Free Republic

Apple board member and former US vice president Al Gore would win the presidency if he ran for election, says Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "If he ran, there's no question in my mind that he would be elected," Jobs told Time Magazine. "But I think there's a question in his mind, perhaps because the pain of the last election runs a lot deeper than he lets most of us see." The report explains the background Gore's strenuous campaigning to persuade people to address the growing threat of climate-change caused environmental collapse. "We have dug ourselves into a 20-foot hole, and...

The next U.S. president could reshape the Supreme Court, where the two oldest members are liberals and volatile decisions like abortion now hinge on a single swing vote. The possible sea change has already surfaced 18 months before the November 2008 election and could develop into a major campaign issue for Democrats who want to move the court to the left and Republicans who hope to plant it firmly in the conservative camp. The U.S. high court is now evenly split between conservative and liberal justices, who have been divided by 5-4 votes on abortion rights, the death penalty and...

COLUMBIA -- Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson has told Republicans that if he decides to run for president, he would enter the race earlier than anticipated -- perhaps as early as the second week of June. A Tennessee Republican said that Thompson has been convinced that he will not win unless he recruits a good staff, and that he cannot recruit a good staff unless he gets in the race. Several RNC state chairs said that representatives for Thompson had tentatively accepted invitations to candidate events scheduled for later in the fall, a sign they interpreted as evidence of his desire to...

2008: Gingrich at the Gate Newsweek Jan. 17 issue - George W. Bush has four years to go, but Republicans are already jockeying to succeed him. The first officially unofficial GOP hopeful for 2008? Newt Gingrich. The former House speaker has been plotting a comeback; now comes the obligatory political manifesto. In "Winning the Future," he lays out his top five priorities for the country. (No. 1: defeat terrorists.) He sets down easy-on-the-details plans to save Social Security, overhaul health care, promote English for immigrants and bring God back into public life. It's a campaign book if there ever was...