Utah Gov. John Huntsman (R) downplayed questions about his presidential ambitions while the dark-horse candidate met in Washington with the nation's other governors this weekend.
"Truth be told, I never thought I'd run for governor two years before I was elected," Huntsman told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It's really hard to see around the next turn and where you might be."
Huntsman, considered a dark-horse candidate after having become arguably the nation's most popular governor, urged the GOP to expand its base.
"The stakes of the tent have to be pulled up and broadened," he said. "When you're left with limited demographics to draw from, limited geographic regions that are loyal, when you lose the youth vote to the extent we did, and voters of color, that's happened for a reason."
According to the Tribune, Huntsman recently traveled to South Carolina -- a key early primary state in the
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) alleged that the U.S. is retreading the New Deal-era expansion of government experienced during the Great Depression.
"This was a two-lane highway under FDR; this is a six-lane expressway," Huckabee said during an appearance on the conservative Sean Hannity's television show. "The Obama speech could essentially be summed up this way: the only thing we have is fear."
Huckabee warned that Obama's strategies verge on fear-mongering, and fail to provide a sense of leadership for the country.
A 2008 presidential candidate, Huckabee is rumored to be considering another bid for the White House, challenging Obama in 2012.
The former governor also criticized the proposed nationalization of banks, asserting that the U.S. would lose its moral standing to criticize socialist countries such as Venezuela.
"I have no confidence that if we nationalize these banks, we'll ever turn them over to the private sector again," Huckabee argued. "It is not the role of government to pick the winners and losers in the free marketplace."
The lobbyist who sued the New York Times for libel after the paper implied she engaged in a romantic relationship with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has settled the suit, the paper announced Thursday.
Lobbyist Vicki Iseman sued the Times for libel in December for having reported in a February 2008 article that McCain advisers had sought to block access to the Arizona Senator after becoming concerned that their relationship had become romantic in nature. Both McCain and Iseman strenuously denied the allegations.
"Had this case proceeded to trial, the judicial determination of whether [Iseman] is entitled to the protections afforded a private citizen would have been the subject of a ferocious, pivotal battle," attorneys for Iseman said in a statement. "The parties have settled the present case through negotiation, a rational process that has led to a civilized resolution."
"The article did not state, and The Times did not intend to conclude, that Ms. Iseman had engaged in a romantic affair with Senator McCain or an unethical relationship on behalf of her clients in breach of the public trust," the Times stated in a note to readers Thursday afternoon.
"Vicki Iseman has dropped her lawsuit against The Times, just weeks after it was filed. We paid no money. We did not apologize," Times Washington Bureau Chief Dean Baquet wrote in a memo to staff. "We did not retract one word of the story, which was a compelling chapter in the tale of Senator John McCain and his political rise."
Other news organizations had been working on and published similar stories focusing on an uncomfortably close professional relationship between Iseman and McCain, though no paper but the Times explicitly explored a romantic relationship.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) is a supporter of amnesty -- for the state's delinquent taxpayers, that is.
Jindal proposed a plan in his state in which citizens who had failed to pay their taxes could repay their debt without penalties and only half the interest, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Wednesday.
Jindal, a rumored presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016, will introduce the measure, which could collect as much as $150 million in revenue for his state. Louisiana taxpayers would receive a one year window between July 2009 and June 2010 to take advantage of the amnesty.
Jindal's stewardship of the state economy has been under close watch by observers since rumors of a presidential run have surfaced. Many have speculated whether Jindal, like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), would refuse money set aside for his state in the stimulus package signed into law by President Obama this week.
Fans of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) won't get a chance to see her speak at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after all.
Palin pulled out of a speaking gig later this month at the annual conference for conservative activists, U.S. News reported Tuesday.
Palin's speech had been one of the top attractions at this year's CPAC, along with speeches by radio host Rush Limbaugh and other conservative personalities.
Palin withdrew citing state business that would require her attention that weekend, Feb. 26-28.
Alaska's First Husband, Todd Palin, was held in contempt by the Alaska State Senate on Friday for failing to appear and answer questions about his role in the termination of a state safety commissioner's job.
Senators voted 16-1 with three absentions to hold Palin and two other men in contempt of the Senate for failing to appear before the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 19, 2008 to testify about the firing of Walt Monegan.
The bill imposes no penalty for their failure to appear. According to the Senate's legislation tracker, the bill is being transmitted to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) for a signature or veto.
Mrs. Palin had come under fire during her run for the vice presidency for having allegedly improperly dismissed Monegan from his position. A report issued by Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign concluded the governor did nothing wrong.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins indicated that he sees a growing chasm between social conservatives and the Republican party amidst overtures from Democrats to communities of faith.
"Social conservatives are still committed to the issues and still involved in the political process, but don't see the GOP as the only means to affect things in this culture," Perkins said in an interview with U.S. News. "There is not the strong connection to the Republican Party that there once was."
Perkins said social conservatives greet new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele with caution, saying that Steele will have to reach out to people like Perkins, not the other way around. The influential social conservative leader, who was a strong backer of President George W. Bush's presidential campaigns, encouraged Steele to maintain tradition Republican stances on gay marriage and abortion.
Perkins also commended the Obama administration for reaching out to communities of faith, though he saved criticism for the president for having reversed policies on U.S. support for family planning agencies abroad.
"I'm not saying I'm taking everything at face value, but the Obama administration is trying to have a conversation about faith-based initiatives," Perkins said. "Whether they do it is another question, but it's a positive development."
Perkins said that the relationship between the GOP and social conservatives soured after Bush's 2004 election, when, Perkins alleges, social conservatives' issues were cast aside.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's political action committee (PAC) has launched a website targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ahead of Reid's 2010 reelection contest.
The site, "Watchin' Reid," chronicles Reid's exploits as Majority Leader in a negative light, in an effort likely seeking to soften up the Nevada Democrat ahead of a 2010 battle.
The site is run by the political action arm of the American Future Fund (AFF), the nonprofit founded by Romney to assist Republican candidates in races throughout the country. PACs by figures like Romney are often seek as a precursor to a presidential run, winning favor from fellow lawmakers to build support for a run.
"Harry Reid is up for election in 2010 and he must be defeated," the website's "About Us" section says. "We all know it
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) will chair the National Republican Congressional Committee's (NRCC) March Dinner fundraiser, the organization announced Thursday.
Roskam will be charged with drawing in supporters for the Republican congressional efforts, which have struggled in recent years.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's website saw a spike in traffic apparently brought on by President Obama's election victory.
Limbaugh's traffic nearly doubled briefly in early November when Obama took the White House, according to data from Alexa.com, a site that tracks web traffic for individual sites as a percent of total Internet traffic. Quantcast.com, a similar site, shows a less drastic bump, with around 200,000 more people visiting Limbaugh's site once Obama won according to its estimate.
After tapering off to nearly a one-year low in late December and January according to both sites,
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