Free Republic

The race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination starts in earnest this week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Too early, you say? On the contrary. With the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary only 12 months away, it may soon be too late for anyone who wants to run for president to begin the hard work of raising money, recruiting a staff and wooing Republican activists. So let's get started. Here's the conventional wisdom, fresh from the corridors of power, on the state of the Republican race: There are really only two spots on the...

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he supports a run for president by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. “I believe she is an extraordinarily powerful and effective voice in our party, that she has generated a great deal of support and attention, that she’d be great in a primary process,” Mr. Romney said. He added that he supports Ms. Palin entering the race, noting that the more candidates, the better.

On the kick off to his "No Apology" book tour Mitt Romney is on message – refusing to apologize for the Massachusetts health care law that, like President Obama’s federal legislation, requires citizens to buy health insurance. “I’m not apologizing for it, I’m indicating that we went in one direction and there are other possible directions. I’d like to see states pursue their own ideas, see which ideas work best,” Romney told me. That stand seems to reject the advice of Karl Rove and others who say that Romney can’t get the GOP nomination in 2012 unless he finds a...