Free Republic

In New Hampshire, they’re still holding out hope for Sarah. Cheerleaders for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are eagerly awaiting her keynote speech Feb. 11 at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., hoping against all odds she’ll shake up the GOP field and announce a run — for president. “If she’s going to do it, that’s when she’d do it,” said Warren Rasmussen, the volunteer New Hampshire coordinator for Organize4Palin.com. “If she felt there was really no one who could make a proper case for conservatism, I think she might feel compelled to run.” Sure, it’s a long...

The gloves have come off by the other candidates now in response to all of the mudslinging being done at the hands of the Romney and Paul campaigns so the New Hampshire Primary is proving to be a little more contested than originally thought and is proving that it may not be the coronation that Mitt Romney expects. I came fairly close with my predictions for Iowa, correctly nailing that Bachmann would end her race by the end of the week and calling Mitt Romney the winner, albeit by 8 votes. I thought Santorum would run fourth, but did expect...

Unveiling what may become a central theme of his presidential campaign, Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday blasted President Barack Obama’s controversial decision to circumnavigate congressional approval of his three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as yet another example that Obama is a “crony capitalist” and “jobs killer.” At an event in Salem, New Hampshire, Mr. Romney laid out his case that Mr. Obama uses political appointments to reward his supporters—in this case Big Labor—and political cronies: (VIDEO AT LINK) Yesterday the president did one more thing, an extraordinary thing, that convinces anybody who will go elsewhere that...

Via The Hill: Restore Our Future, a super PAC backing Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, will run full-page ads attacking Newt Gingrich in the Manchester Union Leader and The State in Columbia, South Carolina, the most prominent newspapers in the next two states to vote…. The decision to attack Gingrich is a curious one as Rick Santorum has emerged as Romney’s top rival for the GOP nomination after he virtually tied Romney in Iowa’s caucuses on Jan. 3. Post-voting analysis shows much of Gingrich’s support in that state ended up going to Santorum. Maybe I will be proven wrong about Santorum’s...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — If this is Mitt Romney’s idea of a victory rally, one shudders to think what would have happened if he had lost the Iowa caucuses. The day after his impossibly thin eight-vote victory, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination flew here for a town hall meeting at Manchester Central High School, where he was to bask in the endorsement of his 2008 arch rival, John McCain. But the senator grimaced when he was introduced, and as Romney delivered his own stump speech, an increasingly impatient McCain pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch. McCain gave...

New Hampshire CNN Poll released today: Romney 44% Paul 17% Gingrich 16% Huntsman 9% RS 4 MB 3 RPerry 2 none 5

Republican Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich was expecting to get two big endorsements in Des Moines Wednesday morning. But he likely didn't expect an outburst that lead to one protester being removed from the event. Kraig Paulsen, the Iowa Speaker of the House, and Bill O'Brien, his counterpart from New Hampshire, both endorsed Gingrich at the Statehouse. A few moments after Gingrich took the podium, a small group of protesters jumped up and tried to talk with the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. His security detail knocked one man into the American flag and pushed him out the...

Since it has been an unusual presidential election cycle with various front-runners throughout the horse race for the 2012 Republican nomination, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne and New York Times columnist David Brooks say there is the possibility that anything can happen. On Friday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” in their regular weekly appearance, the two laid out scenarios that in any other election cycle would have been thought of as nearly impossible. First, Dionne elaborated on a recent column about why he thinks former U.S. Ambassador to China and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman should not be ruled...

Mitt Romney tried to claim a firewall in Cedar Rapids between himself and his campaign's aggressive moves to define Newt Gingrich through surrogates, via POLITICO's story on the homepage: During a press availability he refused to repeat the attacks made on his behalf in a surrogate phone call arranged by his campaign Thursday. Asked about former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu’s criticism of Gingrich on the phone call and during an MSNBC appearance — mirroring talking points sent to congressional supporters by the Romney campaign Thursday — Romney deferred. “I can’t write a script for Gov. Sununu,” he said. Asked...

As I noted the other day, Mitt Romney’s new strategy is to send out surrogates to attack Newt. Tomorrow it is former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, a big name in New Hampshire politics but someone whose name is associated with two of the most major conservative failures in the post-Vietnam war history of the Republican Party. As Matt Lewis points out, Sununu holds a grudge against Newt because Newt tried to stop George H.W. Bush from breaking his “no new taxes” pledge: With former Speaker Newt Gingrich surging in the polls, Mitt Romney has finally decided it’s time to...

