Free Republic

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) brushed off the idea of throwing his name in the ring to lead the Republican National Committee (RNC) as it seeks to regroup following several challenging election cycles. “No, no, no,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday night, waving his hand, when asked about the possible role by NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard. CAMPAIGN McCarthy says he has no interest in leading RNC BY ELIZABETH CRISP - 02/09/24 9:34 AM ET SHARE TWEET Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to the media after a Republican conference meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott...

Jill Biden is recognizing 15 young women as part of an inaugural “Girls Leading Change” event at the White House timed to coincide with the International Day of the Girl. The more than two dozen honorees, the White House announced on Wednesday, were selected by the White House Gender Policy Council for their efforts “leading change and shaping a brighter future in their communities across the United States.” Some of the honorees include 18-year-old Jazmin Cazares, who became a gun violence prevention activist after her sister, Jackie, was killed in a 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Canada looks set to face another record-shattering year of euthanasia deaths in 2023 after a reported 35 percent rise to some 13,500 state-sponsored suicides in 2022, an analysis of official data shows. Regional health chiefs won’t release their formal tally for some weeks, but data from Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and Nova Scotia already show steep rises in euthanasia deaths last year right across Justin Trudeau’s Canada, the Daily Mail reports. The data claim was shared with the outlet.

Democrat Raphael Warnock has a slight edge in the Georgia runoff race, where he will, again, face off against Republican Herschel Walker, a SurveyUSA poll released this week found. The survey, taken days ahead of the December 6 runoff race in the Peach State, shows Warnock leading Walker with 50 percent support to the Republican’s 46 percent and another four percent of voters remaining undecided. However, Walker moves toward closing the gap when undecideds are asked to choose who they lean toward, reducing Warnock’s lead to three points, or 50 percent to Walker’s 47 percent: Georgia Senate Runoff: Warnock (D-inc)...

Republican Christine Drazan is closely leading Democrat Tina Kotek and Democrat-turned-independent Betsy Johnson in yet another poll released ahead of the high-stakes Oregon gubernatorial election. A poll released by The Hoffman Research Group shows former Oregon House Republican leader Drazan ahead of former Oregon House Speaker Kotek 37 percent to 35 percent, within the survey’s ±3.8 percent margin of error. Former Democrat state senator Johnson, who is running as an independent, garnered 17 percent, and 12 percent remain undecided.

Voters in deep blue Oregon are leaning toward Republican Christine Drazan in the state’s “toss-up” gubernatorial race, three consecutive polls have shown. The most recent poll, from Nelson Research, shows Former Oregon House Republican leader Drazan leading former Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D) 33.4 percent to 31.5 percent, which is within the survey’s ±3.9 percent margin of error. Roughly 19 percent of 620 likely voters support Betsy Johnson, a former Democrat state senator who is running as an independent

Sen. Marco Rubio (R) holds a 4-point lead over Rep. Val Demings (D) in the race for Florida’s Senate seat, new polling shows. A USA Today-Suffolk University poll released Wednesday found Rubio ahead with 45 percent to Demings’s 41 percent. The results fall just inside the poll’s 4.4 percentage point margin of error.

Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is leading challenger Beto O’Rourke (D) by 5 points in Texas’s upcoming gubernatorial race, a recent poll showed. Abbott had the support of 48 percent of Texas voters compared to O’Rourke’s 43 percent in the poll from Quinnipiac University conducted from June 9 to June 13.

Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday criticized the Democrat party for relying too long on the “same old folks” instead of promoting young leaders. “Now one thing I will say about the Democratic Party, promoting young people is really important,” Obama said. “We stick so long with the same old folks and don’t make room for new voices.”

He hasn't tweeted in 18 hours! I hope he's OK.

