Free Republic

A new poll from American Research Group released Monday shows that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is leading the Republican presidential race in South Carolina, traditionally the first state in the South to hold a presidential primary. The South Carolina Republican primary -- set up with the help of legendary Republican operative the late Lee Atwater, a native of the Palmetto State -- has proven decisive in recent years, helping to erect a firewall in the region for Atwater’s candidate George H.W. Bush in 1988 and propelling front-runners Bob Dole over Pat Buchanan in 1996 and George W. Bush...

Just before yesterday’s White House jobs summit, Mitt Romney minced no words in blasting President Obama’s economic policies. “Like other presidents before him, Barack Obama inherited a recession. But unlike them, he has made it worse, not better,’’ Romney wrote in an opinion piece published yesterday in USA Today. The former Massachusetts governor - who made his name and fortune at private equity firm Bain Capital, ran for the GOP presidential nomination last year, and could very well run again in 2012 - derides Obama’s economic know-how. “His failure to stem the unemployment tide should not have been a surprise....