Free Republic

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) skipped Wednesday’s New Hampshire Senate debate with Republican challenger Gen. Don Bolduc. The debate was to take place on the New Hampshire Today show with Chris Ryan at 8:00 a.m., but Hassan never showed up. The Democrat incumbent also ignored October 20th’s debate on The Pulse of NH Senate Candidate Debate with Jack Heath. On September 9, Hassan “agreed” to a total of three debates.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden did not go to church on Christmas, choosing instead to view Mass virtually from the White House. The White House did not explain why the Bidens skipped Church for Christmas, as the president typically attends Catholic Mass regularly.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) appeared to cancel or skip campaign events only days before Tuesday’s bellwether election. McAuliffe, on Thursday night, did not show up for a “Get Out the Vote” (GOTV) event in Prince William County.

"President Obama Reportedly Golfed During the Funeral For Major General Greene" as Fox News reported yesterday. That is the modus operandi of this traitor. He may have skipped the funeral but let me be the first to say that he no doubt approves of it.

The Rev. Al Sharpton abruptly backed out yesterday of a symposium on the 1991 Crown Heights riots after his invitation triggered outrage. Sharpton said he would not appear on a panel discussing the "State of Black-Jewish Relations: Twenty Years After Crown Heights" because it would "pain" Norman Rosenbaum, whose brother Yankel was stabbed to death during four days of rioting. After the invitation to Sunday's symposium at The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island was disclosed, Rosenbaum denounced it as "an absolute disgrace." He said Sharpton's "vile rhetoric incited the rioting."

Elizabeth Warren, President Obama's controversial choice to head the new consumer financial regulatory agency, skipped out of a House Oversight hearing before answering questions from two members of the committee, claiming that she had reached an agreement allowing her to leave at that time. But Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, chair of the subcommittee holding the hearing, said no such agreement existed. “You're making this up, Ms. Warren,” McHenry fired back when Warren claimed she only agreed to come under the condition she could leave

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warm welcome from a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) skipped out on the speech, staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America’s foreign aid to Israel. As senators gathered on the Senate floor before the address, Paul was spotted speaking to his staffers toward the back of the chamber. As the Senate procession across the Capitol began, the tea-party-backed senator quietly walked to his desk, sat down and began shuffling through papers and newspapers.

Former Alaska Governor and recently reinvigorated potential Presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared Saturday evening not at the “nerd prom” known as the White House Correspondence dinner, but instead “chose life” and keynoted a fundraiser in Bethesda, Maryland for Heroic Media, a anti-abortion advertising group. According to reports from Politico, whose personnel attended the closed event, Palin, a long time enemy of the main stream media, boasted that although she had the opportunity to attend the dinner, she was not tempted by the “influence out there”, referring to the often liberal circles that attend the event. Palin may have also chosen...

Streisand and Jeffrey Katzenberg were no-shows at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser.....billed as co-hosts w/ Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams. Notables included Judd Apatow, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Reps. Howard Berman, Brad Sherman, Judy Chu and Laura Richardson. The price to be a co-host was $30,400 per couple, which included a photo with Obama — though POTUS said photo ops weren't the point of the evening. "I hope you understand why we're here tonight,'' said Obama. "It's not to take a picture with the president. We're here to make sure those who took the tough votes are rewarded."

Despite his pledge last year to join other Oakland elected officials in taking a 10 percent pay cut, Mayor Ron Dellums has continued to collect his full $183,000-a-year salary, a spokesman for the mayor confirms. The spokesman, Paul Rose, declined to say precisely why the mayor took the extra $18,300 in pay this past year -- but there is speculation that he needed the money to help deal with his troubled personal finances.

The town clerk in Coventry, Vermont has been re-elected to another term even tho she faces tax evasion charges for the past several years. Before she became town clerk she was also charged with embezzling $20Gs from her former employer. Those charges were dropped after she was caught and paid the money back

WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was less than upfront in his half-hour commercial Wednesday night about the costs of his programs and the crushing budget pressures he would face in office. Obama's assertion that "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond" the expense of his promises is accepted only by his partisans. His vow to save money by "eliminating programs that don't work" masks his failure throughout the campaign to specify what those programs are — beyond the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was a wanted man again after he failed to show up for a court date Wednesday and a judge issued a new warrant for his arrest. Hsu, whose criminal past has roiled the campaigns of top presidential candidates, was scheduled to ask a judge to cut in half the $2 million bail he posted last week when he turned himself in after spending 15 years on the lam from a felony theft conviction. Instead, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles ordered Hsu's bail forfeited to the county and issued a new...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – Large-scale sectarian violence as displayed by Sunnis and Shiites in Baghdad has seemingly bypassed Nineveh province in northern Iraq, a U.S. military commander told Pentagon reporters today. "We have been fortunate in that we've not seen that level of sectarian violence in Nineveh province," said Col. Michael Shields, commander of the U.S. Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Shields gives credit for this positive state of affairs to the efforts of Gov. Duraid Mohammed Daud Abbodi Kashmoula and the senior Iraqi military and police officials serving in the province. "They have great outreach to...

Hillary Clinton skips NH in New England fundraising By DAVID SHARP The Associated Press News - October 29, 2005 U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., greets supporters at a fundraising event for Maine Gov. John Baldacci, in Portland, Maine, Friday, Oct. 28, 2005. Baldacci is seeking re-election in 2006. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach) PORTLAND, Maine — New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton came to New England yesterday to raise money for two governors and for herself at events in Maine and Massachusetts while avoiding setting foot in New Hampshire, the state with the first presidential primary. During a fundraising luncheon for Gov....

City's going to pot: Convention prep skips holes in neighborhoods By Elisabeth J. Beardsley Sunday, July 18, 2004 The pothole plague has been lifted like a miracle from the areas around the Democratic National Convention site, but outlying neighborhoods are complaining that Boston's DNC beautification is passing them by. With indignation growing over the haves and have-nots of a sudden spurt of street repairs, more than 1,200 Boston residents have signed petitions in the last two months, demanding the release of pent-up roadwork money. The petitions have been flying off their stack on the front counter at Jamaica Plain's Classic...

Gephardt skips 85% of House votesBy Sam Dealey and Sarita ChoureyRep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) has missed 162 votes in the House this year 85 percent of the total prompting Republicans to charge that he has abandoned his congressional duties in his pursuit of the presidency.The Republican National Committee (RNC) has seized on the absenteeism to point out that several of Gephardts missed votes have been on legislative and policy matters that are centerpieces to his campaign.In his closing statement at the South Carolina debate earlier this month, for example, Gephardt listed the creation of an Apollo II program to make...