Gop

Workers from City Sign Services install a sign on South Broad Street to welcome the Republican National Convention to the city.

ALASKA GOV. Sarah Palin should have no trouble being President if McCain can't fulfill his term. There are so many Republicans that could come to her aid with advice, and they have recent experience. For example, there's George W., Cheney, Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, to mention a few. So what's the problem? Mayer Krain Philadelphia

On Election Day, it seemed so easy. The Republican Party, out of power for 28 years in Winslow Township, swept to victory in three of four Township Committee races to forge a 6-3 advantage on the nine-member body. Euphoria was the GOP order of the day. But now, a bitter party battle threatens to engulf the Republicans as township officials prepare for tonight's annual reorganization, where the spoils of an election victory are doled out in jobs and appointments. The fight - which is over appointments but has its roots in a personal feud between Mayor Norman F. Tomasello and Committeeman James Powell - splits the Republican camp down the middle, leaving the newly formed Township Committee with an oddly fractured 3-3-3 arrangement.

SO, IF Hollywood is all "pinko commie leftists," what does that make Bruce Willis, Bo Derek, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Britney Spears, Gene Simmons, the late Johnny Ramone, et al? They're Republican. Many country artists are GOP. Even former actors turned governors - Reagan and Schwarzenegger were/are Republican. Don't think all entertainers are liberal. I have discussions with conservatives who don't resort to name-calling. The venomous tone just feeds into stereotypes that all Republicans are stodgy and incapable of accepting other points of view.

TRENTON - Republicans in the New Jersey Assembly elected a new leader Tuesday. Assemblyman Jon Bramnick of Union County succeeds Alex DeCroce, who died of an apparent heart attack last week at the end of a long day of voting at the Statehouse. DeCroce had held the top spot since 2003. Bramnick, first elected to the Assembly in 2003, has served as the GOP conference leader since 2009, and was the minority whip before that. Assemblyman Dave Rible of Monmouth County was elevated to conference leader.

WHY DO Republicans continue to vote Republican? Over the last 80 years, they were against Social Security, Medicare and now health care for all. Any program that helps working people, they are against. If President Obama said he would continue tax breaks for the rich, the GOP would back him 100 percent. If the Republicans know this, why do they vote Republican? Over the years, when Republicans are asked why they voted against a bill that helps working people, their famous line is, "We voted against the bill because it does not do enough for the people.

The Republican National Committee's selection of Philadelphia yesterday as host for the 2000 convention, said Jan Larimer, made everyone feel "all real good and warm and fuzzy inside. " Maybe it was the 6-foot-long cheesesteak that Mayor Rendell presented to the Republicans. Or maybe it was the $20 million line of credit guaranteeing the GOP will get what the city has promised in cold cash and services. Whatever caused that warm feeling, Larimer, who chaired the committee that recommended Philadelphia, called the city's $50 million package "unbelievable.

By the tone of House Speaker Jim Wright's session-opening speech to his colleagues last week, one would expect the 101st Congress to be bathed in sweetness and light. "Working together" with Republicans was the basic theme of the House's top Democrat, who talked about the virtues of cooperation and bipartisanship in a murmur as thick as Texas molasses on a wintry morn. "The minority has an important and constructive role to play in the legislative process," Wright said, "and I am eager to encourage that role.

New Jersey Republicans should cast their ballots Tuesday for the candidate most likely to succeed against incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli. That candidate is Diane Allen. Republicans can look to her record as a state senator, her moderate positions on social issues, and her political tenacity as reasons why she would be a worthy GOP standard-bearer in the November general election. Ms. Allen sees considerable room for belt-tightening within the Beltway. She would like to cut down government waste to find more federal money for initiatives such as expanding prescription drug coverage so the poorest seniors would have only a modest co-pay.

PRESIDENT Bush says millions of children shouldn't get subsidized heath insurance because they're not poor enough - yet. For seven years, Republicans have followed policies that only benefit the rich and leave the rest of us with less and less. Those of us not lucky enough to be able to afford a new car every year have to pay the increases in the cost of heath care out of stagnant wages. It will be a sad day if Congress doesn't stand up to this madness and override Bush's veto.

