Free Republic

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have pulled out of a Republican presidential debate scheduled for March 1 in Atlanta, leading to the cancellation of the affair. But backers of a planned presidential debate in Portland on March 19 are confident they won't run into the same problem. "We have every indication it will happen," said Greg Leo, chief of staff of the Oregon Republican Party, which is sponsoring the debate along with Oregon Public Broadcasting, National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System and The Washington Times. Romney and Paul cited problems with their campaign schedule in being able to make...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I want to move on to Rick Santorum. You talk about being perfectly positioned? Rick Santorum is a practicing Catholic, a pro-lifer. You talk about a candidate who is perfectly positioned to draw the most distinct contrast to Obama and the Democrats and what's going on right now. Santorum speak at CPAC this morning, the Conservative Political Action Conference. We have five excerpts from Santorum's speech which fired up CPAC. Here's the first of them... SANTORUM: "We have to learn our lesson that we need to compromise, do what's politically reasonable, and go out and push someone...

Fox News Poll: Santorum Surges Nationally After Three-State Sweep By Dana Blanton February 10, 2012 Rick Santorum has surged nationally in the race for the 2012 Republican nomination after his three-state sweep this week, while Mitt Romney has lost ground among GOP primary voters. In addition, most GOP voters say the nomination race isn’t over -- someone other than Romney could still win. That’s according to a Fox News poll released Friday. The new poll was conducted over four nights this week -- Monday through Thursday -- so it provides a unique opportunity to compare Santorum’s support before and after...

(YBH) – As the final Colorado vote counts were coming in late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, confirming that Rick Santorum scored a hat trick against his Republican competitors, it was becoming clear that a sea change is occurring within the GOP race. More than before, it’s now arguable that the inevitability of Mitt Romney’s candidacy is a fallacy. This opinion has been long espoused by Republican grassroots activists across the country. Now there are numbers to back it up. Santorum has now won four out of the eight contests. He has victories in four contests compared to three for Romney....

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Rick Santorum, one night, three victories. CBS has the story: "Santorum Stunner: Sweeps 3 GOP Contests." I've taken a gander throughout the Republican media, conservative media, and all over the place, and they are shocked. They're literally shocked. The Republican establishment had no idea this was percolating out there. I can't believe how insulated they are. I mean I know they're insulated. I know they're inside the Beltway. I know they have their own world in which they live, but to look at the reaction they're having today, to see how shocked they are that Rick Santorum...

Tuesday’s balloting had to deflate the Romney campaign as Rick Santorum, who now has won more states than Mitt, swept all three elections in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota. Even Ron Paul beat Romney in Minnesota – by 10 points. Romney, whom nearly everyone was crowning nominee after his decisive Florida victory, clearly isn’t the darling of a large swath of the Republican faithful. We won’t belabor this except to say there are a few things that bode ill, not just for Romney, but for Republicans...

Whatever your perspective on how likely Mitt Romney was to lose the Republican nomination race prior to Tuesday evening, it should be acknowledged that he had about the worst results conceivable. In Minnesota, a state which Mr. Romney carried easily in 2008, he has so far failed to win a single county — and got just 17 percent of the vote. That put him 27 points behind Rick Santorum, and 10 points behind Ron Paul, who finished in second. Missouri is a less important result since its beauty contest primary did not count for delegate selection and since turnout was...

[BIG snip] Santorum's ad and his Op-Ed, meant to mock Gingrich, in reality can only distinctly not help Santorum's struggling campaign. Gingrich will surely make the inevitable -- and correct -- connection between Santorum's ad and a serious attack on the Reagan space legacy -- and the dreams of America itself. "We'll continue our quest in space…. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue," said President Reagan that tragic January night. Well, no they won't. Not if Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney have anything to say about it. "I promise," says Santorum. Worse, whether Santorum's staff understands it...

It was the great wildcard going into the 2012 election cycle. Republican Party insiders openly worried the Tea Party might knock off the establishment presidential candidate, just as it knocked out establishment picks in the chaotic 2010 congressional races. Party heavyweights wondered whom the upstart movement would get behind and whether Mitt Romney could even get through the early states, given the once-raging Tea Party elements in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. But after months of wondering how the Tea Party would change the primary game, leaders inside the movement admit they never came in off the sidelines. For...

