By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

Old Glory is a presence at the Conservative Political Action Conference. There are four immense American flags surrounding the main stage where all things CPAC transpire. There's some magic here of the Reagan variety.

Young conservatives have descended on this year's Conservative Political Action Conference in search of ideas, skills and connections they can use to sway their undecided and liberal-leaning peers, but many say they could use a little more help from the older generation of conservative leaders.

One thing's for sure about the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins Thursday. It starts bright and early at 8 a.m. sharp, and on a note of traditional patriotism and respectful gravitas, countering critics at Politico who already have declared that "CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess," and deemed the event a "carnival."

Elections watchdog group True the Vote has filed a federal lawsuit against St. Lucie County Elections Supervisor Gertrude Walker for failure to comply with federal law after the congressional race and recount between then-Rep. Allen B. West and his challenger, current Rep. Patrick Murphy.

Viewer interest will likely intensify now that Sen. Joe Manchin III asked MTV to cancel "Buckwild," a new reality TV show that the West Virginia Democrat says promotes unsavory, inaccurate stereotypes about the Mountain State. He's also troubled that MTV will profit from the provocative backwoods shenanigans.

Pawing through the ashes of Mitt Romney defeat, it's clear that if the Republican Party wants to compete nationally, it has to do several things, such as re-message timeless traditional values, attract more young and minority voters -- particularly Hispanics -- and do a better job of getting out the vote.

Rep. Allen B. West's concession Tuesday that he lost his bid for re-election means the 113th Congress will open in January with only one black Republican in either chamber — a rough end to a year when the GOP had high hopes for expanding the diversity of its caucus.

Republican challenger David Rouzer has requested a recount in the race for North Carolina's 7th Congressional District.

Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy declared victory Sunday over Rep. Allen B. West after a partial recount this weekend showed him still leading by more than half a percentage point — though Mr. West is refusing to concede, and questions linger over how ballots were treated in one Florida county.

State and national Republican Party officials are getting behind Rep. Allen B. West's call for a recount of all early votes in St. Lucie County, Fla., saying it would be "unconscionable" not to answer lingering questions about the results, which show the outspoken GOP lawmaker trailing Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy.

Florida's secretary of state dispatched auditors Wednesday to try to get to the bottom of voting irregularities in St. Lucie County, where Rep. Allen B. West trails in vote-counting after last week's election but says there are too many questions for him to concede.

Combative Republican tea party icon Rep. Allen B. West won't concede his re-election fight despite Florida ballot counts showing Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy with a slim lead.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Allen B. West cut into Democrat Patrick Murphy's lead in a partial recount early Sunday, but still came up short of the challenger, who was declared the winner in the razor-thin District 18 race.

One of the loudest mouths in Congress is trying to preserve his voice, as Republican Rep. Allen B. West is pushing back at election results in South Florida that show him trailing his Democratic challenger by a razor-thin margin.
Rep. Allen B. West, a Republican, took the first steps in a legal challenge Wednesday in his closely watched re-election bid even as his Democratic opponent, Patrick Murphy, declared a razor-thin victory.
"We're not going to work out all the kinks in the next two days," Allen B. West tells Inside the Beltway.
Instead, we now have Iran transiting across Iraq to support Assad, and continuing to support terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad," says Rep. Allen B. West.