Free Republic

On Thursday, the healing begins. Mitt Romney won’t be apologizing for Romneycare in his health care speech Thursday. But he will be addressing it, according to a Romney aide.“He’ll address it, but the main focus of the speech will be what his plans will be going forward,” the aide tells National Review Online…“What will be clear is that number one, he’s got the same position as every other 2012er when it comes to the repeal of Obamacare,” the aide says. “Secondly, he’ll be the first of those candidates to lay out his plan for replacing Obamacare with reforms that will...

A new Gallup poll reveals that voters who identify as more conservative, do not have college degrees and who make less than $24,000 annually are more likely to support former Alaska governor Sarah Palin over Mitt Romney for president in 2012. Romney, on the other hand, has evidently fared better with voters who describe themselves as “liberals to moderate”, have received degrees of higher learning and who make at least $90,000 a year. The split drives home the challenges facing any would-be GOP candidate: Catering to the party’s base without completely alienating those on the fence, and appealing to voters...

Poor Mitt Romney. He already had one big strike against him — his Mormonism — even before he contemplated his second run for the presidency. But thanks to the Tea Party, he’s also under serious fire for his 2006 Massachusetts health care plan, which his conservative critics liken to Obamacare — dubbing it “Romneycare” — since both plans mandate individual health coverage and expand the reach of Medicaid... ...Obama, and his close friend and political ally, current Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who says Romney’s plan is working “brilliantly,” expanding affordable health coverage to nearly 98% of the state’s residents. The...

If you believe, as I do, that leaders are handpicked by the elites to achieve a means to an end, then Mitt Romney is the logical choice to be the next President of the United States. The fact that he infuriates a lot of the folks on this blog proves he is the best candidate. Because any successful Republican needs to be two things, okay make that three, in order to walk into the WH. ONE be white, TWO be a non-offensive white and THREE be married to a hot blond. But, as the Shamwow guy would say, there's more!...

Milt Romney Announces 2012 Presidential Exploratory Committee (puts off decision again) Former failed Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) is one step closer to officially announcing what nearly everyone already expects -- that he'll seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2012. On his website Monday, Romney (weakly as he is) kicked off the exploratory committee phase of his campaign in the style of the day with a YouTube clip and a tweet (copying Gov. Palin). "I will promise whatever you want."

WASHINGTON — New Hampshire Tea Party movement activist Andrew Hemingway is not lacking in contact with likely presidential candidates. He’s talked hockey with Tim Pawlenty. He sat down with former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum at the Concord Country Club. And plans are in the works for Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to appear before a group of Hemingway’s fellow conservatives. the notable exception among the field of would-be GOP presidential contenders? Mitt Romney. “Romney for the most part is inaccessible,’’ said Hemingway, a Bristol resident who is chairman of the state’s Republican Liberty Caucus. “Pawlenty, I could call him right now...

On a day when many Tea Party-influenced Republican members of Congress took the oath of office in Washington, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is storming back onto the scene, first declaring Tea Party leadership to be fraudulent and now revealing his true thoughts about the whole Tea Party movement at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. Although he doesn’t think Tea Party members are racist, he does think “it’s the last gasp of the 55-year-old generation . . . a group of older folks who’ve seen their lives change dramatically.” Dean continued: Every morning when they see the president...

So Mitt Romney - the venture capitalist guru who never sweats - leads all Republicans in a new Zogby poll that has him within striking distance of Obama, 45-43. Can anyone be surprised? The economy’s a mess. We’re basket cases over keeping jobs and homes. Obama’s reduced to courting Whoopi and Barbara Walters today on “The View,” hoping a cozy chat will reassure the wives of independents and/or Tea Party sympathizers who’ve abandoned the president in droves. Close your eyes. Envision, for a second, the best known GOP contenders: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul. On the Ward...

So Mitt Romney - the venture capitalist guru who never sweats - leads all Republicans in a new Zogby poll that has him within striking distance of Obama, 45-43. Can anyone be surprised? The economy’s a mess. We’re basket cases over keeping jobs and homes. Obama’s reduced to courting Whoopi and Barbara Walters today on “The View,” hoping a cozy chat will reassure the wives of independents and/or Tea Party sympathizers who’ve abandoned the president in droves. Close your eyes. Envision, for a second, the best known GOP contenders: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul. On the Ward...

Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) held a fundraiser in Manhattan last week and outperformed Pres. Obama's own cash grab a day later on behalf of the DCCC, another sign of trouble brewing for Dems this cycle in all corners of the country. Romney headlined an event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on May 12 that raised $1.5M for his Free and Strong America PAC. By contrast, Obama's appearance at the St. Regis Hotel on May 13 raked in a lesser $1.3 million for the DCCC.

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...

The political axiom is familiar today. Republicans nominate the next in line. So it's been from Richard Nixon to John McCain. The next presidential cycle could prove otherwise. The GOP establishment no longer rides herd over today's elephants. Conservative activists are both exceptionally galvanized and autonomous. It's a unique mix unseen in decades. And critically, the establishment's early favorite has an Achilles heel. This conservative milieu begs the question: is 2012 the year of the Republican dark horse? Mitt Romney should be the next Republican nominee. No less than 81 percent of Republican "insiders" say that Romney is the "most...

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A new poll shows Republican Mitt Romney leading all current GOP challengers by more than 20 points in New Hampshire. A Public Policy Polling survey released this week shows Romney crushing other GOP contenders among New Hampshire Republican voters with 39 percent of the those polled. Sarah Palin came in a distant second at 13 percent, while Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee tied for third with 11 percent. Ron Paul came in fifth. 13 percent were undecided.

Over the past several weeks, political observers have speculated about how passage of the national health care law modeled after the one Mitt Romney signed in Massachusetts could hurt his presidential ambitions. But more significant for conservatives is how Romney's presidential ambitions could stymie the effort to repeal ObamaCare. As it is, achieving a full repeal of the recently-passed health care law will be extremely difficult. Given that Obama would veto any bill to undo his signature legislative accomplishment, it means that to get rid of the law, Republicans will have to not only take back Congress, but capture...

NEW ORLEANS -- Mitt Romney won the straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership conference here Saturday in a victory that will be taken as a sign of the former Massachusetts governor's strength as a 2012 presidential candidate. That's because the 2008 GOP presidential hopeful elected to skip the conference to continue his book tour. Romney triumphed by a single vote over Ron Paul, who took second place 439 votes to 438. Both men won 24 percent of the vote. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich essentially tied for third with 18 percent of the vote each.

Mitt Romney may end up being the biggest GOP casualty of ObamaCare -- his 2012 presidential hopes dashed before he's even announced a bid. Mr. Romney has continued vociferously campaigning against ObamaCare even while defending a very similar universal health-care plan he signed into law as Massachusetts's governor in 2006. Last week, he inveighed on the National Review blog that "President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation . . . . he has succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends." Critically, Republicans need to win the presidency in order to...

WASHINGTON – Republicans were for President Barack Obama's requirement that Americans get health insurance before they were against it.

A new nonpartisan [see post 1 below for how nonpartisan this poll really is] nationwide poll shows that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is currently the strongest GOP presidential candidate for the 2012 election. The poll also shows President Obama leading all potential Republican candidates, but by narrower margins than he did last August. The poll was conducted March 17-20, 2010 by Clarus Research Group, a Washington, D.C.-based polling firm, using live telephone interviewers. It was based on a representative nationwide sample of 1,050 U.S. registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. The survey was not...

I almost feel bad for Mitt Romney. He's obviously a smart guy, and when he was governor of Massachusetts he was pretty much the technocratic kind of governor the voters expected -- not pushing conservative social issues too far, creating a health-care reform that's a lot like what the Obama plan ended up looking like. But since he wants to be president, he has to get past a Republican primary electorate that really doesn't care about smarts and technocratic skill. Identity politics is king in the GOP, and Mitt just doesn't have an identity he can hang his hat on....

BOSTON -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is stepping back into the public spotlight after spending two years behind the scenes laying the groundwork for a second presidential campaign. (snip) Romney has shifted from social issues that brought accusations of flip-flopping and undermined his 2008 White House bid. With unemployment hovering around 10 percent, his new focus is on economic themes and fix-it skills he claims as a former businessman. That plays to what some observers believe would be his strength in a second race. They could also distinguish him from potential rivals such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin,...