Free Republic

Before Sunday's sermon in many churches in Milwaukee, ministers and religious leaders will ask those sitting in the pews to pull out their photo identification as a step to make sure that their members can vote in Tuesday's primary election. For the first time in Wisconsin, voters will be required to show a government-issued photo ID before they receive a ballot. The new law has been challenged in federal and state courts because many organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the League of Women Voters, contend it could disenfranchise...

SAN ANTONIO: In the final moments of Tuesday’s redistricting hearing, a three-judge panel said Texas’ primary elections likely will not occur before May 29. While Judge Jerry Smith, one of three federal judges in the San Antonio redistricting case, said the likely date of the primaries will be May 29, he did not commit to the date. Smith, however, told the state’s two major political political parties that they should prepare proposals based on that assumption The Republican Party of Texas and the Texas Democratic Party will prepare a schedule in the coming days that will include dates for early...

Mitt Romney's campaign in Michigan predicts a "strong finish" in the state's Feb. 28 presidential primary, but it stopped short of calling it a win for Romney in the state-by-state nominating contests. "We're going to have a very strong showing 13 days from now," said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in a conference call Wednesday morning. Schuette is Romney's Michigan campaign chairman. "I'm very pleased with our position," Schuette said. Asked to define what a "strong showing" is, Schuette said, "I'll let you know that Tuesday night." Romney's campaign moves to Michigan in advance of the Feb. 28 primary and...

The Miami Herald is reporting that Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder will enter the Republican primary race in the yet to be finalized 18th Congressional District that will have him facing off against Congressman Allen West. Crowder’s entrance to the race is very peculiar, as his endorsement of Democrat Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink in 2010 over now Governor Rick Scott is still very much remembered by Martin County Republicans.

...a pair of polls...ought to be scaring the pants off of Romney’s camp. A PPP Michigan poll shows Santorum leading...by a 39-24 percent margin. The ARG poll also has him ahead, though by a smaller 33-27 percent differential. ...if any in his campaign were inclined to dismiss Santorum’s surge...this poll is proof they are dead wrong...a loss in Michigan would be fatal to [Romney's] presidential hopes...the air would go out of his inevitability balloon and Santorum would, despite his threadbare national campaign, assume the unlikely role of frontrunner. ...a defeat [in Michigan] would be considered a personal repudiation of [Romney's]...

Republican candidates listed on my local ballot Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Charles Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) QUESTION: If you had to choose one of your opponents on the stage tonight to be your running mate in the 2012 election, who would you choose, and why? And why would this person help you make the country better? (END VIDEO CLIP) BAIER: Again, if you had to choose a running mate, one of the people on the stage with you, who would you choose and why? Thirty seconds down the row. BAIER: Senator Santorum, who would you choose? SANTORUM: I would pick someone who would do what I have articulated I would do as president...

DURING the 2000 presidential race, when you talked with Republicans about George W. Bush, their eyes danced. Their voices trilled. It’s hard to remember that now...but back then Republicans saw him as a godsend. A gift. He had a pedigree that reassured the establishment but a folksiness and religious diction that warmed social conservatives....Beloved by many on the right, he could nonetheless nurse crossover dreams. During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama sowed even headier expectations among Democrats. He too was backed by believers who regarded him...as a special, transformative leader with a rare eloquence and idealism. On top of that...

SAN ANTONIO — A federal court sent a message Friday that the Texas primaries shouldn’t be pushed past April because of bitterly disputed voting maps and ordered the state and minority rights groups to spend the weekend back at the bargaining table. The fate of the Texas primaries, which have already been postponed once and risk being held too late to matter in the Republican presidential race, could be decided early as Tuesday by the San Antonio court. The primaries are currently scheduled for April 3, though that date appears all but dead.

(YBH) – As the final Colorado vote counts were coming in late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, confirming that Rick Santorum scored a hat trick against his Republican competitors, it was becoming clear that a sea change is occurring within the GOP race. More than before, it’s now arguable that the inevitability of Mitt Romney’s candidacy is a fallacy. This opinion has been long espoused by Republican grassroots activists across the country. Now there are numbers to back it up. Santorum has now won four out of the eight contests. He has victories in four contests compared to three for Romney....