On October 1, 2010, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney described the genius of the American idea and lauded its results. “No nation has done more to lift people out of poverty than this nation,” he said in remarks at Benedetto’s, an Italian restaurant in Tampa, Florida. “Our free enterprise system has lifted billions out of poverty.” Romney spoke at a “Reclaiming America Rally” for Marco Rubio, then a candidate for the Senate. It was one of three events Romney did that day with Rubio. The two men chatted in the kitchen before their remarks to a crowd that spilled into...

Romney has won only two of the four contests thus far…we have 46 states to go. Why do so many pundits believe that makes him the inevitable nominee? Let’s take a look at the most similar republican primary of the last 50 years…1976 between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. The biggest difference in 1976 was that Ford was an incumbent president being challenged in his own party by a B-list actor turned Governor. It should have been a landslide for Ford and for the first few months, it was. Reagan lost EIGHT of the first nine contests, some of them...

PHOENIX, February 3, 2012- Mitt Romney’s win in Florida didn’t happen because the voters felt at heart with Romney’s message and past, but rather the negative onslaught of campaign ads run by the Romney campaign and its allies against Newt Gingrich. An analysis from the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG) shows that 92% of political ads airing during the last few weeks of the Florida primary were negative. It was so negative that CMAG President Ken Goldstein said, "this is the most negative campaign ever." Of all the ads during the Florida primary, 68% were negative toward Newt Gingrich and...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has picked up an endorsement from former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo (tan-KRAY-doh). The failed gubernatorial and presidential candidate is a tea party favorite. Santorum was campaigning in Colorado on Wednesday ahead of next week's GOP caucuses there in hopes of building some momentum for his White House bid. Santorum also was endorsed Wednesday by former congressman Bob Shaffer and former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton.

The 2012 Republican primary race has passed well beyond the rabbit hole into some extra-dimensional bizarro world where up is down, black is white and the allies of the candidate who disavowed Reaganism would have us believe that the leader of the “second stage of the Reagan Revolution” is somehow insufficiently Reaganesque. It’s no secret that the GOP establishment backs Mitt Romney. The same folks who gave us John McCain and Bob Dole have picked their winner. When Mr. Romney is down, their panic shows. They start floating desperate ideas like late-entry candidates or a brokered convention. They also pull...

LUTZ, FLORIDA— On the last Sunday before the Florida primary, Newt Gingrich bowed his head at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, a megachurch in a suburb north of Tampa. As the remaining Republican candidates scramble to reach as many voters as humanly possible before Tuesday's all-important primary, every chance to preen before a captive audience is a golden opportunity. And no audience is more glued to their seats than devout Christians on a Sunday. Most parishioners appeared unaware that a celebrity was scheduled to be in their midst. When Gingrich stepped off his bus, reporters formed a swarm that enveloped him...

The GOP Empire Strikes Back At Gingrich By Dan Balz January 27 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The revenge of the Republican establishment is a sight to behold. From one corner to another, those who have tangled with Newt Gingrich, who feel aggrieved toward Newt Gingrich or who fear Newt Gingrich have amassed to stop him. They know how much harder it will be to do so if the former House speaker wins Florida on Tuesday. The quintessential example of establishment angst came Thursday from Bob Dole, the former Senate majority leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee. Hours before Thursday’s GOP debate,...

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent. We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week’s tactics aren’t what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment should stop and...

2012 Primary Schedule The 2012 GOP primary/caucus schedule is nearly set in stone. The calendar dates below are believed to be accurate unless last minute changes occur to the schedule. Always check with your local board of elections to verify election dates, times and locations ahead of time. Note that "Super Tuesday" in 2012 falls on March 6th, however, it is a little less "super" than it has been in years past. Full Primary/Caucus Calendar January 3, 2012Iowa (caucus) – Results January 10, 2012New Hampshire (primary) – Results January 21, 2012South Carolina (primary) – Results January 31, 2012Florida (primary) February...

Hosted by Wolf Blitzer at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Candidates: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.Word is the audience will be "allowed" to participate.Livestream here.

