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Should Mitt Romney win the Republican presidential nomination, it is unlikely his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be as big an issue in the general election as it has been in the Republican primary campaign.

In a new web site, in a controversial ad that was launched and then quickly pulled from sight, and in Tuesday’s now infamous debate touching episode, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is handling rival Rick Perry as if the Texas governor’s poll numbers were not at a paltry single-digit. With mounting evidence, he is, in short, treating Perry like Perry has Herman Cain’s numbers. [snip] If Romney can fatally weaken Perry now, it would allow him to dominate in the early primaries. Strategically, a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses would be followed by an anticipated victory in the New...

This YouTube shows the episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c37VcgHUFVk Romney gets very frustrated and reaches out and grabs Perry on national TV. This willingness on his part to engage in physical contact during a verbal disagreement is really troubling. Shortly afterwards he begins to belittle Perry, he begins to lecture, he whines about the rules, he gets very red-faced, and he totally loses his cool. I'm sure I don't want this man with his finger on the button. He can't seem to handle stress. He obviously got physical. It's a matter of record.

BELMONT, Mass. — In ticking off his credentials on the campaign trail — management consultant, businessman, governor — Mitt Romney omits what may have been his most distinctive post: Mormon lay leader, offering pastoral guidance on all manner of human affairs from marriage to divorce, abortion, adoption, addiction, unemployment and even business disputes. Bryce Clark was a recipient of Mr. Romney’s spiritual advice. Late one summer night in 1993, distraught over his descent into alcoholism and drug use, Mr. Clark, then a 19-year-old college student, decided to confess that he had strayed from his Mormon faith. So he drove through...

After watching the GOP presidential debate the other night, it was hard to avoid this conclusion: Mitt Romney looks more and more like the GOP presidential nominee. He's the best debater. He's got his issues and his rejoinders down pat. He brushes away his opponents like lint on his lapel. And all with such ease. That said, there's a teensy problem he just can't seem to beat: Conservatives don't like him. Or trust him. Or really want him to be the GOP nominee. Sure, you say, Republicans never like their nominees, and they still manage to vote for them. There...

The Obama administration may have relied much more heavily on Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare legislation as a blueprint for Obamacare than was previously believed. White House visitor logs obtained by NBC News revealed that three of Romney’s healthcare advisers had up to a dozen meetings with senior administration officials, including one in the Oval Office presided over by President Barack Obama. “They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model,” MIT economist and Romney healthcare adviser Jon Gruber told NBC. What’s more, the records show Gruber was...

exas Gov. Rick Perry has the momentum now, but the calendar may give rival Mitt Romney an advantage over the front-runner if the primary battle for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination turns into a marathon hunt for delegates. Thanks to the way the party’s primary contests are spread out next year — and the historical tendencies of GOP voters to favor past candidates — the former Massachusetts governor could hold a distinct edge in the big, delegate-rich states that vote later in the process. “Mitt definitely gets the advantage if the nomination gets decided by big moderate states like California,...

At a fundraiser yesterday, Former Massachusetts Governor and current contender for the GOP presidential nomination Mitt Romney said his short list for the Vice President is "[Virginia Governor Bob] McDonnell, Governor [Chris] Christie of New Jersey and [Senator] Marco Rubio of Florida." Obviously Mr. Romney is trying to boost the appeal of his candidacy with the many conservatives who find his record lacking, but this premature discussion of a running mate might have the opposite effect.

I'm not trying to inflame. I am not trying to troll. I just bring reality. You probably know it's true yourself. Romney will be the guy. At this time in 2007, the dreadful McCain was polling in single digits, and fundless. Yet he won the nomination pretty easily. Romney is MUCH stronger right now. Who will beat him? I tend to doubt Palin will even run. Bachmann will never get establishment support, and the MSM's efforts to trash her are already underway. Cain just doesn't have the impetus. Ron Paul? Well, he's just Ron Paul. The rest are asterisks. Back...

An Ohio Republican Party official sent over results from the party's presidential straw poll in a proving-ground swing state, which showed Mitt Romney the clear winner. Romney, who made the Ames Straw Poll his Holy Grail in 2007 but is bypassing Ames, Florida's Presidency V and all other such contests this cycle, won handily with 25 percent. Tim Pawlenty, who is fighting his own war for Ames, scored second place, with 16 percent. But Pawlenty was bunched with the third- and fourth-place finishers, Michele Bachmann (15 percent) candidate Rick Perry (14 percent). Perry is especially noteworthy, since he has yet...

