Free Republic

COLUMBIA Asked about the odds of Hillary Clinton winning South Carolina in this fall’s presidential election, Clemson University political scientist David Woodard replied: “It’s more realistic that we’ll be invaded by Martians.” South Carolina has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in four decades, and pundits do not expect that streak to end in November. Even Democrats acknowledge Clinton’s chances of beating GOP nominee Donald Trump in the Palmetto State are slim. But as Clinton celebrates her presidential nomination in Philadelphia, some within the party hold out hope she could pull off a historic upset. “She has a chance,”...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz arrived Jan. 4 at the first stop on a six-day tour of Iowa. The Republican presidential candidate was set to visit 28 counties by bus. (Photo by Patrick Svitek) WASHINGTON — In the more than 200 events he's held since launching his campaign for the White House 10 months ago, Ted Cruz has tested out an unorthodox strategy, one that could rewrite the rules of Republican presidential politics.Since the Texas senator declared his candidacy in March, 40 percent of his public events have taken place in Iowa, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of his travel schedule as of Saturday. But...

Rubio wants a piece of the March states too, but his rivals have the momentum. "Amongst a lot of the grassroots, Sen. Cruz is definitely picking up momentum, there's no doubt about it," said Ryan Haynes, the unaligned chairman of the Tennessee GOP. NASHVILLE, Tenn.:The battle for the South has settled into a race between two candidates, and neither is Marco Rubio. In interviews with more than two dozen party officials, political operatives and activists, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump were repeatedly named as front-runners and likely winners in one of the most conservative regions of the country. Both contenders...

The unique base of support that has pushed Donald Trump to the top of the Republican presidential field in national polls is also likely to give him boost this spring when the campaign shifts to the South. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has drawn wide attention for his own efforts in Southern states, many of which will vote as part of the big, March 1 "SEC Primary" when more convention delegates will be awarded than on any other day. Mr. Cruz, who is surging in the polls, is focusing on evangelical Christian voters and other social conservatives, which form the...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will spend much of August on an eight-state “Cruz Country” bus tour through the South, as his team looks beyond the first four 2016 states to March’s delegate-heavy SEC Primary states, including Georgia and Texas. Cruz advisers say they’re not only vigorously competing in the early states, but already organizing the so-called SEC states (a nickname from college sports’ Southeastern Conference), with advertising planned through March 15. An adviser said the objective of the bus trip is “to ensure that by the time other candidates get to the March 1 voting states following early state voting,...

On and off the campaign trail in the Carolinas, voters say they have ‘no hard feelings’ toward Hillary Clinton. They say the opposite about Republicans.Bryan Burns could not make up his mind. Here was this African-American voter in khaki shorts, a v-neck T-shirt and black-rimmed eyeglasses, browsing shops at the Crabtree Valley Mall, on a swelteringly hot Friday in the not-yet summer of the American south. And there was Hillary Clinton, who needs to win the minds of exactly this kind of voter, a 30-year-old Virginia native who has spent the last decade living in North Carolina, a state that...

Bill Clinton and his phony, scandal tarred wife should be not allowed anywhere near the White House The media should be having a field day with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. For her entire political life, Hillary Clinton’s name has been synonymous with scandal. From cattle futures to the Rose Law Firm to the White Travel Office, Hillary Clinton was never far from the scandals that plagued her husband’s presidency. Her tenure as Secretary of State did not include any significant accomplishments, but was marred by her inexcusable handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack. While serving as our nation’s top diplomat,...

NEW ORLEANS – A new, exclusive statewide poll of likely Republican voters in Louisiana conducted for WWL-TV shows voters favoring Rick Santorum, with the primary election two weeks away. The telephone poll of 515 likely Republican voters reveals Santorum leading the field, with just over 25 percent of the vote. Mitt Romney places second with just under 21 percent and is in a virtual tie with Newt Gingrich, who has almost 20 percent. Ron Paul is way behind, with less than 6 percent. Undecided gets the biggest score of all -- 26 percent. WWL-TV election analyst Greg Rigamer, whose firm,...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has moved into an 18-point lead over rival Mitt Romney in Tennessee. Registered likely and early voters favored the former Pennsylvania senator over the former Massachusetts governor 38 to 20 percent, a poll by Vanderbilt University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions found. Read more on Newsmax.com