Mitt Romney has racked up by far more endorsements than any other candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, including a coveted nod from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the GOP’s reigning rock star. But with Sunday’s move by the New Hampshire Union Leader to endorse Newt Gingrich in the state’s critical Jan. 10 primary, Mr. Romney will now need to reel in every high-powered Republican name he can. The importance of endorsements is highly debated. But some are clearly more important than others, and the timing of an endorsement can be a critical factor in feeding a candidate’s momentum. With...

Right now the staffs of Rick Perry and Herman Cain are assuring their candidates of the sourness of the vineyard of the Union Leader endorsement. Why no one in Manchester, New Hampshire, reads that rag, right? But even as the staffs of all the other candidates not named Mitt Romney tell their bosses it does not matter, they are preparing their resumes, hoping that maybe they can land a job with Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney. Some big money likely will come off the sidelines and into the campaign coffers of Newt Gingrich. As Lucianne Goldberg wrote: “This is a...

Media figures on the right that once laughed at his father found themselves cheering on and defending Rand, legitimizing Ron Paul by proxy. Yet, so far, Rand Paul has not played a large role in his father's presidential campaign for the GOP nomination.

Ron Paul spoke tonight at Keene State College, and as is being reported nationally, was “mic checked” by Occupy Keeneat the end of his speech. The occupiers said: “We are the 99%! We will be heard! There are criminals on Wall Street who walk free, there are protesters in jail…There’s something wrong with this system. We are the 99%! We will be heard!” He handled it graciously by smiling throughout and then by asking them if they feel better. He was also sure to point out his agreement with the Occupy Wall St. movement, saying, “I’m very much involved with...

NASHUA, N.H. -- Mitt Romney and Herman Cain both used unusually harsh language to denounce the Occupy Wall Street movement as the left-wing insurgency celebrated its second-month anniversary with a series of protests in cities across the country. It was one of the few similarities between the candidates on a day that a Cain visit to this Romney-friendly territory highlighted the contrasts in their styles. In New Hampshire on Thursday, Cain accused the protesters of "trying to destroy the greatest nation in the world" with plans to stop traffic and subway commuters. He accused them of trying "to infringe upon...

The Republican presidential candidates will gather for their second televised debate in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, when Bloomberg and the Washington Post host a forum centered entirely on the economy. The back and forth on policy at the debate could be overshadowed by a bigger storyline: Can Rick Perry use the event to turn his turn his campaign around? Perry, the governor of Texas, has lost his position as the front-runner in 2012 polls in recent weeks, amid criticism over his uneven debate performances. His position on Social Security, which he's described as a "Ponzi scheme" and a "monstrous...

Republicans in Florida today officially pushed their presidential primary up to January 31st of 2012, and other early-voting states, including New Hampshire, warn that they'll just move their own contests up. New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports. To New Hampshire Republican Party Committeeman Steve Duprey, the calendar fight isn't about whether voters will cast ballots during the holiday season. Iowa held its caucus on January 3rd back in 2008. Duprey says his problem with Florida is that front-loading the primary impacts the entire GOP race. "The net effect of Florida jumping means that it's really too late for any...

Republican activists in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire generally speak of Sarah Palin’s presidential prospects in encouraging terms. She’s a star, they say. If she decides to run, she’ll shake up the field. Lately, the praise has been tempered with warnings about how her time is growing short. But on Monday, the day Palin appeared before a large and very enthusiastic crowd at a Tea Party Express rally here, and two days after her much-anticipated speech to the Tea Party of America in Indianola, Iowa, a plugged-in New Hampshire Republican said he believes her window has already...

Sarah Palin urged Tea Party members on Monday to avoid infighting and focus on removing President Barack Obama from office. The former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, speaking at a Tea Party rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, also continued to tease supporters on whether she would join the Republican presidential competition. "This is not the time to hunker down and preach to the choir," she said. "Now is the time to grow this movement." Her comments followed a protest on Sunday by FreedomWorks, a force behind the Tea Party movement, aiming to prevent inclusion of Republican hopeful Mitt...

Des Moines-With her youthful wardrobe — platform sandals, polka-dotted toenails and skinny, low-cut jeans — Sarah Palin does not look like the buttoned-up, middle-aged Republican presidential contenders who've been traipsing around New Hampshire and Iowa for weeks. But here she is, just like them, sweeping into both states this weekend to give speeches on her way to, well, what? If she is to run for president, she said last month, she will have to decide by the end of September. Many Republicans with ample presidential campaign experience say her window is closing fast. Polls suggest that her indecisiveness may have...