Approximately 20 Republican ward leaders in one of America's most Democratic cities took the words of Sarah Palin to heart last night. They went rogue. A faction of GOP activists who've been locked in a long power struggle with the entrenched-for-decades leadership of the Philadelphia Republican Party met at a Northern Liberties church to pick a new chairman. They unanimously backed Rick Hellberg, 60, a financial consultant who unsuccessfully challenged Democratic U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah in 2010 and promised to take on a Democratic machine that has held sway over City Hall for the last 61 years with few serious contests.

HARRISBURG - He is being picketed almost daily by demonstrators in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh - a tin man without a heart, they call him. His Facebook page teems with complaints from angry Pennsylvanians. And his poll numbers have started to sag. Enough, say top political advisers, supporters, and fund-raisers to Gov. Corbett. Though they have anxiously watched for months as Corbett has fielded political hits on everything from policy to personality, they are now encouraging the governor to shake things up in hopes of shaking off what they think is turning into a growing image problem.

HARRISBURG — Even as some Republicans try to steer policy initiatives toward bread-and-butter economic issues in advance of the November elections, a small band of GOP lawmakers in Harrisburg tacked rightward Wednesday, introducing a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania. The legislation, similar to antiabortion bills crafted in other states, would bar all federal and state funding to the nonprofit, which provides abortions along with an array of other women's health services.

REPUBLICAN insurgents have called for an election Wednesday night to select a new Philadelphia party chairman -- whether the old chairman likes it or not. The vote at St. Michael the Archangel Church, near 4th Street and Fairmount Avenue, comes after years of fighting between the old-guard GOP and a gang of dissidents known as "the loyal opposition" that would like the party to be more competitive. At issue is whether current Republican City Committee Chairman Vito Canuso holds his position legitimately.

WASHINGTON - Are Republican lawmakers deliberately stalling the economic recovery to hurt President Obama's reelection chances? Some top Democrats say yes, pointing to GOP stances on the debt limit and other issues, which they say are causing unnecessary economic anxiety and retarding growth. The latest Democratic complaint came after House Speaker John A. Boehner said last week that when Congress raises the nation's borrowing cap in early 2013, he will again insist on big spending cuts to offset the increase.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney swept the Kentucky and Arkansas Republican presidential primaries Tuesday, inching closer to the GOP nomination he is certain to win. With no serious opposition left, the former Massachusetts governor easily won both contests. He won all 42 delegates in Kentucky and at least 21 of the 33 delegates at stake in Arkansas. Twelve delegates were still undecided in Arkansas. Romney has 1,055 delegates, leaving him just 89 shy of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination for president.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney and his Republican Party raised $40 million in April, an unexpectedly strong haul in the first month of the general campaign that illustrates enthusiasm within the GOP and threatens President Obama's overwhelming cash advantage. Since becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Romney has devoted most of his time to privately courting donors so he can prepare for what may be the most expensive campaign in history. His focus appears to be paying off. In just one month, Obama's 10-1 cash advantage has shrunk to 2-1, partly because the Republican National Committee now is helping Romney.

WASHINGTON - Divisive Republican primaries, an out-of-nowhere GOP retirement in Maine, and an unexpectedly competitive race in North Dakota add up to an unpredictable battle for control of the Senate this fall, confounding early forecasts that an era of Democratic rule was inevitably coming to an end. Adding to the uncertainty, tea party-backed challengers are on the primary ballot against establishment candidates in New Mexico and Texas in the...

WASHINGTON - Moving to protect the military from a crippling wave of budget cuts next year, a key House committee voted Monday to cut instead food aid, health care, and social services such as Meals on Wheels. The measure would require federal employees to contribute more to their pensions, saving taxpayers more than $80 billion over the coming decade, while illegal immigrants would be denied tax refunds from the $1,000-per-child tax credit. There's no companion legislation moving in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the proposal doesn't stand a chance of making it to President Obama's desk for signature.

In the streets surrounding the Republican National Convention in Tampa this summer, water pistols, slingshots, brass knuckles and glass bottles will be prohibited. But loaded guns? Not a chance. While the spoilsport Secret Service won't let civilians carry guns inside the Tampa Convention Center, outside is a different story: Anyone with a concealed weapons permit will be permitted to pack heat almost anywhere he wants. And yet, the NRA-manipulated paranoia about nonexistent threats to gun ownership has become even more pronounced since Barack Obama became president: The fact that Obama has done nothing to restrict guns — and, in fact, signed a law allowing people to take them into national parks — apparently is proof to them that he intends to take everyone's guns away.