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Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his conservative bona fides following doubts expressed by Sarah Palin. The former Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate told Fox News Sunday that she is "not convinced" by Romney's conservative instincts, indicating he may not be conservative "enough" for her. "And I don't think that the majority of GOP and Independent voters are convinced, and that is why you don't see Romney get over that hump," she said. (VIDEO AT LINK) "I'm not quite sure what she'd be referring to," Romney responded Wednesday, also on Fox News. "I'm pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, I believe in the...

OK, the election’s over, and the message from most voters was that they didn’t care much for President Obama’s agenda. Now the focus is on the race for the presidency in 2012. On the Republican side, it’s a dead heat between the ex-governors – Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Sarah Palin of Alaska, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary voters. Asked who they would vote for if the Republican presidential primary were held today, 20% say Romney, 19% Huckabee and another 19% Palin. (To see survey question wording, click...

President Obama's Democratic party lost the midterm elections this week and he could very well lose his bid for a second term in 2012, according to a shocking poll released today. Obama would lose in a hypothetical race against former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 52 percent to 44 percent, according to CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would also defeat Obama 50 percent to 45 percent in the race for the White House in 2012.

The good old boys just don’t get it. Jason Mattera of Human Events, captured Georgia Congressman John Kingston this morning giving a sexist and blatantly stupid tirade against Sarah Palin for her endorsement of Karen Handel who lost a very close primary in Georgia last night. Appearing on “America’s Morning News” with John McCaslin and Amy Holmes, Georgia Republican Rep. Jack Kingston urged Sarah Palin to stay clear of endorsing candidates in the primaries. “What she’s doing is dividing the Republican Party at a time when we don’t need to be divided… He continued: “Karen Handel is a very decent...

Mitt Romney's the favorite at this early stage in a couple key Republican primary states: Florida and Nevada. Romney came up short in Florida last time, but for now Republicans in the state prefer him to the other leading potential 2012 candidates. Romney gets 31% with Palin and Gingrich tied for second at 23% and Huckabee and Paul further back at 15% and 6% respectively. These numbers are good news for Romney and bad news for Huckabee and Palin...

Huckabee’s taken potshots at her from time to time, but between this fusillade from unnamed Mitt advisors and the furious counterattack on Romney at Conservatives 4 Palin, I’d say that the 2012 primary is now, at long last, officially on. In the immortal words of Greg Stillson, “The missiles are flying. Hallelujah.” Still, few express much regard for Palin’s ultimate chances. One adviser to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and, by traditional standards, the putative 2012 frontrunner, says of Palin, “She’s not a serious human being.” Another Romney intimate warns, “If she’s standing up there in a debate and...

The November midterm elections are just four months away, but a handful of politicians are already looking far down the calendar to 2012 -- and it's starting to show. Though the 2012 presidential campaign arguably began as soon as the 2008 campaign ended, the water testing is starting to become more visible. It takes a long time to raise the millions needed to run for president and build national attention -- so with about two years to go until the conventions, a few potential candidates seem to be getting the ball rolling. The political activity is taking place in all...

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John Ziegler posted an editorial on his website highlighting Gov. Palin's decision not to accept an invitation to attend this year's CPAC conference (see yesterday's excellent post by TR and Doug for more on the background to this decision). You may remember that Ziegler confronted David Keene about his anything-but-conservative record as ACU chairman during last year's WCPAC conference, leading him to conclude that [T]he vast majority of the conservative “movement” is “led” by fakes, flakes, freaks, frauds, phonies and sell outs who are far more interested in protecting their own little thiefdoms than promoting the cause. It seems Gov....