Sarah Palin’s political itinerary over Labor Day weekend is becoming clearer, even if her intentions are not. Ms. Palin, who was already set to deliver a speech in Iowa on Saturday, has added a stop in New Hampshire. She is now scheduled to speak at an afternoon Tea Party rally on Monday at Veterans Square Park in Manchester. The addition of New Hampshire to Ms. Palin’s weekend schedule adds another layer of curiosity to speculation about her political future. She has yet to rule out joining the Republican presidential race, but she is not expected to announce her intentions during...

GOP pollster Frank Luntz might want to do something better with his time than shill for the Republican establishment. It's not very sane of Frank to cry there's no room at the table for Palin and in the same breath tells ABC's Jake Tapper there's a place for other candidates. There's no space for her right now. There's a space for Chris Christie, if he decided to do it, or for Paul Ryan, but I don't see for Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin operate in the exact same space. They have similar personalities. They attract similar voters. Luntz's...

[Jonathan] Martin [of Politico] writes: "Perry's comment (about ...Ben Bernanke's "treasonous" behavior) is exactly the sort of misstep that will worry the many GOP donors on the sideline right now who chiefly want to beat President Obama. The quote reinforces their central fear about Perry — that he has a cowboy problem — and could prompt them to remain uncommitted." This is accurate. It's also irrelevant. It's irrelevant because the "GOP donors on the sideline right now" don't matter. They think they matter, but they don't. The fact is that Rick Perry can raise $15-20 million out of Texas for...

In New Hampshire, a new poll shows that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska are showing momentum. But U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- doing well in Iowa -- is struggling in the Granite State. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of neighboring Massachusetts, as expected, is still leading the Republican pack in the first primary state. The new poll from American Research Group has Romney leading the field in New Hampshire with 29 percent. Bachmann places second with 12 percent while former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who appears unlikely to run but...

Just as in Iowa, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a secret army gathering in the first national primary state of New Hampshire ready to spring into action the moment she announces, according to the Boston Herald. The article suggests that there is an underlining level of support for Palin that is not yet being picked up in the polls. Palin took just 3 percent of the vote in a recent University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll of the state, with only 23 percent suggesting they wouldn't vote for her under any circumstances. Palin supporters in New Hampshire suggest...

Mitt Romney has spent the past few months shoring up his position as the Republican presidential front-runner, and the news today that he raised $18.25 million helps confirm that he’s still the man to beat. In the time since Romney formed a presidential exploratory committee, however, there have also been a number of signs that the man to beat remains extremely beatable. Here are a few of them: • His fundraising quarter wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a tour de force either. Raising $18.25 million puts Romney way ahead of the GOP pack but behind Romney’s own 2007 performance in...

RAYMOND N.H. — New GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann charmed a backyard of Granite State voters yesterday with her trademark straight talk but bristled at comparisons to fellow Tea Party star Sarah Palin, telling the Herald she’s got a style all her own. “We both have unique skill sets. I have great respect and admiration for Gov. Palin, I consider her a friend, but I have a unique skill set that I bring to the table,” said Bachmann, 55, after announcing her presidential campaign to New Hampshire voters yesterday morning. Andy Schwargler, 45, of Orford, N.H., drove more than an...

Reporting from Concord, N.H.— As Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington struggled to find agreement on spending cuts and extending the debt limit, Mitt Romney struck a conciliatory note in New Hampshire on Monday by lamenting partisan feuding while touting his record of working with Democrats -- even the Senate's onetime liberal lion Edward M. Kennedy. Taking a pause from a fundraising tour for two campaign appearances, Romney faced questions from voters that reflected frustration with the gridlock in Washington. During a business roundtable at a technology company in Salem, state Sen. Chuck Morse pressed Romney to explain how he...

DERRY, N.H. — Mitt Romney says he can appeal to Tea Partiers, even though activists and groups aligned with the movement are stressing that they need to defeat him in 2012. “I think I line up pretty well with the Tea Party,” he said in response to a question from The Daily Caller after touring the Derry Feed and Supply store. “They want to see smaller government. So do I.” But not everyone associated with the movement see Romney as one of them. Joe Miller, a former U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska and a Tea Party darling, is now running...

Mitt Romney panders again, while another climate scientist rediscovers his own integrity Romney: "I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that.." "It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors." If Mitt is paying attention, he can't possibly believe this. Not when former climate alarmists are coming clean, as this scientist is: "The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s. But...

