26 Year Old Princella Smith for Congress in Arkansas

Anyone who has ever called the GOP the "party of old white guys" has obviously never met Princella Smith. Not only is she a proud member of the GOP, but she's young, she's black, and she's a woman. Oh, and she's running for Congress in Arkansas. So just who is this young woman who's taking the "Natural State" by storm? Here is a look at her short life leading up to her not-so-typical run for Congress.

Princella Smith has been public speaking since she was four years old and by the age of nine, she and her brothers were in high demand as keynote speakers at a number of church and education-based events, where they were often asked to recite Martin Luther King's entire "I Have a Dream" speech. But that's not all she did at a young age. Smith was involved in a number of academic and civic groups as a child. According to her website, she came in first place at two county spelling bees, won awards for writing, won quiz bowls, and was involved with Girl Scouts, Key Club, and Boys 2 Men/Girls 2 Women.

Smith attributes her success at such a young age to being raised in a small town with a strong foundation. She grew up in Wynne, Arkansas, raised by her father John Smith, a former school board vice president and the minister at Christian Fellowship Church and her mother Sandra Smith, the vice principal at Wynne High School.

In high school, she developed a passion for politics when she was sponsored by the Wynne chapter of the Women’s American Legion Auxiliary to attend Arkansas Girls State. There, she was elected out of about 900 girls as the 2001 Girls State Governor. That summer, she was awarded an internship with the state's Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller. During that internship, she was part of a life-changing moment. The Lt. Governor asked her to write a speech for him to give a college graduation. She did and he read it word for word, something he usually didn't do with his staff. Smith has said of that moment, "To see your billionaire, world-famous, Lt. Governor quote your words verbatim is overwhelming. Do you know what that does to a kid from the Delta?" In high school, Smith went on to letter in women's basketball, leading the team to its first state playoff appearance in years. She was elected to the Arkansas All-Star Basketball team, was her class president, and graduated with honors.

She went on to college at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, where she majored in political science and minored in communications and history, and played for the school's women's basketball team. She is also a graduate of the Buckley School of Public Speaking. Smith went on to take part in internships with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. Congressman John Boozman of Arkansas, and served a clerkship at the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2004, she won a speech/essay contest sponsored by MTV called "Stand Up and Holla." That same year, she spoke at the Republican National Convention, just before First Lady Laura Bush addressed the nation.

In 2006, she served as the E-Campaign Director for then Maryland Lt. Governor and current Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. In that position, she managed all electronic communications for the campaign, including the official campaign website. She has also served as a Communications Director and as the National Spokesperson for American Solutions and has been a guest lecturer at the Leadership Institute, speaking on topics such as "New Media" and "Grassroots Activism." She is also a visiting fellow at the Independent Women's Forum and has worked as a political contributor for the following media outlets: FOX News, FOX Business News, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, BET, Bloomberg News, PBS, France 24, EuroAmerican News, Danish Broadcasting, NPR, the New York Times, USA Today, XM Satellite Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Essence Magazine, YouTube News, XM Radio, AOL Radio/TV, Black America Web, RocktheVote.com, Huffington Post.

You can read more about what Smith stands for and why she's running for office at PrincellaSmith.com.

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GOP Pundits React to Sarah Palin's Resignation

On Friday, July 3, 2009, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced her intention to resign from office at the end of July. (The transcript of Sarah Palin's resignation speech can be found here.) On what would have normally been a slow news day, a Friday leading into a holiday weekend, the world was taken by surprise by the news and reacted accordingly. Accusations flew and speculation surfaced everywhere from within the media to online social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. As imagined, those on the left side of the political aisle, for the most part, used the opportunity to fire more accusations and insults towards Palin and many on the right were left disappointed. But not everyone responded negatively. Several big name Republican pundits, though somewhat suprised, stepped in and defended Palin and her decision.

Radio giant Rush Limbaugh took a break from his 4th of July golfing trip to talk about not ruling out Palin's potential for a 2012 presidential run, "I don't think this precludes her running for office down the road, the presidency, in 2012, at all. I think these people saying she's an instant target because she quit is just inside the beltway formulaic. And she's not that... If anything, this woman's M.O. is outside-the-box, not formulaic, so until we know what this is all about, I think it's just everybody being the smartest person in the room. All I know she is going to continue to fire up people."

Former Governor Mike Huckabee sang a different tune, insisting he is a fan of hers, he insinuated that if Palin cannot handle current attacks as Governor, she certainly would not be able to handle them as President of the United States, "The danger that Sarah Palin faces, and let me be very quick to tell you -- in the way of full disclosure -- I am a Sarah Palin fan. I like her personally. I like her points of view. I think she's right on the issues. The challenge that she's going to have is that there will be people who say 'Well, look if they chase you out of this, it won't get any easier for you at other levels of the stage.'" It should be noted that many believe Governor Huckabee is planning his own run for President in 2012 and Palin is often seen as one of his biggest competitors.

Former adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, called Palin's move "risky," but also conceded that it's "not clear what she's doing and why."

Other top-name Republican pundits and strategists weighed in and were very supportive of Palin's decision. Mary Matalin called into CNN over the weekend and described the decision as "brilliant." "Well, I think it’s really brilliant, with two caveats, one being that there’s nothing else, ala the Sanford fiasco. There’s nothing else that we don’t know. If all that’s there is what we see right now, it’s brilliant. And, secondly, that she has a plan and people have a plan to put up with the conventional wisdom, chatterati and the political class saying how stupid it is, because it’s brilliant.

The ever-controversial Ann Coulter appeared on "Hannity" on Monday night and not only defended Palin but lashed out at her critics saying, "They're talking about her like an ex-girlfriend. They're totally over her but they just can't stop talking about her. 'No, I'm over her. She's history, I feel more sorry for her than I do for me,' but they can't stop talking about her. I mean who is the last politician they said was a hick, wasn't going any place, was stupid? I think that's Ronald Reagan. She has this amazing ability to connect with people. And you know, as Nixon said, they're not going to have Palin to kick around anymore."

Governor Palin, herself, decided to avoid her critics and the media and instead turned to Twitter and Facebook to get her message to those she really wanted to reach: the American citizens. She has been furiously standing up to rumors and speculation via the social networking websites and posting messages such as "Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again...." and "We'll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election... this is in Alaska's best interest, my family's happy... it is good, stay tuned."

While no one knows for sure what's in store for Palin's future, no one can argue that we will be hearing about her from both supporters and critics for a long time to come.