Free Republic

Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley is excited by a new poll that for the first time shows him ahead of Republican Sen. Gordon Smith - even if the two-point lead is well within the survey's margin of error. Jeff Merkley "The fact that we're in the lead is tremendous," said Merkley spokesman Matt Canter, saying he thinks that's probably the first time Smith has found himself in such a position in his nearly 12 years in the Senate. However, Smith's own pollster, Bob Moore, said he didn't trust the methodology of the poll by Rasmussen Reports. It uses an automated...

When I speak on college campuses, students often ask what can be done about the "problem" of young people who don't care enough to vote. I always say that I don't see it as much of problem "because most of you don't know anything yet. I'm OK with you not voting!" The students laugh, but I'm not joking. It wasn't until I was about 40 that I started to believe I had acquired a good sense of what domestic policies might serve people well. (I still have no clue about international affairs.) I only started to think I knew what...

Can you name all three branches of government? Can you name even one? Do you know who your congressman is? Your senators? Do you even know how many senators each state gets? If you know the answers to these questions (and you probably do because you're a newspaper reader), you're in the minority. A very high percentage of the U.S. electorate isn't very well qualified to vote, if by "qualified" you mean having a basic understanding of our government, its functions and its challenges. Almost half of the American public doesn't know that each state gets two senators. More than...