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After watching the GOP presidential debate the other night, it was hard to avoid this conclusion: Mitt Romney looks more and more like the GOP presidential nominee. He's the best debater. He's got his issues and his rejoinders down pat. He brushes away his opponents like lint on his lapel. And all with such ease. That said, there's a teensy problem he just can't seem to beat: Conservatives don't like him. Or trust him. Or really want him to be the GOP nominee. Sure, you say, Republicans never like their nominees, and they still manage to vote for them. There...

If you Google “Romney inevitable” you get 1,980,000 results. The Romney campaign is hoping that the more his inevitability is discussed, the truer it will become. There is something to that. Political players want to be on the winning team. Donors don’t want to waste their money. It’s heady stuff, I imagine, for the Romney team to read pieces like this by Jonathan Martin: “Hours after Chris Christie signaled he believes Mitt Romney is the Republican party’s inevitable nominee, Romney and the rest of the GOP field went about proving him right. Romney again outclassed the opposition in Tuesday’s Bloomberg/Washington...

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential challenger Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of failing to lead in a time of economic peril but sounded less conservative than his Republican rivals in their debate Tuesday night, defending the 2008-2009 Wall Street bailout and declaring he could work with "good" Democrats. Romney also gave one of his most spirited defenses of his health care initiative when he was Massachusetts governor, legislation that Obama has called a partial blueprint for his own national overhaul. By positioning himself closer to the political center on several points, Romney sought to underscore his claim that he...

Announcing his endorsement of Mitt Romney in a press conference in New Hampshire this afternoon, Chris Christie described the endorsement as an “easy decision.” Citing Romney’s experience as an executive in both the political and private sectors, Christie emphasized the need for a candidate who was ready to assume office and could beat President Obama in the general election. “The biggest reason why I want to support Gov. Romney is because I believe he’s the best person to be able to articulate Republican values and defeat Barack Obama in November of 2012,” Christie said, mentioning Romney’s detailed jobs plan and...

Mitt Romney appeared to be softening to the Occupy Wall Street protests on Monday, taking a more sympathetic tone as he remarked on the movement, which he had called “dangerous” just a week before. “I look at what’s happening on Wall Street and my view is, boy, I understand how those people feel,” he said at a town hall event in Hopkinton, N.H. “Because with median income down 10% ... with chronic unemployment, long-term unemployment worse even than the Great Depression, the people in this country are upset. And I understand middle Americans saying, ‘Wait a second, what’s going on?...

Our political Quote of the Day is from The Politico’s John Martin, Maggie Haberman and Ben Smith who say this is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s moment and if he doesn’t seize it it will be gone: [quote] If Mitt Romney can’t start locking up the GOP nomination now, he may never be able to. The former Massachusetts governor’s charmed path toward the presidential nomination was made even smoother Tuesday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opted out of a campaign and recommended that voters choose the candidate with the “best chance” of beating President Barack Obama. No white knight...

“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” – Taylor (Charlton Heston); The Planet of the Apes, (1968) This classic line is all that came to mind when I read this piece in POLITICO—following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision not to enter the presidential field, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s law firm made a number of calls requesting early state filing deadlines… that’s right. She thinks she can blow it up. She just might. Poll Shows Palin Within 5 Points of Obama She Has A Documentary Out, Doncha Know? Palin’s political action...

Rick Perry isn't up to the job. Chris Christie isn't coming to the rescue. Republicans must accept that the candidate they want is right in front of them The Romney Campaign David Frum Why the GOP should embrace Mitt Romney Rick Perry isn't up to the job. Chris Christie isn't coming to the rescue. Republicans must accept that the candidate they want is right in front of them posted on September 28, 2011, at 4:28 PM David Frum recent columns Is Obama's defense of Israel too little, too late? We can't blame the poor for America's poverty problem What a...

Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman's presidential campaigns both issued statements late Thursday responding to The Cable's interview with a senior foreign policy advisor for Rick Perry, in which the advisor clarified Perry's stance on U.S. policy toward Afghanistan. "[Perry] would lean toward wanting to bring our troops home, but he understands that we have vital strategic interests in Afghanistan and that a precipitous withdrawal is not what he's recommending," the advisor said. "He has a clear sense of the mission and wanting to win it, but not just by throwing the kitchen sink at it." In an e-mail titled, "Rick's...

Just when you thought Keynesian economics was finally dead among Republicans, Mitt Romney announces two prominent New Keynesian academics, Greg Mankiw and Glenn Hubbard, as the heart of his economic team. So if you loved how Obama has managed to continue the flawed economics of the Bush administration*, you’ll feel pretty safe with Romney. Sadly the real problem goes beyond Romney and Obama. The financial crisis and the government’s response to it illustrate the failure of much of mainstream macroeconomics. Yes, the Romney team would have had its stimulus proposal tilted more toward temporary tax cuts, but it still would...

