Free Republic

JUST MAYBE. Maybe this "draft Sununu for Republican National Chairman" thing isn't a waste of time. It's not something we'd expect Sen. John Sununu to want to get into. Sure, he lost his reelection bid, but he's young, he has a growing family and, politically speaking, he still has a bright future and, with his independent streak, he isn't someone we'd think would want to become the face of the establishment Republican Party, not to mention take part in the very inside baseball game of running for the post. But, surprisingly, Sununu didn't close the door to it yesterday. Sununu...

Merrill Lynch, the investment bank that sold itself to Bank of America last month, reported a third-quarter loss on Thursday of $5.1 billion, or $5.56 a share. It is the fifth quarterly loss for the troubled company, known for its “thundering herd” of financial advisers. Last year in the third quarter, as the credit markets were beginning to tighten, Merrill reported a loss of $2.4 billion and was one of the first banks to write-down some mortgage assets. Since then, Merrill has reported a loss for every quarter and has taken more than $45 billion in write-downs.[Snip] Mr. Thain has...

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ruptured U.S. financial system was facing an unprecedented shakeup on Sunday that could lead to the failure of Lehman Brothers, the takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc and big asset sales by big insurer American International Group. The developments may indicate Wall Street and Washington are accepting that massive triage is necessary in the face of the 13-month old credit crisis and destructive U.S. housing bust. "The U.S. financial system is finding the tectonic plates underneath its foundation are shifting like they have never shifted before," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity...

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM - News) will need to raise as much as $15 billion in cash to shore up liquidity and bankruptcy is "not impossible" if the U.S. auto market continues to slump, Merrill Lynch said. Other analysts have suggested GM, whose shares fell to a new 54-year low on Wednesday, needs to raise funds to ride out the downturn in the U.S. auto market through 2009. But Merrill's estimate of GM's financing needs is the highest yet. It also carried the most stark warning of the bankruptcy risk for the largest U.S. automaker. GM declined...

Massachusetts state authorities on Friday charged Merrill Lynch and Co., Inc. with fraud and misrepresentation related to about $14 million worth of subprime securities it sold to the city of Springfield. The complaint also charges Merrill agents Carl Kipper and Manuel Choy. "This complaint is focused on Merrill Lynch's (MER)sale, through agents Kipper and Choy, of certain esoteric financial instruments known as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) to the City of Springfield Massachusetts, which were unsuitable for the city and which, within months after the sale, became illiquid and lost almost all of their market value," the state said in its...

Merrill Lynch & Co., in a bid to slash its exposure to risky mortgage-backed securities, has engaged in deals with hedge funds that may have been designed to delay the day of reckoning on losses, people close to the situation said. The transactions are among the issues likely to be examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is looking into how the Wall Street firm has been valuing, or "marking," its mortgage securities and how it has disclosed its positions to investors, a person familiar with the probe said. Regulators are scrutinizing whether Merrill knew its mortgage-related problem...

Philip Merrill, the prominent publisher and former diplomat whose body was found floating in the Chesapeake Bay on Monday, suffered from a heart condition and apparently took his own life, his family said last night. Merrill, 72, was found with a shotgun wound to the head and a small anchor tied around one or both ankles, according to a source familiar with the investigation. ~~~~snip~~~~ In 1996, former CIA director William E. Colby died from drowning and exposure after falling from a canoe off Charles County. ~~~~snip~~~~~ In 1978, another former high-level CIA employee, John A. Paisley, disappeared while sailing...

Rescuers using small boats, a helicopter and a C-130 aircraft searched a portion of the Chesapeake Bay today for missing diplomat and publisher Philip Merrill, whose sailboat was found adrift last night, Coast Guard authorities said. Officials from the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Coast Guard began searching overnight the area between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the point where his boat was found, which is roughly 20 miles south of Annapolis. The search area is roughly 25 miles by 8 miles, said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Adam Mach. Rescuers using small boats, a helicopter and a C-130 aircraft...

AP) A Democratic state legislator announced Tuesday she has quit the party, leaving the Maine House evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Rep. Barbara Merrill's defection will give the two major parties 73 seats each when the 2006 session opens on Wednesday. Merrill becomes one of four unenrolled or independent members. One Green Party member also serves in the 151-seat chamber. The Democrats have held a majority in the Maine House for three decades, except for a brief period in 1996 when the Republicans gained the edge. The Democrats maintain control of the state Senate, with 19 of the 35...

General Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak "served for over 35 years in the US Air Force, culminating in four years as Chief of Staff from 1990 through 1994. He retired with the rank of 4-Star General. General McPeak has served as President of McPeak & Associates, an aerospace consulting company, since his retirement from active service. He is President and COO of Kitcomm Communications, Ltd, and Chairman of the Board of ECC, Intl., a publicly traded defense contractor. General McPeak also serves on the Boards of Directors of Tektronix, Inc., Trans World Airlines, Inc., and Centerspan Communications, Inc." "McPeak was a...