For many conservative Republicans, the dream outcome of the primary season is a brokered convention. Disappointed in the four remaining choices, they hope to change horses in August, and draft their preferred candidate, be it Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, or Paul Ryan. I've been adamant that such an outcome is extremely unlikely. For a brokered convention to occur, there has to be an almost perfect storm of events; the GOP elites can’t just declare shenanigans on the primary season and select a new nominee. Instead, something has to prevent any of the current candidates from clinching a majority...

I thought it'd be fun to spy on this Mitt Romney live chat room to see what they're saying in the wake of his defeats. Below is your window into the mind of the Romneybots via some excerpts. They're somewhat depressed over the loss and going into attack mode on Santorum like good like Romneybots. Feel free to monitor the chat room and post any interesting tidbits here. Note all the insulting remarks towards evangelicals, "crackers," and right-wingers. Also, I was surprised to see a fair amount of them are semi-supporting Ron Paul or want him as V.P. They posted...

Rick Santorum attended a rally for Mitt Romney in St. Louis in 2008. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., threw his support this morning to Mitt Romney for president. Santorum’s endorsement was sought by all of the Republican candidates in the past year. “In a few short days, Republicans from across this country will decide more than their party’s nominee,” Santorum says in a statement released by the Romney campaign. “They will decide the very future of our party and the conservative coalition that Ronald Reagan built. Conservatives can no longer afford to stand on the sidelines in this election,...

TX Redistricting Deal Rejected - NO Apr 3 Primary - Apr 17 Unlikely – Split Election Likely – TX Should Stand Up to Feds & RNC Monday, February 6th, was the deadline for a Texas Redistricting agreement to be made in order to have a one 2012 Primary Election in Texas on April 3rd. There was an agreement made between Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and some of the minority groups who are plaintiffs in the Redistricting Lawsuit, but then a Federal US District Judge, Orlando Garcia, in San Antonio struck down the deal. Yep, this is the same...

...the Romney campaign held one such call featuring former Rep. Barbara Vucanovich, a Republican who served with Gingrich... "...he really used to be erratic and I think he probably still is," "One of my feelings with him is he was always so full of himself. I mean, humility was not in his makeup. And he was cocky and arrogant and of course didn’t listen to anybody." What no one mentioned...was that in 2005 Vucanovich, the first woman ever elected to Congress from Nevada, published a memoir... "Newt Gingrich was the brightest of all the speakers with whom I served, and...

The Republican underdogs may be gaining ground on Mitt Romney. Support for the former Massachusetts governor dipped to 29 percent this week while Ron Paul's fanbase grew by 5 percentage points, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Paul is now in second place among the candidates vying for the GOP presidential nomination, ahead of Newt Gingrich who went from 20 to 19 percent and Rick Santorum, whose support jumped 5 points to 18 percent. Meanwhile, President Obama's support is on the rise, up to 48 percent from 47 in January. However his disapproval rating has remained at 49 percent since...

The economy is in a tailspin, with the worst statistics in decades, even after the Administration has made use of every statistical trick to tweak the way the numbers are calculated and reported. With honest reporting, unemployment would be recognized as being close to 20%... the Administration would be recognized for the most mind-blowing corruption in history… and the foreign policy disasters of 2011 would be recognized as having turned over at least two more Middle East countries to the islamofascists and jeopardized our security in countless ways. And yet… while such a record should guarantee the incumbent a resounding...

Ah, yes, Newt Gingrich did in the last days before the Florida primary precisely what I predicted he would do. He hurled wild charges at Mitt Romney that suggested Newt was losing his grip. He charged Mr. Romney with lying and falling into the hands of George Soros and Goldman Sachs, and he did this while seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Newt quoted Mr. Soros as saying, “We think either Obama or Romney’s fine, but Gingrich, he would change things.” Citing Goldman Sachs‘ profiting from the bailout, he linked the Wall Street firm to anti-Gingrich ads, filling in the dots:...

Things haven't gotten much better for Newt Gingrich ..... The former House speaker abruptly canceled a meeting with Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval ... Not even Gingrich's campaign advisers know why the campaign scheduler called it off, irking them and those in Sandoval's office who had helped set up the event. ..... Other signs of disarray appeared Wednesday. Gingrich's schedule called for a 1 p.m. rally in Reno, but volunteers put out word that the event would be at noon — and that supporters should show up at 11:30. .....

