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I have made no bones about the fact that the addition of Governor Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket this November has transformed me from a reluctant voter into an enthusiastic campaign volunteer. My son, Dan, and I attended the McCain-Palin rally which was held this afternoon at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Being very familiar with Franklin and Marshall, and knowing full well that it takes no more than a half hour to drive there from our home, we left home at 1:00 PM. The doors were scheduled to open at 1:30, and the rally was scheduled...

Tucson-based Global Aircraft Solutions Inc. on Thursday delivered Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's new campaign plane, an Embraer 190 regional jet complete with the Republican ticket's campaign logo on the fuselage. Palin, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's running mate, told delegates at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday that she put her predecessor's plane on eBay. Former Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, had been criticized for buying a jet to travel around the state. Palin's new plane seats about 100 people and was reconfigured with bigger first-class seats, dividers and an area for the press, Global Aircraft President John Sawyer said....

The Democrats are also changing their plans (and tone) with the onslaught of Hurricane Gustav. The DNC sent an email announcing the cancellation of its "media welcome reception" in St. Paul "in light of the situation along the Gulf Coast." The tone of the cancellation note differs greatly from yesterday's snarky release that urged journalists to stop by the DNC "war room" called the "More of the Same Media Center." The Republicans also ran their own war room from Denver, as NPR's Jeff Brady reported last week, calling it the "DNC Rapid Response Headquarters" and staffing it with recognizable party...

Free Republic Opinion Poll: (1/22) With FRed dropping out, who do you now support for the Republican nomination?I just lost my reason for changing my registration from Conservative to the GOP in New York. My pick in that poll was none of the above. Slightly more than half on this forum prefers Romney as I write this.I don't know why Fred didn't get more support, but when he got a little more than half of the support of Mike Huckabee in the South Carolina, that told Fred something. Huckabee was his main rival for the social conservative vote. I don't...

MIAMI -- With most of his major rivals focused on the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is spending his Thursday evening 1,300-plus miles south in Florida. The former New York City mayor is scheduled to attend a rally in Hialeah, a heavily Cuban-American suburb of Miami. He has made winning Florida a central focus of his campaign, as he was predicted to do poorly in early states Iowa and New Hampshire. Rivals Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain are focusing on those traditional states. A memo written by a Giuliani campaign strategist earlier this week outlined the...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Fresh from his announcement last week that he is seeking the GOP nomination for president next year, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson talked about one of his top opponents in a weekend interview. He said former mayor Rudy Giuliani's pro-abortion view is inconsistent with Republican principles. Thompson participated in an interview on Sunday with KTVI, a Fox News local affiliate. The television station asked the former attorney and actor if Giuliani is unfit to be the Republican nominee because of his pro-abortion position. Thompson initially avoided answering the question. "Rudy's like the rest of us. He's...

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson officially joins the presidential race on Thursday, and Rudy Giuliani and his team are watching closely to determine how much of an impact his candidacy will have on Giuliani. "He's a Southerner, and he's a senator, and that gives him credibility," Barry Wynn, a top Giuliani adviser in South Carolina, tells Newsday. "He's certainly weaker today in terms of the level of enthusiasm of his supporters than he was a month ago ... but I certainly see him as serious competition." Giuliani currently sits atop every major national poll, and is leading decisively in states...

How much deeper can Fred Thompson wade into the presidential waters without actually announcing that he is a candidate? He was up to his eyeballs tonight on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno. Asked directly if he would like the job of president, Mr. Thompson said, “I’ve never craved the job of president, but I want to do some things that only a president can do, so the answer is yes.” Mr. Leno clearly hoped the former senator from Tennessee would join the growing list of candidates who use the late-night format to announce their candidacies (and save money on...

Giuliani's words have hollow ring Presidential hopeful keeps flip-flopping Steven Edwards, National Post Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 With flip-flopping a sure way to ensure rejection at the polls, what's a presidential candidate to do when his political record clashes with the bedrock beliefs of the party he seeks to represent? Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, is taking on the Republican rank-and-file when he asks them to nominate him despite his refusal to renounce his support for abortion. He claims this shows he has the courage to state his views frankly, regardless of their popularity. It's a...

Some advice for three leading Republicans ? David Frum, National Post Published: Saturday, May 12, 2007 Walking on a beach shortly after leaving the White House, former Bush aide Karen Hughes looked up and spotted a little plane towing an advertising banner. The banner said, approximately: "Jill, please come back. I am nothing without you. Jack." She thought: "Wrong message. It's too much about you, not enough about her." A shrewd observation, and one that sums up pretty much everything that is going wrong with the 2008 Republican presidential candidates. Republicans are talking about what excites them. But what...

