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One word, my friends: RINOgeddon. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that Christie earns 21% support when Republican voters are asked whom they would vote for if the party’s primary in their state were held today. Florida Senator Marco Rubio runs a close second with 18% of the GOP vote, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 16% and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul with 15% of the vote. Congressman Paul Ryan, the unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, picks up 13% of the Republican vote, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker dead last at six percent (6%)....

Money line: “This is what I do for a living.” Didn’t he predict a Bush/Clinton race in 2016 just nine months ago? If he believes what he says here about the parties swinging like “pendulums” from moderate nominees to ideologues and then back again, why would he have named Jeb as a strong contender last November? In fact, the roots of the counterargument are in Matthews’s own shpiel here: Most of the time, they head to the center. This is what Republicans did most successfully in 1952 – when, after twenty years of Roosevelt and Harry Truman – they wanted...

A gun-rights group in the bellwether presidential primary state of New Hampshire has warned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that signing gun control bills passed by his state's Legislature could have consequences if he runs for president in 2016. The Pro-Gun New Hampshire coalition urged its members this week to call and email Christie to ask him to veto the proposed laws, posing a political dilemma for Christie as he seeks re-election in November in the Democratic-leaning state while also eyeing the national stage. Christie has a September deadline to sign a number of firearm-related bills seen by their supporters...

Gun control advocates are in hysterics, using frenzied, emotional attacks against Senators who opposed gun control last month in hopes of changing the momentum. This explains why Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has been targeted in New Hampshire, and it's why Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have been targeting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in Kentucky. Staunch gun control supporters saw Sandy Hook Elementary as their opportunity to secure more gun laws, but now they see that opportunity fading away....

While all national attention is focused — indeed riveted — on the seven to nine swing or battleground states, a major shift is taking place in the rest of the country: Voters are turning off Obama and onto Romney. In the forty states where the Obama campaign has not spread toxic negative ads against Romney, the Republican is gaining by leaps and bounds and will likely carry a bunch of “non-swing” normally blue states. Specifically, Romney is now three points ahead in Pennsylvania, one point behind in Michigan, and only two points behind in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Together, these four...

It's well known that Ohio is the key, and that Ohio state polls seem not to follow the national trend (Romney should be leading by at least 3-4, no polls showing him better than tie instead). RCP average in 2008 missed the real result in many states by several points (2.1 in Ohio, 2.5 in Indiana, 3 in Pennsylvania, 3.5 in Colorado, 5 in Arizona e 6 in Nevada) so maybe it's just due to the margin of error but it's worrying anyway. Anyway if Romney loses Ohio he has to win Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin and New Hampshire (if he...

New from Rasmussen, itÂ’s the second poll in as many days showing Romney up two points in NH. Of the last eight polls taken in the state, he leads in four, is tied in two more, trails by a single point in another, and the last is an outlier. (RasmussenÂ’s last poll of NH, taken eight days ago, had Obama up by a point.) Why should you care about that? Simple: If Ohio doesnÂ’t pan out for Mitt, his lone remaining path to the presidency may well be hitting an exacta with New Hampshire and Wisconsin. If he wins Florida,...

Yes, yes, I know, this comes from Kos’s pollster. What can I say? If the left can cling bitterly to Rasmussen as a bulwark against terrible numbers from Gallup, I can cling to this. RCP’s average already had New Hampshire within a point so the new PPP number there isn’t news. The Iowa number is. This is the first poll in a month showing Romney ahead in the state, notwithstanding his blockbuster debate two weeks ago. NBC’s poll last night, in fact, had O up by eight points in Iowa, a ridiculous figure given that Obama’s worried enough to have...

Interview dates: October 9-11, 2012 Sample size: 600 likely voters Margin of error: ± 4 percentage points, 95% of the time Question wording and responses: If the general election were being held today between Barack Obama for president and Joe Biden for vice president, the Democrats, and Mitt Romney for president and Paul Ryan for vice president, the Republicans, for whom would you vote - Obama and Biden or Romney and Ryan (names rotated), or someone else? New Hampshire Obama Romney Other Undecided Likely voters 46% 50% 1% 3% Democrats (29%) 94% 3% - 3% Republicans (35%) 6% 92% -...

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in an occasional series of stories based on meetings between The Telegraph editorial board and candidates running for federal and state offices in the Nov. 6 general election. The first time former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter ran for office, she had just returned from New Orleans soon after Hurricane Katrina, where she found people struggling and abandoned by their government. Now, six years later, she worries Congress is heading down the same road. “In 2006, I said the poor have fallen and the middle class are stumbling, and it has not gotten easier,” Shea-Porter, who...

Less than an hour after President Barack Obama had stepped off of the Democratic National Convention stage, Republican challenger Mitt Romney's campaign announced 15 new, state-specific television advertisements which the campaign says will run in 8 battlegrounds. A week ago, Romney was officially made the Republican Party's presidential nominee, granting him access to a substantial war chest set aside for the general election. His campaign largely stayed off of television during the Democratic National Convention, which concluded after Obama's speech on Thursday. --snip-- Now that Romney has officially been named the GOP nominee his campaign will get its hands on...

CONCORD, N.C. — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell warned Democrats today that the Republican attack alleging that President Barack Obama gutted the welfare work requirement is taking hold. "It’s starting to resonate," he told the Maryland delegation at a breakfast. "It’s starting to affect blue-collar white voters.” Rendell predicted that pushing back on the widely criticized attack will be a central component of the last Democratic president's speech. "I think the man that will push back on it will be the man that pushed for it and signed it — President Bill Clinton," Rendell said, "but he can't do it...

Mitt Romney continued his surge on President Barack Obama in New Hampshire over the past month and now trails the president by just 3 points in a new WMUR Granite State poll released Monday. The poll finds that Obama leads Romney, 49 percent to 46 percent. That's a point closer than last month and 6 points closer since April, when Romney basically locked up the nomination. And it's clear Romney has some advantages deeper into the poll. Three key stats should worry Obama heading into the final three months of the campaign. First, Obama's favorability ratings have plunged in the...

States that traditionally have been considered Democrat strongholds are now moving toward Mitt Romney, Bay Buchanan, a senior adviser to Romney, tells Newsmax. “When we came into this general election, it was assumed that the battleground states would be the same ones that they were in the past,” says Buchanan, who was treasurer of the U.S. under President Reagan. “Well what’s happened is a lot of the Democratic states are now looking like Mitt Romney could win them. They are now swing states.” That means that Democrats have to focus on an additional five states: New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and...

Former Sen. John Sununu (R) will headline an afternoon fundraiser on June 23 for the New Hampshire GOP. The appearance has caught notice among Granite State Republicans as a possible first step back into electoral politics, perhaps to challenge to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) in 2014. Should Sununu run, it would be a rematch of his 2008 race with Shaheen. The former governor beat Sununu after he had served just one Senate term, joining the ranks of many other Democrats who won that year in what was a wave election for the party. In March, Shaheen’s office confirmed to Foster’s...

Not too long ago pundits were arguing that Mitt Romney’s path to 270 electoral votes was “narrow.” We didn’t buy it. Lo and behold, conventional wisdom has now changed. The Associated Press writes: “Warning signs for Obama on tight path to 270.” The AP explains: Obama’s new worries about North Carolina and Wisconsin offer opportunities for Republican Mitt Romney, who must peel off states Obama won in 2008 if he’s to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to oust the incumbent in November. Iowa, which kicked off the campaign in January, is now expected to be tight to the...

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...