"See below what I received from FNC Carl Cameron! This is really wild! More possible Florida election problems?" — Tampa, FL — Florida’s primary might not be over just yet. The Newt Gingrich campaign is gearing up to challenge the results of the florida primary based on the Republican National Committee’s own rules which state that no contest can be winner take all prior to April 1, 2012. (See attached RNC memo.) The Gingrich campaign plans to challenge Florida’s winner take all status & demand proportional allocation of delegates. Fox News has learned that Thursday, a Florida Gingrich campaign official...

As a Florida resident I have to apologize to conservatives for what happened here in our primary election. There’s an axiom regarding Florida that says if you are –in- Florida, “you have to go north in order to go south”. The remnants of “old Florida” went solidly for Newt but predictably areas like Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County where I live are areas of transplanted northerners who are known for telling us “this is how we do it up north”, which begs the question - if it’s so great in New York, New Jersey, Boston… – then why did you...

In Missouri, where the next Republican primary will take place (next Tuesday), a new poll by PPP shows Rick Santorum leading Mitt Romney by 11 percentage points — 45 to 34 percent — while Ron Paul has 13 percent support. Newt Gingrich isn’t on the ballot in Missouri, so the Show Me State offers a prime opening for Santorum to build on his earlier victory in neighboring Iowa. ...

As a Florida resident I have to apologize to conservatives for what happened here in our primary election. There’s an axiom regarding Florida that if you are –in- Florida, “you have to go north in order to go south”. The remnants of “old Florida” went solidly for Newt but predictably areas like Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County where I live are areas of transplanted northerners who are known for telling us “this is how we do it up north”, which begs the question - if it’s so great in New York, New Jersey, Boston… – then why did you come...

The Clear Conservative Path To GOP Nomination (Graphic Here) Romney had a big victory in Florida, but it wasn't as big as Fox News and the Establishment want to persuade conservatives: 1. Florida Delegates were only 50 versus 100, due to Florida violating Primary rules. 2. Ron Paul didn't campaign in Florida 3. Santorum had personal affairs to tend to and campaigned little in Florida and went to Nevada. The Path (Click Here) These factors lead to a bigger percentage win for Romney, which the GOP Establishment will play up as a huge victory. It's not a huge victory, it's...

I came home and was totally bummed by the results so far. I looked for anything on FR to cheer me up. Finally I succumbed and went to the former-other favorite website Drudge and begrudgingly clicked on the 'Landslide' article - blah blah blah and there, at the very bottom - I found my glimmer of hope: In a positive sign for Gingrich, exit polls showed evangelical voters trending for the former House speaker. The exit polls showed Gingrich with 40 percent among that group, and Romney with 36 percent. But the margin was wider for Romney among seniors and...

<p>The spate of Florida Republican presidential primary polls released over the past two days have consistently shown Mitt Romney with an 8-9 point lead over Newt Gingrich. The lone exception is the Dixie Strategies/The News-Press/First Coast News poll.</p> <p>Our poll has Gingrich leading Romney by an eyelash — 35.46 percent to 35.08.</p>

by Alan McBride The last day before the Florida primary left the contest very much up for grabs between Newt Gingrich and rival Mitt Romney. Less than 24 hours after a poll taken by Quinnipiac University showed Newt Gingrich trailing Romney by 14 points, a new poll showed late-breaking and heavy movement in favor of the former House Speaker. According to the InsiderAdvantage poll of 646 likely Republican voters, Gingrich was just five points behind Romney, and the gap was closing.

I heretofore supported Santorum - but- made my decision and voted for Newt this morn. Why? I have voted for every Republican since turning 18 in 1988 - BUT this time around, if Mitt Romney is the nominee, I will NOT debase my country or myself by voting for this sleeze. For the past two months of being deluged by the underhanded commercials onto which Romney has attached his name, and after watching his sophomoric behavior at his rally in The Villages (Florida) yesterday - I can say emphatically that this is no gentleman and this is no statesman. 3rd...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ziDwbCSYPw&feature=g-all-u&context=G2ee79ebFAAAAAAAADAA Watch video.