Sarah Palin has burst back onto the national stage at the time when her brand of combative, small-government conservatism is reeling from its first political defeat of the Obama era, when Republicans lost what was considered a safe seat in a byelection where Medicare reform was a major issue. Clad in a black leather jacket, the former Alaska governor and Tea Party darling rumbled through Washington over the Memorial Day weekend on the back of a Harley-Davidson, part of Rolling Thunder, an annual motorcycle rally to honour fallen troops, and then posed for pictures with burly men in leather vests...

For any other candidate, raining on a presidential announcement parade would be seen as sabotage. Not former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The 2012 presidential candidate told CNN’s Piers Morgan Monday that he wasn’t offended when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire on the same day he was set to formally announce his intention to seek the 2012 GOP nomination for president. In fact, though Romney shared his plans one week in advance and Palin insisted on keeping the destination of her top-secret bus tour under wraps until the day before her New...

In case you missed the lead story yesterday, likely because you were following the Weiner Saga, Mitt Romney is running for President. Though he had a hard time defeating Huckabee last timeand whom he seems to have an ongoing feud with, Romney seems to be thinking that all the major issues that plauged his last candidacy have evaporated and the only real issue the Conservative Republican base has with him is RomneyCare. This could not be further from the truth. The list of Romney's problems is a long one, so buckle up. **YOUTUBE VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP**

Sarah Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour just happens to be rolling through New Hampshire today, en route to a big clambake on the Seacoast. Some reporters noticed this is happening on the same day Mitt Romney formally announces his Presidential bid, and asked Palin about it. She told them it was a coincidence, and took the opportunity to wish Romney “more power” and the “best of luck” before teeing off on him. It has been strange listening to some people complain this is unfair to Romney. June 2 is not Mitt Romney Day. If he wants an audience, let him...

THE FRONT-RUNNER for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, will formally declare his candidacy in New Hampshire today. Romney received 17.4 per cent of intended votes in the “Real Clear Politics” average for the April 10th to May 26th period. But the Gallup polling institute calls him “the weakest front-runner in any recent Republican nomination campaign”. Romney’s announcement has been upstaged by the antics of the former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who launched a “One Nation” roadshow wearing a black leather jacket and storming into Washington on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle on May 29th....

When the news reached the Press Gallery in the Capitol that Sarah Palin was going to be starting a bus tour in Washington, D.C. on Sunday - maybe an indication that she was about to get into the Presidential hunt - you could feel a bit more excitement creeping into the 2012 race for the White House. And when word came later that Mitt Romney will make his bid official next week, the contours of the Republican nomination battle seemed to be getting clearer and clearer by the minute. "This Sunday, May 29th, Governor Palin and the SarahPAC team will...

TUESDAY UPDATE: TRUMP TROUBLE FOR MITT? Donald Trump cuts into Mitt Romney's otherwise strong lead in New Hampshire among Republican potential presidential primary contenders, according to a new poll released on Tuesday. North Carolina-based and Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling says it surveyed 384 "usual New Hampshire Republican primary voters" from March 31 through April 3. It says it found that without Trump included in the list of potential contenders, Romney is supported by 32 percent of those polled, more than double the support for Mike Huckabee, at 15 percent, with Newt Gingrich at 13 percent, Sarah Palin and Ron Paul...

You might have read that Sarah Palin's popularity continues to fade, and a new Bloomberg poll finds her with a 60 percent unfavorable rating. No matter, says former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) in our paper today. Gregg writes in his weekly column that the primary process in 2012, which currently lacks a front-runner or even two, could last longer than the extended Democratic primary battle in 2008 between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and potentially favor someone like Palin. Traditionally, explains Gregg, New Hampshire's first GOP primary quickly follows the Iowa caucuses and narrows the field to two contenders, who...

It is difficult to believe, but the first election for the next president of the United States is less than a year away. The New Hampshire primary is alive and well and headed toward a date of Valentine’s Day next year, but it will probably occur earlier, perhaps even on Jan. 3. That’s not a long time from now in campaign time, but the most interesting aspect of this fact is that no one knows who is the leading candidate in the potential Republican field. I have participated in presidential primaries in New Hampshire since 1976. It is part of...

When Mitt Romney returns to New Hampshire on Saturday to make his first public appearance since prior to the 2010 midterm election, he will have two key Republicans from the North Country and Lakes Region behind his likely presidential bid. Veteran Executive Councilor Raymond Burton of Bath and state Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley of Wolfeboro told the Primary Status they will endorse the former Massachusetts governor should he run, as is expected. They cited his background in the private sector and experience as governor as the best formula for growing the economy, creating jobs and reducing the deficit. Neither...

