The Republican Party of the United States of America

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States,
along with the Democratic Party. It is often referred to as the Grand Old Party or the GOP.
Founded in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican
Party quickly surpassed the Whig Party as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party.
It first came to power in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency and presided
over the American Civil War and Reconstruction. Today, the party supports a conservative platform
(from an American political perspective), with further foundations in supply-side fiscal policies,
and social conservatism.

The Republican Party is currently the second largest party with 55 million registered members,
encompassing roughly one-third of the electorate. The current U.S. President, George W. Bush,
is the 19th Republican to hold that office. Republicans currently fill a minority of seats in both
the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, hold a minority of state governorships,
and control a minority of state legislatures.

The party's nominee for President in the upcoming 2008 election is Senator John McCain of Arizona,
and the party's nominee for Vice-President is Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Information from Wikipedia.org

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