In the past few weeks we’ve seen the media scrambling to promote a cat fight between Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. As the UK’s Telegraph recently wrote: The first shots have been fired in what could become an ugly battle between Sarah Palin and her potential rival Michele Bachmann for the Republican presidential nomination. [...] A Republican consultant who declined to be named because he is aligned with a rival camp, said: “The claws are out. It’s the cat fight everyone has been waiting for – Queen Sarah being taken on by the Palin mini-me.” This is all obviously designed...

(CNSNews.com) - Five of the seven Republican presidential candidates participating in a debate in New Hampshire last night said they would favor a constitutional amendment to define marriage in the United States as between a man and a woman. Only businessman Herman Cain and Rep. Ron Paul said they did not favor an amendment. New Hampshire Union Leader reporter John DiStaso raised the marriage issue by asking Rep. Michele Bachmann whether she would come into the state of New Hampshire as president and campaign to overturn the state's law allowing same-sex marriage.

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney has a message to Tea Party candidates nationwide: If you lose your Republican primary bids, stay on the sidelines. The former Massachusetts governor on Monday warned the grassroots movement not to mount third party efforts in general elections, which he said would siphon votes from Republican nominees. "If there is a conservative candidate that runs in the general election, then obviously, divide and fail is the result," Romney said in an interview with the conservative Web site Newsmax. "Hopefully Tea Party candidates will run in respective primaries and they will either win or lose. And...

“The Tea Party will support whoever wins the GOP presidential nomination - - even if that person is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,” Fox News reports. “That's the affirmative word from Tea Party Express chair Amy Kremer.” What does that mean for gun owners?Despite attempts to put on a public face that belies his record (with assistance provided courtesy of NRA management on more than one occasion), Romney has sided with the gungrabbers when he’s had the power to do so.How does one “support the Second Amendment” and then square that with imposing an “assault weapons” ban, ending private sales...

ABC News' Amy Walter reports: A new ABC News/Wash. Post poll finds that in a head to head match-up against President Barack Obama, 70% of those who say they are Tea Party supporters say they'll vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president--compared to 69% for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Seeming Tea Party favorites like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, meanwhile, draw 61% and 60%, respectively....

On the heels of Barack Obama’s announcement of his 2012 reelection campaign, speculation has been mounting over which candidate Republicans will nominate to challenge Obama. But you won’t find the next Ronald Reagan in this group of potential candidates. With 20 months left until the presidential election, the list of potential candidates is still long. UC Santa Barbara political science professor Dr. Ted Anagnoson, who specializes in the study of the American presidency, explained that unlike in 2007, when Republicans and Democrats declared candidacy early in the year, in 2011 Republicans are still waiting to make official declarations of candidacy....

Laura Ingraham was on the Glenn Beck radio show in the last hour this morning...While talking about potential candidates for 2012, She was asked if Romney was a "progressive" she said NO he isn't one of them at all...I've heard that she loves Romney like a Ken doll and is a Romneybot, but this is amazing! She also said that she would take Newt as President in a heartbeat! What gives?

Michael Merlina was fed up, frustrated and seemingly out of options when he walked into Middlesex Superior Court last week and plunked down $275 for court fees. With help from a few clerks, Merlina became his own lawyer and filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority. The 29-year-old North Reading glazier is fighting the $2,000 state fine for not having health insurance. In 2009, the first year penalties were in place, Merlina paid a $400 fine for him his wife. This time, he balked. “It makes no sense to me,” Merlina told The Pulse. “I’m a hard-working,...

Mitt Romney has been the frontrunner for several months but Sarah Palin has been steadily climbing and closing the gap. It is essentially dead even, as of today, but for the first time she has a small lead and it is expected she will pull ahead. Intrade represents a type of stock market which trades in predictions regarding outcomes of future events. If you believe that Sarah Palin will be the Republican nominee in 2012, you can purchase a "contract" for the prevailing price, currently 25.8. Romney is currently 26.0. This price is determined by the contact traders themselves (anyone...

Mitt Romney is wading into the GOP governor's primary in Michigan, and he's backing Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.). Hoekstra faces state Attorney General Mike Cox and businessman Rick Snyder in a pitched primary battle. Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is term-limited, and Democrats are waging their own primary battle.