America's political theater is spewing snickers and sarcasm over Sarah Palin's proposed trip to India next month amid uncertainty over whether she will run for the White House in 2012. While state governors bidding for Presidency typically make overseas trips to shore up their foreign policy credentials, Palin, ex-governor of Alaska and former vice-presidential candidate, is famously shy of foreign travel. She got a passport only in 2006, and before signing up with John McCain for the Republican ticket in 2008, she had travelled overseas only once, to visit US troops in the Middle East. Since then, she has gone...

Politico reports that Sarah Palin is planning a trip to India in March. I know, presidential candidates like to travel abroad to boost their foreign policy credentials. And Palin needs those credentials badly. But I find it hard to believe that, presumably less than a year from the primary, someone who makes a trip to India a higher priority than a trip to New Hampshire is a serious presidential candidate. Chalk this up as one more bit of evidence that she’s probably not running.

Jack Stuef predicts Palin's campaign strategy: She knows she can’t win, but she needs to be in the presidential conversation to make her money. So she’s probably going to refuse to go to Iowa and New Hampshire so she can take her message to the whole country, i.e., the places that will pay her tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to say her catchphrases for an hour and pose with conservative men on oxygen tanks who want nothing more in the world than to f*** her. It’s the dream of every little girl in America to run such a...

Make what you will of this, but National Journal's Reid Wilson is reporting that Mitt Romney and his team are thinking about sitting out next year's Iowa caucuses: Though there is no official campaign, and no strategy decisions have been finalized, Romney’s team has considered running a very different race from the last one. After Romney spent millions of dollars and a huge chunk of time in Iowa, only to finish behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, his strategists have spoken with potential consultants about the prospect of skipping Iowa altogether this time and launching a campaign from New Hampshire....

In the first ever "straw poll" of New Hampshire Republican party committee members sponsored by ABC News and WMUR and sanctioned by the state Republican party, ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney took 35 percent of the 276 valid ballots cast. This is just 3 percent more than Romney took in the 2008 GOP primary, when he finished in second place behind Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Coming in a distant second was Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, with 11 percent. Paul took 8 percent in the 2008 GOP primary. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is spending the early part of next week in...

OK, so it's not going to be Sarah Palin in '12 ... ... but the Republicans still have to nominate someone to run against Barack Obama. Who will it be? One of the consequences of Sarah Palin's decision to break her silence on the Tucson tragedy just hours before President Obama was to address a nationally televised memorial service on Wednesday is that the next day's news coverage is filled with observations like this, from Politico's Jonathan Martin: At sunrise in the east on Wednesday, Sarah Palin demonstrated that she has little interest -- or capacity -- in moving beyond...

Look out, Sarah Palin: America's mayor is coming for you. The New York Post reports that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has called up his top political advisers and is preparing for a foray into New Hampshire in advance of the 2012 presidential election. Anonymous sources told the Post Giuliani "thinks the Republican race will be populated with far-right candidates like Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee, and there's opportunity for a moderate candidate with a background in national security." His best friends don't necessarily agree. "Even Rudy loyalists" think the idea of another run is "crazy."...

Congratulations, Mitt Romney! You have won the Hillary Clinton seat for the 2012 primaries. You're the long-distance frontrunner who is now expected to win New Hampshire. The Magellan poll of "likely 1,451 Republican primary voters," about 2/3 GOP registered and 1/3 independent: Mitt Romney - 39 percent Sarah Palin - 16 percent Mike Huckabee - 10 percent Newt Gingrich - 8 percent Ron Paul - 7 percent Tim Pawlenty - 4 percentanother candidate - 4 percent Rick Santorum - 3 percent Haley Barbour - 1 percent Romney has to be considered the frontrunner, even though he's polling only 7 points...

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney holds a commanding lead in New Hampshire in the early stages of the race for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, according to a new survey commissioned by NH Journal and conducted by Magellan Strategies. The survey is the first statewide survey of Granite State Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in 2011. Romney leads former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by 23 points, with Romney earning 39% and Palin earning 16%. Mike Huckabee (10%)...

Sarah Palin may be a media phenom, but disgruntled New Hampshire Republican leaders are still waiting to learn when the top GOP contender will visit the key primary state. “Several groups have asked her to come, but she’s playing it cool,” said Diane Bitter, chairwoman of the Rye Republican Town Committee. “Last year we were told that she wouldn’t come, and recently people have gotten the same response.” The first state in the nation to hold a presidential primary, New Hampshire is already seeing GOP presidential hopefuls canvass the state. Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana,...