The entire GOP establishment has unleashed on Newt Gingrich this week, and it looks like it is slowing his momentum in the polls. Almost all of the anti-Newt Gingrich material hitting the media is coming from conservative institutions: National Review, The New York Sun, and the Washington Times. Just look at the Drudge Report from last night and early this morning.:(Snip for graphic) The number one news source for many populist and conservative readers, looks like an anti-Gingrich pinboard. There are twelve anti-Gingrich links leading the site, with video of Gingrich trashing Reagan,

Sen. Rick Santorum has no viable path to victory and brings no new issues or ideas to the table. He no longer serves a purpose, or has a justification to remain in the race. Santorum has no viable claim that he is more conservative or more electable than Gingrich. He has no viable claim that he will be better in raising money, in organization, or would do a better job as president. There is simply no path for him. Further — despite winning Iowa, Santorum lost badly in NH and SC, and has no means to complete in FL. It...

In spite of a carefully timed announcement by Newt Gingrich's ex-wife Marianne on an "Open Marriage, Mistress Proposal", Gingrich rallied from a 16 point deficit on January 3 to a stunning 12 percentage point slaughter of Mitt Romney less than three weeks later. South Carolina Primary Results The Associated Press announces these South Carolina Primary Results. This goes to show you that "It ain't over until it's over." Dog Whistle Politics The Financial Times reports Victory Horrifies Republican Establishment Gingrich didn’t just win the primary. He crushed Mr Romney, by more than ten percentage points, and that after the former...

Not even 24 hours passed before the Establishment hive was out in force this morning, after Newt Gingrich's stunning decimation of Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary. Chris Christie said that Newt has been an embarrassment to the party. His political paramour, Ann Coulter (who endorsed Romney in 2008, then Christie this cycle, and now Romney again...three liberals in a row) deemed him the "least conservative" of the current field and the least electable, among other snarky and degrading comments I will not repeat. Paradoxically, She also repeated the old liberal saw that we need to reach to the...

Chris Christie isn’t shy about playing Romney’s attack dog. This morning on Meet the Press, he said Gingrich has been “an embarrassment to the party”, citing his ethics violation and the fact that he was thrown out as Speaker of the House by his own party. Gingrich, on the other hand, showed this morning that he is his own best attack dog, suggesting that Romney’s arguments on Bain wouldn’t stand up to “a high school debater.” Gingrich suggested his own debate performance was a big contributor to his success in South Carolina. “One of the reasons I think people in...

I'm officially endorsing Newt Gingrich for president today. Was going to wait until after Florida, but see no reason to delay. We need Newt to win in South Carolina and Florida to stop any possible momentum building up for the establishment big government, statist, abortionist RINO!!

Waiting on Perry to take podium any moment! He will endorse Newt!

A federal appeals court in Virginia today denied an emergency request by Republican presidential hopefuls Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich to be placed on the ballot for the Virginia primary. After failing to get the required 10,000 signatures necessary to be placed on the ballot, the two candidates argued that Virginia’s strict ballot law was unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with a lower court and ruled today that the candidates had waited too long to file their suit. The court ruled unanimously that Perry and the other candidates “had every...

[SNIP leading up to the "advice" from a former GW Bush adviser] ....A win in SouthCarolina will be overwhelming proof that Romney is just “right” enough to win the nomination. If that were to occur, Romney would have won in the conservative Midwest, the more liberal/independent Northeast and the conservative South. Perry, Santorum and Gingrich need a win, place or show in SouthCarolina to continue to Florida. ...The real question will be one for Gingrich to answer. If Gingrich doesn’t come in a close 2nd or 3rd in South Carolina, will he engage in a “scorched earth policy” that if...

GOP Debate

<p>Perplexing but true: Mitt Romney is on the glide path to the most easily secured nomination a Republican presidential candidate has ever had — while being one of the weakest major candidates either party has ever seen.</p> <p>Paul will certainly stay in it with Romney all the way. Somebody has to. And that is not good news for the Republican Party, which will have to reckon with possibly ill-behaved Paul delegates at the convention in Tampa in August — delegates who might heckle Romney from the floor and otherwise disrupt his coronation.</p>

The Virginia primary isn’t until March 6; who knows what will happen between now and then? Perhaps one or more candidates among Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum will have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure their names will appear on the Virginia ballot only to be out of the race by the beginning of March anyway.Nevertheless, those left out in the cold in Old Dominion haven’t given up without a fight — and it looks like they might win it after all. Recall that Perry has filed a ballot access lawsuit — in which he was...