In the latest Emerson poll on Massachusetts Donald Trump leads with 50% of the vote. Rubio has 16%, Kasich hast 13% and Ted Cruz is at 10%. Via Free Republic:

Donald Trump announced his run June 16, 2015. Those words that came out of Donalds mouth, and then emblazened on those red hats saying, "Make America Great Again" Hmmm where did we hear that one before Donald came along???? Yep, it was from Ted Cruz months earlier. "It's a time for truth, a time to rise to the challenge just as Americans have always done. It's going to take a new generation of courageous Conservatives to help make America great again. And I'm ready to help lead that fight."

There is no sign that Donald Trump's raucous first presidential debate is hurting his support among party voters, with the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showing he still has a big lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump's staying power is defying predictions of political doom and leading some Republicans to explore ways to persuade him not to pursue a third-party bid should he falter in his quest for the Republican nomination in 2016. Trump led the party's 17-strong 2016 presidential field with the backing of 24 percent of Republican voters, unchanged from before Thursday's televised debate, the Reuters/Ipsos...

Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Sunday blasted President Barack Obama's diplomatic strategy with Russia President Vladimir Putin regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons, saying Obama is now "following from behind." "You have Putin playing chess and Obama playing, frankly, a very lucky game of tic-tac-toe," Gingrich said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Putin stepped in to maximize Russian influence in the Middle East. That is a strategically defeat for the United States." "We are now relying on the Russians," said Gingrich, now a host of CNN's 'Crossfire." We're now following from behind -- not leading from behind....

When David Petraeus visited the Harvard Kennedy School in 2009, one of the meetings he requested was with author Doris Kearns Goodwin. Petraeus, who holds a PhD in International Relations from Princeton, is a fan of Team of Rivals and wanted time to speak to the famed historian about her work. Apparently, the great general (and current CIA Director) is something of a bibliophile. He's increasingly an outlier. Even as global literacy rates are high (84%), people are reading less and less deeply. The National Endowment for the Arts (PDF) has found that "[r]eading has declined among every group of...

The leading candidate in Egypt's presidential race said on Sunday that the Camp David Accords should be consigned to the shelves of history, describing the agreement as "dead and buried." At a mass rally in southern Egypt, Amr Moussa, who is currently ahead in Egypt's race for president, spoke of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, saying that "the Camp David Accords are a historical document whose place is on the shelves of history, as its articles talk about the fact that the aim of the agreement is to establish an independent Palestinian state." Moussa went on to say...

Baltimore - The leading voice of Roman Catholic bishops opposing a contraception mandate in the Obama administration's health care law was named Tuesday as the 16th archbishop of Baltimore, the nation's first diocese. Bishop William E. Lori, 60, comes from the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., and has testified before Congress several times in the past few months on a proposed measure to make religious employers cover contraception for their employees. The White House later backed off the rule, making insurers pay for the coverage, though many critics are still not satisfied. In one instance

Now at the top of the polls as the frontrunner among Republican presidential hopefuls, businessman Herman Cain electrified a crowd of thousands who braved the heat and mosquitoes to see him speak Tuesday night in La Marque. Cain took another leg of his White House bid to the Gulf Greyhound Park, a home of races and gambling, as the headliner of the Clear Lake Tea Party's rally. After a daylong media tour in Houston, Cain's largest public appearance began with a brief book signing with supporters, then he disappeared for two hours while the crowd heard from other speakers, including...

It's coming, folks. Wake up the neighbors. I'll be in Houston speaking tonight (go here for tickets). Bring everyone you know. Get armed with knowledge. It's war, and it's just beginning. Possible Al-Qaida Hit List Targets Specific Americans NBC News hat tip Van An al-Qaida-linked website has posted a potential hit list of targets that include names and photos of several U.S. officials and business leaders, calling for terrorists to target these Americans in their own homes, NBC New York has learned. The FBI has sent out a new intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies, warning that this new web-based...

One of the nation’s leading rental car companies recently ordered thousands of cars without side impact airbags in an attempt to save millions of dollars, then later sold the cars to buyers without the standard safety feature, according to a report from the Kansas City Star. According to the report, Enterprise Rent-A-Car ordered a fleet of Chevy Impalas without the side impact