By the time Fred Thompson decides whether or not to join the presidential fray, you will have heard the story of his red pickup truck at least a dozen times. The truck in question is a 1990 Chevy, which the famed statesman-thespian rented during his maiden Senate campaign in 1994. The idea was that Thompson would dress up in blue jeans and shabby boots and drive himself to campaign events around the state. Upon arriving, he'd mount the bed of the truck and launch into a homespun riff on the virtues of citizen-legislators and the perils of Washington insider-ism. For...

Republicans across the country are warning that increasing public discontent toward President Bush, the Iraq war and the GOP brand in general threatens to send the party's 2008 campaign planning into a tailspin Already, the problems are having tangible effects. Some of the party's top recruits in key races from Colorado to Florida are refusing to run for Congress. Business executives -- the financial backbone of the GOP -- are sending more and more money to Democrats. Overall Republican fundraising is down sharply from the same time frame during the past two presidential elections. Then there are the voters. Polling...

Congressman Duncan Hunter of California is coming to the center of the universe for Republican presidential candidates to formally declare his intention to seek the party's 2008 nomination. Hunter will make the announcement during a breakfast meeting Jan. 25 at the Spartanburg Marriott at Renaissance Park. Hunter announced Friday the formation of an exploratory committee -- the first step toward throwing his hat in the ring. "Our citizens deserve a new American sunrise of opportunity, faith and freedom," Hunter said in a release. County GOP Chairman Rick Beltram said Hunter's choosing to make his announcement here is a nod...

MILWAUKEE - Former Gov. Tommy Thompson is proceeding with preparations for a possible run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, a spokesman says. Thompson, who resigned as Wisconsin governor to become U.S. health and human services secretary when President Bush took office in 2001, has formed an exploratory committee looking ahead to a possible campaign for the White House. The committee delivered paperwork to the Federal Elections Commission Wednesday as part of the process, said Thompson spokesman Tony Jewell in a telephone interview Friday night. "This allows the governor to begin raising money and hire a staff should he...

Rudy Giuliani remains the most popular presidential hopeful for Republican Party sympathizers in the United States, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 30 per cent of respondents would vote for the former New York City mayor in a 2008 primary. Arizona senator John McCain is second with 23 per cent, followed by former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich with nine per cent, and Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with eight per cent. Support is lower for Kansas senator Sam Brownback, New York governor George Pataki, and California congressman Duncan Hunter.

Newly elected Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott will host a 10 a.m. coffee session for invited Republican guests Tuesday at the Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss Sen. John McCain's impending campaign for president with him and McCain. Lott, a supply-sider and social conservative, had not been allied with McCain previously. However, in his e-mailed invitation, Lott asserted, "John and I have been friends for many years, and my respect for him is unparalleled." Tuesday's meeting with McCain, Lott said, will "begin to build an organization that focuses not on our differences, but on our shared...

(AP) BOSTON -- Gov. Mitt Romney, a fierce opponent of gay marriage and possible presidential contender, on Friday asked Massachusetts' highest court to force a proposed anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment onto the state's 2008 ballot. Romney filed the request with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court -- the same court that ruled 4-3 in 2003 that the state could no longer deny marriage licenses to gay couples -- after lawmakers postponed action on the question until January. The move by lawmakers was widely seen by supporters and opponents of gay marriage as a way to kill the measure. Romney is...

Claims It's Difficult To Have Reform If Can't Protect Borders First. (AP) CHICAGO Speaking days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Friday that U.S. leaders have to remain aggressive in fighting terrorism -- and contended Republicans do that best. "I want to make sure we continue to remain on the offensive against terrorism to give us the best chance of preventing another September 11th," he said before giving a keynote address at a fundraiser for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R.-Ill. "And it's really important that we...

PEARL, Miss. - Can an outside politician go to Iowa these days and not be seen as a presidential wannabe? Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said months ago that he won't run for president in 2008, but he might stir up talk of a possible candidacy by speaking in Des Moines on Aug. 16. Asked if he's eyeing a run for the White House, Barbour shook his head. "You can rest assured. I'm on hurricane duty," he told The Associated Press. He responded to questions on Friday during a visit to the new Mississippi Emergency Management Agency headquarters in the Jackson...