So far ROU PAUL has 29% and leads.

4:46 interview. Palin sees it exactly as I see it. Newt is THE MOST CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE WHO CAN WIN...period. He strikes the right balance between idealism and pragmatism. Check out the links under this too. All of Sarah's recent interviews are there. I'm going to bookmark this site for one-stop Sarah shopping.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhY4oeNgAv_ldDFPWGZfWEZwbEctMldPdGxtRjloNWc 3 Primary Models were run for County by County Analysis. One Model references Maximum Projected Turnout, One Model with Middle Projected Turnout, and One with Flat Turnout from 2008. Assumptions (based on recentl polling and lessons learned from SC/NH/IA Results) Romney - Receives 2008 Vote Total, 50% Rudy vote by virute of lead among Hispanics/Elderly, and 35% of McCain vote. Receives only 1% of Projected increase in Turnout. Paul - Receives 2008 Vote Total, 50% Rudy vote by virtue these most mentally unstable voters (kidding, but still closed GOP Primary, so not as many crazies as other states). Receives...

Last week in his Politico column, MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough wrote that “only three species destined to survive a nuclear holocaust will be cockroaches, Cher and Newton Leroy Gingrich,” referring to the sustainability of Gingrich’s campaign. The Real Clear Politics polling average for the upcoming Florida primary contest shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with an expanding lead. And even if that should hold up in Tuesday’s outcome, Scarborough wrote, don’t expect former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to drop out. “And let me tell you something, a 20-point loss in Florida — that’s not a nuclear holocaust,” Scarborough...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has a 43 - 29 percent lead over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among Republican likely voters in Florida, the nation's first big-state presidential primary, according to Quinnipiac University poll released today. Only 7 percent are undecided, but 24 percent say they might change their mind by tomorrow's election This compares to a 38 - 29 percent Romney lead in a January 27 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

I think the mainstream media, or MSM, and Washington elite think the majority of voters just fell off the turnip truck. But the South Carolina primary election and other current voting trends show otherwise. The MSM are working double time to get us to forget about the unprecedented results of the South Carolina primary election, but they are a sign of what could be in Florida, Nevada and beyond. They are also proof that American citizens will not be outwitted by the political shenanigans of the powers that be. Let me give you a few examples. Despite that ABC paraded...

Astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, Bob Crippen, the first space shuttle pilot, and former NASA administrator Mike Griffin are among the eight space leaders who endorsed Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Friday, Space.com reported. The men signed an open letter that explained why Romney is the candidate they most trust to rebuild the U.S. space program. "Restoring the U.S. space program to greatness will require the leadership, management skill, and commitment to American exceptionalism possessed by only one candidate in this race: Mitt Romney," the letter said, according to Space.com. "We support Mitt's...

Debating in Tampa, Florida in late-January, while falsely characterizing Newt Gingrich’s income from his government consulting work, Mitt Romney denied that Bain did “any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare”. Now we learn that Bain, under Romney’s “supervision”, purchased and ran the Damon Corporation, who pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges as a result of tens of millions of dollars in systemic Medicare fraud committed under Romney’s and Bain’s control. Damon was fined over $119-million which was, at the time, the largest criminal healthcare fine in Massachusetts history and Mr. Romney’s participation was characterized in 1996 by Corporate...

Your choice could determine who will take on President Obama this November, and it could be Mitt Romney’s race to lose. A new exclusive News 13 Florida Decides Poll offers a better idea of who's in the best position to win the Florida primary on Tuesday and take on Obama. Newt Gingrich has seen his early lead vanish in Florida, now Mitt Romney appears poised to claim victory this Tuesday. Romney leads Gingrich by 11 points, 42 to 31 percent. Rick Santorum is a distant third at 14 percent. Ron Paul, who has not campaigned in Florida, comes in with...

With the January 31st primary just a few days away, the time for early voting ended Saturday. In Broward County, the turnout has been light, but slowly picked up throughout the week. As of Saturday morning, 7,785 early votes had been cast in Broward County. The majority of the early votes came at the Northwest & Southwest Regional Libraries.

