Republicans

CEDAR CREEK, Texas – Buoyed by a pair of Nov. 3 gubernatorial victories and signs of increasing voter unease toward Democratic-controlled Washington, top Republicans expressed optimism Thursday that their party was poised to make significant gains in 2010.

After two successive election cycles that left their activists and donors demoralized, the Republican governors gathered here offered the sort of upbeat rhetoric about GOP prospects that has been largely absent since President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election.

While heaping praise on what they said were issued-oriented campaigns from their two new governors-elect, New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Virginia’s Bob McDonnell, Republicans said their comeback was being ushered in by a series of policy excesses by President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress...

New York (AP) - Sarah Palin's new memoir provides heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her granddaughter, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.

In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford -- preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St.  read more »

(CNSNews.com) – A Republican senator has introduced a constitutional amendment that would apply term limits to all members of Congress. U.S. Representatives would serve a maximum of three two-year terms, and U.S. senators would serve a maximum of two six-year terms.

"Americans know real change in Washington will never happen until we end the era of permanent politicians," said Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who sponsored the amendment. Co-sponsors include Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).

Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority vote approval in the House and Senate and must be ratified by three-fourths of the states...

After years of trailing far behind Democrats, Republicans have now surpassed Democrats as the public's choice in the 2010 congressional elections. In response to the latest so-called "generic ballot" question from the Gallup organization -- "If elections for Congress were being held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?" -- the new results are 48 percent for Republicans versus 44 percent for Democrats among registered voters, and 46 percent for Republicans versus 44 percent for Democrats among adults nationwide.

It's an extraordinary turnaround for the GOP. Last July, Democrats held a six-point lead. Last December, Democrats held a 15-point lead. At one point in 2007, Democrats held a 23-point lead, and for all of that year, 2007, Democrats held a double-digit lead.

The new Republican lead is the result of a dramatic move of independents toward the Republican party...

NEW ORLEANS — The only Republican in the House to vote for a Democrat-backed health care bill says he has had two fundraisers canceled since Saturday's vote and some campaign contributors have asked for their money back.

But Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao said Tuesday he stands by the vote. "At the end of the day we all have to represent our respective districts," he told The Associated Press.

Cao rejected any notion that he might leave the Republican Party. And House minority whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said he plans no political retaliation against Cao...

Caught between Tuesday’s election results and Friday’s unemployment numbers, the White House faces increased pressure to slow spending next year but also to produce more Main Street jobs to match Wall Street’s recovery.

Going into the 2011 budget cycle, the administration now appears on course to impose close to a freeze on new discretionary appropriations after the double-barrel increases in 2009 and 2010. The costs of the Afghanistan war are a wild card, but even before the polls closed Tuesday, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag was talking up deficit reduction in New York, and his earlier guidance to agencies calls for alternatives that assume a freeze at 2010 funding levels, or a 5 percent reduction.

Republicans warn that President Barack Obama can’t ignore what they see as Tuesday’s backlash against the “overspending” and “overgovernment” in his first year in office...

As a crowd of protesters shouted "kill the bill," House Republicans on Thursday rallied opposition against the Democrats' health care legislation, decrying the bill on the steps of Congress in a last-ditch bid to derail or at least delay the legislation heading toward a possible vote Saturday.

Thousands of protesters arrived by bus for the rally, which the GOP is calling an emergency "House Call." The event drew the conservative "tea party" activists but unlike past rallies was officially sanctioned by House Republicans.

Republicans want those who attend to track down their elected representatives in Congress and put pressure on them to think twice about voting for the more than $1 trillion health care overhaul pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

A pro-life group that backed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman says the Democratic special election victory in New York's 23rd Congressional District is actually a win for motivated conservative activists.

Democrat and retired Air Force Captain Bill Owens, running in a historically Republican stronghold, capitalized on a split that emerged between Republican liberals and conservatives. Owens defeated Hoffman (49 percent to 45 percent) after the withdrawal of liberal Republican candidate DeDe Scozzafava over the weekend, whose name remained on the ballot, drawing 6 percent of the vote.

The race grabbed national attention when a rift developed among Republican Party leaders...

WASHINGTON -- Republican gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia mark a troubling turn for President Obama, whose personal efforts couldn't stop the fall of Democrats facing a voter backlash over the economy and a notable uptick in the government's would-be role in people's lives.

Obama's 2008 victory in Old Dominion had marked an historic breakthrough for Democrats who hadn't won Virginia's electoral votes since 1964. The fight in the Garden State was more grueling than usually accompanies Democratic campaigns in the reliably blue state of New Jersey.

So the setbacks demonstrate the difficulty of presidential leadership following a campaign built on promises of unity followed by divisive policies and a relentless campaign approach toward big legislative issues like the stimulus and health care bills...

WASHINGTON -- Republicans are preparing an alternative health-care bill to Democratic legislation, House Republican Leader John Boehner said, marking a shift in strategy as the full House is set to begin debate on the issue this week.

Boehner said Sunday the Republican bill would extend health-insurance coverage to "millions" of Americans but wouldn't try to match the scope of the House Democratic bill unveiled last week. The Democratic legislation, if passed, is estimated to expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans now without insurance. Its estimated gross cost is $1.055 trillion over 10 years.

"What we do is we try to make the current system work better," Boehner, of Ohio, said on CNN's "State of the Nation." The GOP plan would likely be less costly to taxpayers and involve less government intrusion into the private sector. Boehner said the bill would take "a step-by-step approach" to expanding coverage...