All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Members of the Republican National Committee are pushing a resolution built on "conservative principles and public policies" and opposition to "Obama's socialist agenda" that Republican candidates would have to largely accept and adopt if they want the party's support.

The New York Times reports that ten RNC members have signed onto the resolution, which was circulated today. It contains ten principles, among them support for the Defense of Marriage Act, gun rights and "military-recommended troop surges" in Iraq and Afghanistan; opposition to President Obama's health care reform efforts, cap and trade legislation, a card check bill and amnesty for illegal immigrants; and support for "smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes."

Any Republican who breaks with more than two of the ten principles, the resolution says, would be denied

Read full post…

Before Sarah Palin's highly-anticipated book, "Going Rogue," goes on sale this week, it has already generated controversy, skepticism and blowback.

"This is Sarah Palin's turn to get even, as it were," said CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of "Face the Nation" Bob Schieffer.

"She came under this intense criticism all during the campaign and now she's giving her version of why she didn't succeed as a candidate."

But Schieffer, speaking on "The Early Show" Monday, said he does not think her strategy will work. "It's kind of like a baseball player going into a slump and blaming the manager or blaming the bat boy or blaming the fans or something. You know, it makes for provocative reading, I think she'll sell a lot of books, but I don't think it's going to help re-establish her as a political candidate."

Read full post…

Updated 2:28 p.m. ET

Congressional Republicans – along with independent Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman – are not happy with the Obama administration's decision to try alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (left) and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian federal court in New York.

"The Obama Administration's irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people," said House Republican leader John Boehner in a statement. "The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found 'not guilty' due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause."

"This decision is further evidence that the White House is reverting to a dangerous pre-9/11 mentality – treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue and hoping for the best," he added.

Sen. Republican Whip Jon Kyl, meanwhile, said "It is a constant amazement to me that there are some who seem more concerned about extending legal protections to terrorists than security protection to Americans."

Added Sen. John Cornyn: "These terrorists planned and executed the mass murder of thousands of innocent Americans. Treating them like common criminals is unconscionable."

"Our court system was never designed for this purpose," said Sen. Jeff Sessions. "These trials will turn lawyers, juries, and judges into targets, and will needlessly endanger Americans living nearby. They will give men like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed an international stage to mock America and advance his own celebrity and jihad."

New York Republican Rep. Peter King suggested the decision makes New York City more of a target for terrorists.

Read full post…

Marco Rubio, whose battle with Charlie Crist for the Republican Senate nomination in Florida is doubling as a fight for the soul of the Republican Party, will headline the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC, as it's known, is the much-discussed annual confab for the conservative wing of the GOP.

CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale announced the choice on the CPAC Twitter feed yesterday, adding: "CPAC keynote/opening speaker is usually an up-and-comer. Past: Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Mike Pence. Rubio fits that mold."

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, argues that President Obama's spending policies "will rob my children and their generation of their prosperity, and some of their freedoms." In an interview with CBSNews.com earlier this week, he said he largely supports the tea party protesters. He also said he couldn't think of an area of disagreement with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Alex Burgos, Rubio's Communications Director, said that the candidate is "honored by the invitation and opportunity."

"He looks forward to sharing his vision of why mainstream conservative Republicans are needed in Washington more than ever," Burgos said.

Read full post…

Updated at 10:45 a.m. ET with reaction from RNC Chair Michael Steele.

The Republican National Committee offers its employees insurance coverage for elective abortions, the Politico reports. That’s a seeming contradiction to the party platform and the GOP’s current position on an abortion amendment added to the House health care bill.

The GOP platform calls elective abortion "a fundamental assault on innocent human life," according to Politico.

RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho reportedly said the policy has been in effect since 1991, long before current RNC Chairman Michael Steele assumed his leadership role. Upon learning of the coverage in their insurance plan, Steele instructed the RNC to opt out of any coverage for elective abortion services.

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Steele said in a statement. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

Originally, the RNC chose not to opt out of abortion coverage, Cigna representatives told Politico.

Almost every single Republican in the House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment to the Democrats' health care bill, offered by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Penn.), that explicitly prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for plans that cover abortion. It also effectively limits private insurers from being able to offer abortion coverage within the proposed national health insurance exchange. The amendment passed with some Democratic support.

The only Republican who bucked the party and voted "present" on the amendment did so in an attempt to foil the overall health care bill's chances of passage.

"We believe in the sanctity of life, and the Stupak-Pitts Amendment addresses a moral issue of the utmost concern," House GOP leaders John Boehner (R-Ohio), Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said in a statement after the vote. "It will limit abortion in the United States. Because of this, while we strongly and deeply oppose the underlying bill, we decided to stand with Life and support Stupak-Pitts."

