described as "a colorless career politician." Harris has also been urged...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

...Here's the best indication that Kerry has finally decided to drive a stake in the ground on Iraq. Kerry's campaign knew that, in response to Kerry's speech, the Bush-Cheney team would immediately redouble its assault on Kerry as an inveterate flip-flopper. The candidate, however, waved away those concerns. "I don't care. I am not going to sit and listen to Bush not face reality," Kerry said, according to one adviser. To be sure, another GOP accusation of expediency is hardly the only peril. One national strategist, noting that President Bush currently enjoys a strong lead when voters are asked who...

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. - With time running out on John Kerry, former Clinton administration operatives recently added to his campaign are touting a refreshed and reinvigorated candidate. By using sharper rhetoric and by de-emphasizing once-feature topics such as his Vietnam War service that aides now deem less effective, Kerry is "really hitting stride and making some real strong arguments now," said Mike McCurry, a former press secretary for President Clinton, now serving Kerry's campaign. But many of the latest polls show Kerry trailing or tied with President Bush, even in some of the key states where Kerry was ahead...

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry will today take a refocused campaign - and some of Bill Clinton's former advisers - on the road as he tries to battle back from a 10-point deficit in the polls. Mr Clinton may be about to undergo heart bypass surgery, but he spent 90 minutes on the phone with Mr Kerry over the weekend urging him to reinvigorate his campaign by attacking George Bush on bread and butter domestic issues such as jobs and healthcare. With less than two months to go before the US presidential election, Mr Kerry has drafted former Clinton advisers...