Subheadline: Voters fear Romney's 'cult' less than they do Obama Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120227/NEWS0201/302260089/Poll-Romney-s-Mormon-faith-may-not-hurt-him-TN?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

The Southern Republican Leadership Conference wrapped up on Saturday afternoon after three days of speeches dripping with red-meat criticisms of Democrats and President Obama. This is par for the course for any party gathering, especially one where the party holding the shindig is on the outs. But there was also something most unusual about the conference: an uncommon amount of talk and discussion of the United States Constitution. Ordinary people from all walks of life, not a constitutional scholar or lawyer among them, are actually trying to come to grips with the fundamental meaning and purpose of our founding document....

The opening session of the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference featured Mary Matalin, Newt Gingrich, J.C. Watts and Liz Cheney New Orleans, LA : 2 hr.

Where exactly does “The South” begin, anyway? At Harpers Ferry? Just left of Philadelphia? What is the crossroads that divides “Southerners” from the rest of us, those of us in the East, Midwest, Southwest and West who don’t talk with corn in our mouths? Somebody please buy Ohio Sen. George Voinovich a ticket to the real South, preferably on a slow-moving train, so he can observe the country he helps govern. Last month, Voinovich charged that Southerners are what’s wrong with the Republican Party. “We got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns,” he told the Columbus Dispatch, talking about...

My 2nd great-grandfather was a Civil War Soldier. Grandpa LuckyBogey, Sr., and his two brothers are listed in the muster roll of Company B, 49th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia, C.S.A. of Telfair County, Georgia, known as the Telfair Volunteers. 4th Sergeant LuckyBogey, Sr. was wounded and captured at Petersburg, Va. in April 1865. Grandpa Luckybogey , Sr. escaped from Jackson Hospital in Richmond the next day and as General Lee surrendered, Grandpa LuckyBogey, Sr., , on his own, made his way back home to Georgia. See the History of the 49th Regiment and the 35th Georgia...

...In a fusillade of pique, Ohio Sen. George Voinovich charged that Southerners are what's wrong with the Republican Party... Alas, Voinovich was not entirely wrong...

Southern Republicans — the backbone of the GOP — are not sold on any of their party’s possible high-profile presidential candidates in 2012, a finding that could be good news for S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford. Sanford rubbed shoulders at a Columbia health care forum Thursday with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who remains highly regarded by many in the Republican Party. It was another moment in the spotlight for Sanford, who has generated buzz about his 2012 presidential prospects with his frequent television appearances and outspoken opposition to Democratic President Barack Obama’s federal stimulus plan. Southerners overwhelmingly back Sanford’s...

Is there any political caricature more threadbare than casting the Republican Party as "the Confederacy?" CNN analyst Gloria Borger tossed that one on Thursday, with all its pejorative assumptions about hidden or not-so-hidden racial animus, noting New England states had no House Republicans.

Official results for the next census will not be released for a few years. But it’s never too early to predict how population changes will affect the makeup of Congress through the next reapportionment. A report released Monday predicts significant changes in the makeup of the House of Representatives in the next decade that could see a continuation of the trend of the South gaining even more seats. The report also cautioned that current economic factors could affect some of the population trends driving the most recent predictions. After each decennial census, the 435 seats in the House are reallocated...

Though none of the candidates openly admit it, the Mason-Dixon Line has emerged as a key fault line in the race for the Republican National Committee chairmanship. As the GOP wrestles with criticism that it is in danger of becoming a regional party rooted in the South, rather than one with broad appeal across the nation, the contest for chairman is shaping up in no small part as a referendum on just how much Southern flavor the party should have at the top in the wake of a sound electoral defeat in every other region of the country. Since no...

Democrats gained two US Senate seats in the South this year, three if Jim Martin (D) defeats US Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in the December 2 runoff. In two years, however, the GOP will have little opportunity to reverse the Democratic trend in Dixie’s senate delegation. Of the nine Southern members of the US Senate up for re-election in 2010, eight are Republicans, only one, Arkansas’s Blanche Lincoln, is a Democrat. So numbers alone indicate that the Democrats have a major advantage going into the next election two years from now. The political battlefield may have a set of issues...