Bain Capital is a classic “strip and flip” shop — a private equity firm that made its money buying businesses and sucking profit out of them by any means possible that often resulted in a stack of pink slips for everyday Americans. Romney “made fortunes by bankrupting five profitable businesses that ended up firing thousands of workers.” Here’s how it often went down. Romney’s Bain would buy a company and increase its short-term earnings through firing workers and shuttering plants in order to borrow enormous amounts of money. The borrowed money was used to pay Bain dividends, however, those businesses...

“I think I’m a mortal threat to their world,” he said. “First of all, how would they know? These are the same people who said I was dead in June, the people who said Reagan didn’t have a prayer, O.K.? The Republican establishment is anti-intellectual and anti-change. They’re for winning as long as it’s meaningless. But meaningful victory would mean really big risks. “I’m running because I want to change the old order,” he told me. “They are the old order.” ...he got into trouble with conservatives for criticizing the entitlement-reform plan offered by his friend Paul Ryan. “It was...

After some confusion, it’s finally been decided when Republican and Democratic candidates will be voting for their nominees in 2012. A judge’s ruling set the primary date for June 26th, but only for federal offices: U.S. House and Senate races. There will be pressure for the other 2012 primaries, outside of the April 24th presidential primary, will follow suit. It is still possible for Albany to keep a later primary date for state legislative races, but that would cost money and such a plan could face opposition from a governor that prides himself in fiscal restraint. The issue had been...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Republican registered voters nationally continue to prefer Newt Gingrich over Mitt Romney for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, with no sign in Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 22-26 that Gingrich is giving back any of his recent gains. The 32% of Republican voters now choosing Gingrich as the candidate they are most likely to support for the nomination is his highest level of support since the 2012 primary voting began in early January. The 24% supporting Romney is his lowest. Despite the heavy media focus on the two front-runners, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are each holding...

Just four days before the nation's first big-state presidential primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney opens up a 38 - 29 percent lead over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among Republican likely voters in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Only 6 percent are undecided, but 32 percent say they might change their mind by Tuesday.

Illinois Democrats might be tempted to cross over in March By MARK BROWN mbrown@suntimes.com January 25, 2012 9:56PM Updated: January 26, 2012 2:15AM As someone who normally votes for Democrats, I’ve been following the battle for the Republican presidential nomination with a mixture of detachment and indifference. I figured I didn’t have any say in the matter, so until it’s over, why worry about whether Republicans pick Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, Paul, Tweedledee or Tweedledeedee. We’d know soon enough, it seemed, and probably well before the campaign trail reached Illinois on March 20. In recent days, though, I’ve started having second...

© mmxii ittm® Somewhere in Alabama: While I profess no skills in the field of "Political Projections" that fact does not preclude me from taking "my best guess"; so here goes.I figure I am about as scientific and rational as any of the "smart guys"! If you look at the Assumptions you will find how I arrive at my conclusions. I see no reason for Newt not picking up the lions share of the McCain vote.I believe these voters reflected the "saner" side of the issue in 2008. (Of course Sarah didn't hurt the ticket)Nor do I have any reason...

BizPac Review is a conservative political news and opinion website in Florida. It's getting close Florida. Out of the four candidates left, who will you vote for? Take the BizPac Review survey.

NASHVILLE — State legislators leading Newt Gingrich's Republican presidential campaign have returned from a weekend trip to South Carolina saying the former U.S. House speaker will be poised to repeat his Palmetto State victory in the Volunteer State. "We wanted to see how we're dovetailing (in Tennessee) with what they were doing in South Carolina," said state Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport. "I can say now that Team Tennessee is ahead of where South Carolina was on election night. We're going to shock people when we roll out our ground game." "It was electrifying," said Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, of the...

Straw Poll: Who will win the Republican Florida Primary? Newt Gingrich Ron Paul Mitt Romney Rick Santorum

The South Carolina primary results have made President Obama a very happy man. He and his campaign high command know the longer the Republican nomination fight drags on, the less time the eventual nominee will have to turn his full attention and resources towards defeating Obama. Some strategists believe that a prolonged battle strengthens the candidate and prepares that person for the general election. The Hillary/Obama primary fight of 2008 is often cited as an example how a bruising battle helped to hone campaign skills and otherwise prepare the victor. However, in 2012, I disagree with this line of thinking....