According to the Associated Press, Tim Tebow will not be endorsing a candidate for President in 2012. Sensing the excitement and loving his message, Tebow is also being courted by Republican presidential candidates. The quarterback recently told The Associated Press he's been asked by more than one of the contenders for his support. He wouldn't name names, but did say he'd declined the offer. "I think you have to have so much trust in who you support, just from product endorsements to endorsing a candidate because if that person or company does something (bad), it reflects on you," said Tebow....

Mitt Romney is the only 2012 candidate whom a majority of Republicans — including conservatives — consider an “acceptable” GOP nominee for president, according to a Gallup Poll Tuesday. In the new survey, 59 percent of all Republicans said Romney would be an acceptable presidential nominee for the Republican Party. Just 46 percent said the same for Newt Gingrich and 45 percent for Rick Santorum, who were trailed by Rick Perry at 37 percent, Ron Paul at 29 percent and Jon Huntsman at 21 percent. Romney is also the only candidate whom the majority of both conservative and moderate/liberal Republicans...

Republicans do not need to nominate a candidate anytime soon. On the contrary, if they want to beat President Obama, they should take their time before settling on a nominee. In January of 2010, Harry Reid looked like a “dead man walking” politically. Fourteen percent of Nevadans were unemployed, and he was having a hard time getting above 43 percent in most polls. There was only one way he could win: destroy his Republican opponent before he or she ever got out of the blocks. [snip] Ending the primary season early simply allows Team Obama more time to focus their...

NASHUA, N.H. -- Is New Hampshire too white, too old and too godless to play a key role in selecting the next president? "The rap on Iowa: It doesn't represent the rest of the country -- too white, too evangelical, too rural," NBC's Andrea Mitchell famously said shortly before the Jan. 3 caucuses. Other critics called Iowa too old. If such concerns about Iowa are legitimate, then so are concerns about New Hampshire. For example, the first-in-the-nation primary state is actually whiter than Iowa. According to the 2010 census, New Hampshire is 93.9 percent white, 2.8 percent Hispanic and 1.1...

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. (AP) — Voters in the tiny New Hampshire village famed for casting the first ballots in the nation’s first presidential primary have found themselves in a tie between Republicans Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. Nine ballots were cast in New Hampshire’s Dixville Notch just after midnight. Romney and Huntsman received two votes each. Coming in second with one vote apiece were Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. For the Democrats, President Barack Obama received three votes. The nine residents who cast their ballots include three registered Republicans and two registered Democrats. Four other voters haven’t declared a party.

Gannett Newspaper, Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120108/NEWS02/301080082/Evangelicals-may-face-choice-electable-candidate-moral-one?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Game On! Rick Santorum Scores Big in the Iowa Caucus in a Stunning 8 Vote Spread By Keith A. Fournier In one of the closest and most dramatic Caucus votes in US history, Senator Rick Santorum shocked the political establishment - and captured the Nations attention - in a stunning come from behind near victory in the Iowa Caucus of 2012...Rick Santorum's speech after the Iowa victory AMES,IA (Catholic Online) - In one of the closest and most dramatic Caucus votes in US history, Senator Rick Santorum shocked the political establishment - and captured the Nations attention - in a...

“This year’s Presidential race outcome will set the course of America for the next several years!” said Michelle Duggar in a statement. “Santorum is a pro-life, Christian conservative with the family values and common sense business perspective that we need to get our nation back on track, to create jobs and to stand for what is right! Rick has a proven track record as a leader in the US Senate he fought to end partial birth abortion, he has stood for defining marriage as between a man and a woman.” Duggar said that the family also appreciated Santorum’s support for...

The latest polls out of Iowa confirm two things as we head into the caucuses: Ron Paul has peaked, and his support is now on the downswing. And Rick Santorum is surging, going from single-digits to third place in a matter of days.If the Des Moines Register survey holds true, Santorum may just be getting started: The poll, conducted Tuesday through Friday, shows support at 24 percent for Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts; 22 percent for Paul, a Texas congressman; and 15 percent for the surging Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania.But the four-day results don’t reflect...