Republican South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who was formally censured by members of his own party earlier this week for playing nice with Democrats on climate change and other legislation, has spoken out in his own defense, according to Capitol Hill's newspaper Roll Call.

The Charleston, South Carolina Post and Courier reported that the Charleston County Republican Party voted on Monday to censure Graham for not upholding the Republican platform. The group cited his cooperation with Democratic senator John Kerry on the proposed cap-and-trade bill and his support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Obama's $700 billion bailout plan.

"U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham -- in the name of bipartisanship -- continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism," the resolution reportedly reads.

"There have been a lot of things over the years that people have been dissatisfied with the senator for doing but I think the cap-and-trade issue is the straw that broke the camel's back," Lin Bennett, the county GOP chairwoman, said according to the South Carolina State. "We have a state platform that if you want to run as a Republican in our state part of that platform includes ideals and goals we would like to see and one of them is smaller, and less government intrusion into people's lives."

Read full post…

A Gallup poll released today gives the Republicans a 48 percent to 44 percent edge over Democrats in a generic congressional ballot if the 2010 elections were held today. The Republicans have been inching closer to the lead after trailing the Democrats by six points in a similar poll conducted last July.

Read full post…

The "Tea Party" is now an official political party in Florida.

An Orlando lawyer named Frederic O'Neal has registered the Tea Party with the office of the Florida Secretary of State, Politico reports, and intends to run candidates against both Republicans and Democrats in state and national races.

"The current system has become mired in the sludge of special interest money that seeks to control the leadership of both parties. It's time for real change," O'Neal reportedly said in a press release.

One of Florida's most prominent Republicans, Gov. Charlie Crist, already faces a conservative challenger in his bid to become the GOP's 2010 Senate nominee. Conservative Marco Rubio is gaining credibility among the state's conservatives, and has won the endorsement of the anti-tax, pro-limited government Club For Growth.

The split among conservatives and moderates in the Florida GOP is part of a larger debate within the party about the future of its identity.

O'Neal, the new chair of the Tea Party in Florida, reportedly compared his party to the Conservative Party in New York's 23rd District -- another example of the GOP's moderate-conservative fissure. In a special election to represent New York's 23rd congressional district, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman drove out the local Republican Party candidate, Dede Scozzafava. The district is Republican-leaning, but the Democratic candidate ultimately prevailed over the Conservative in last Tuesday's election.

Even though the conservative lost in that race, "tea partiers" and other conservatives "remain convinced they're on the right side of history," CBSNews.com's Charles Cooper wrote. "And in writing down their morning-after election analyses... they also delivered a hard-edged message to the Republican establishment: Get behind us or get out of the way."

The Tea Party has been registered with the state since August and is one of 32 minor political parties certified in Florida, Politico reported.

The election may still be three years away, but it seems it’s never too early to speculate: A USA Today/Gallup poll sizing up the potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates was released today. Taking the top spot? Former Arkansas governor (and 2008 presidential hopeful) Mike Huckabee.

The poll found that the top four Republican contenders for the presidential nomination are Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. Seventy-one percent of declared Republicans would "seriously consider" voting for Huckabee, 65 would consider voting for Romney and for Palin, and 60 percent would consider voting for Gingrich.

Among Americans overall, the order remains the same: Huckabee leads, with 40 percent saying they would seriously consider voting for him. Romney closely follows with 39 percent. He’s followed by Palin with 33 percent and Gingrich with 29 percent.

The results suggest that the identity of Obama's 2012 opponent will rest largely on who is selected by "the Republic faithful," even in states with open primaries. No more than 20 percent of Democrats and no more than 40 percent of independent voters say they would consider voting for any one candidate.

Read full post…

The House Republicans' health care bill would cost significantly less than the Democrats' plans and possibly lower the average cost of premiums, but it would leave millions uninsured, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The 230-page GOP bill would reduce the number of uninsured in the United States by 3 million by 2019, according the CBO analysis (PDF). That would leave about 52 million nonelderly residents uninsured. The share of residents with insurance coverage would be about 83 percent, roughly what it is now.

The GOP bill insures about 33 million fewer people than the Democrats' bill.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

House Republican Leader John Boehner (pictured above) has said the his party is more interested in reducing costs than insuring all Americans. The GOP bill does come to a price tag of around $61 billion, according to the CBO -- nearly $1 trillion less than the Democrats' bill. The legislation could also result in lower average premiums for Americans in private plans; however, it adds that its estimates are "subject to an unusually high degree of uncertainty."

Read full post…