At Ace’s site, DrewM is goofing on him for rolling out a 59-point plan that runs literally 160 pages long on the theory that no one but no one among the electorate will actually read the thing. True enough, but I don’t think Team Mitt expects any voters to read it. They expect voters to note the sheer size and detail of it and conclude, “This guy really does have a plan. He’s actually thinking about this.” Whether it’s a good plan or not, ironically, is a secondary question, but it’s been made that way by the utter failure of...

A large group of 2008 Barack Obama supporters are now banking on Mitt Romney for the upcoming presidential election. That’s according to a report from Fox News that says a shift in Wall Street support could mean as much as a $150,000 boost for Romney’s campaign. “I think Romney could at least split Wall Street with Obama, which is something McCain really didn’t do,” said Charlie Gasparino, a reporter for Fox Business News. None of the expected bank presidents showed up to a recent fundraiser for President Obama, he added.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney treated supporters at a fundraiser in Virginia to a sneak peek of his inclinations regarding his vice presidential shortlist should he become the Republican nominee in 2012, according to a new report. At the Virginia Beach home of State Sen. Jeff McWaters Monday, Romney praised three up-and-coming stars of the GOP, saying his shortlist included Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the Bearing Drift blog reported Tuesday

SALT LAKE CITY — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is taking a new approach to hammering Pres. Barack Obama and campaigning in Iowa. Romney seems to be choosing his words more carefully as he verbally attacks Obama, Politico concludes in an article published Thursday. The piece compares a Romney campaign stop in Pennsylvania last month with his visit Wednesday to Southern California. "Romney spoke Wednesday in front of a long-defunct mall near Los Angeles, and repeatedly pointed out that the mall's closure wasn't entirely Obama's fault. 'Obviously, the challenges here are not all the result of the current administration,' Romney...

Ohio Republican Party donors and other attendees at the state GOP's dinner tonight picked former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in a straw poll to take on President Barack Obama in 2012. Romney finished comfortably ahead of the Republican field, picking up 25 percent of the vote. When state party chairman Kevin DeWine announced Romney as the winner, a few people in the audience booed. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (16 percent) finished second, followed by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (15 percent).

An Ohio Republican Party official sent over results from the party's presidential straw poll in a proving-ground swing state, which showed Mitt Romney the clear winner. Romney, who made the Ames Straw Poll his Holy Grail in 2007 but is bypassing Ames, Florida's Presidency V and all other such contests this cycle, won handily with 25 percent. Tim Pawlenty, who is fighting his own war for Ames, scored second place, with 16 percent. But Pawlenty was bunched with the third- and fourth-place finishers, Michele Bachmann (15 percent) candidate Rick Perry (14 percent). Perry is especially noteworthy, since he has yet...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney still leads the 2012 Republican nominee race, but the person who polled second is a bit of a surprise: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. With Palin in the race, Romney has 26 percent, Palin has 18 percent and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is third with 12 percent, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll. However, without Palin in the race, Romney tops the field at 30 percent, Bachmann has 16%, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has 11 percent, and Texas Governor Rick Perry has 8 percent. Palin Remains a Factor The fact that Palin...

Election '12: The Republican presidential front-runner is oddly silent on Washington's momentous budget talks. Mitt Romney can run, but he can't hide his positions forever. Massachusetts' former governor went to North Hollywood, Calif., on Wednesday with a "what else is new?" observation. "The president's policies almost without question have caused this recession to be deeper and longer than it would have been," he said. There's no "almost without question" about it. But it takes more to be elected president than pointing out what 14 million unemployed Americans — 6.3 million of them out of work for more than six months...

(snip) So what does Romney say to these big money donors to make them fork over their cash and convince them he's going to be the one to face off against President Obama in the general election? (snip) But his pitch also veers away from what he says on the stump. When Romney gets into the room with potential donors trying to lure them to his campaign, he's consistently asked how he's going to win. According to several donors, Romney tells the crowd that his strategy will work: they will win New Hampshire and Nevada and are hoping to "get...

The evidence suggests otherwise — but for the wrong reason. There’s a long list of reasons why Mitt Romney might not be our best choice to go up against Obama, and some of them are really good reasons. One reason is Romney’s part in creating the Massachusetts health system that Democrats claim (perhaps rightly) was the blueprint for ObamaCare. Another is that as governor of a very liberal state, Romney signed into law all sorts of bills that are going to be used by Democrats to persuade many middle of the road and even conservative voters that there really is...