The day we stop fighting for the unborn child, or fighting to protect the sanctity of marriage, expel God from the public square, or decide we will no longer enforce the laws of our land, is the day we surrender all our founding fathers created. I believe what makes America exceptional is not just our economic potential or our remarkable innovation, but the fact that we are a moral enterprise. As President, I will protect America's moral foundation, empower American families and build America's economic freedom. And I won't compromise on my values to do it." (Rick Santorum) (EXCERPTS) ....I...

Sarah Palin is not running. Rick Perry has shown himself not up to the challenge (unfortunately). Herman Cain got borked by the establishment media and could not take the heat (unfortunately). Ron Paul, for every sensible position, has one that marks him as a kook. Newt Gingrich is being attacked relentlessly, fairly or unfairly, and because of his very mixed record on many issues, the attacks are weakening him. Michelle Bachmann's apparent role as Mitt Romney's attack dog has left her mired in single digits in the polls. So the political class in this country (and I include the elites...

In a press release, the Perry campaign sites examples of cases it which it claims similar out-of-state petition requirement have been struck down. The campaign goes on the say the Virginia Republican Party has the power to tell the Virginia Board of Election which candidates should be on the ballot.

EMILY's List today released its first-ever presidential scorecard, a look at how the GOP candidates rank on issues of importance to its membership.Not surprisingly, the campaign organization that backs Democratic women who support abortion rights judged the Republicans' stances on Democratic-supported measures. For example, the candidates were dinged for opposing President Barack Obama's health care law or his jobs act or for opposing funding for Planned Parenthood. They were ranked on their support for Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's budget overhauling Medicare and their positions on equal pay legislation, family and medical leave legislation or the Equal Rights Amendment.EMILY's List also...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has filed suit in federal court against the Virginia Republican Party and the Virginia Board of Elections in order to gain a spot on the Commonwealth's primary ballot. Perry was excluded after the party found he had not submitted enough valid signatures by the deadline last Thursday. His campaign submitted 6,000 of the required 10,000, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges that Perry's 1st and 14th Amendment rights were violated by the requirement that those circulating the petitions also be eligible or registered voters of Virginia. Failure to get on the ballot is a major...

Via Ben Domenech’s Transom comes perhaps the least surprising news of the month. That news is that almost exactly half of all Ron Paul supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire self-identity as non-Republican. Without the support of these Democrats and Independents, Paul pulls roughly the same trivial level of support he got in 2008. This has some important implications for the state of the race. First, as Neil Stevens has been patiently noting here on the front page, this makes Paul’s level of support in Iowa potentially much softer than it appears. While these voters can at least theoretically register...

There are currently many news stories and blog discussions about the Virginia presidential primary ballot access law. Some large blogs, such as Red State, have over 300 comments about the story. Some defend the current Virginia ballot access laws on the grounds that in past presidential elections, a fairly large number of Republican presidential primary candidates managed to qualify. But what has not been reported is that in the only other presidential primaries in which Virginia required 10,000 signatures (2000, 2004, and 2008) the signatures were not checked. Any candidate who submitted at least 10,000 raw signatures was put on...

Richard Winger over at Ballot Access News has an EXTREMELY interesting post (link via here) on the mess that the Virginia Republican party has found itself in over… access to the ballot in Virginia. For those coming in late, background here and here: the very short version is that the VA GOP only certified Mitt Romney and Ron Paul for its primary ballot. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich both had too many signatures tossed; Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann didn’t even try. Of the seven candidates, one (Romney) had more than enough signatures (15K) to bypass the verification...

Mitt Romney once again pitches himself as the presidential candidate best poised to effectively reform government, in a new ad set to run in Iowa. The 30-second spot, which features footage from a speech by the former Massachusetts governor, will run in the Hawkeye State ahead of the first-in-the-nation Jan. 3 caucuses. "I'm going to do something to government. I'm going to make it simpler and smaller and smarter, getting rid of programs, turning programs back to states, and finally making government itself more efficient," Romney says in the commercial, titled "Conservative Agenda."

I am. Anybody who supports Ron Paul after seeing this isn’t just not a Republican; they’re not a patriotic American. George McGovern would find this guy’s foreign policy borderline treason.