Free Republic

White House hopefuls Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin lead a narrower field of potential rivals for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, according to a poll released on Thursday. The Gallup survey is the organization's first since Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and real estate mogul Donald Trump opted out of the slowly evolving primary race. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and so far the apparent front-runner, led Palin by 17 percent to 15 percent, well within the poll's 4 percentage points margin of error. Texas Representative Ron Paul ranked third at 10 percent. But the...

With the announcement by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee that he will not be seeking the nomination for president of the United States on the Republican ticket, the presumption is that the frontrunner is now former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. But Romney has some very serious baggage in mounting a successful campaign against incumbent Barack Hussein Obama. He implemented a health care plan in Massachusetts which he said at the time would be the model upon which a national plan could be based. And the architects of ObamaCare have said that indeed, their bill was modeled in part after RomneyCare....

A GOP frontrunner in the party's 2012 primary with a checkered past on health care, Mitt Romney produced a rather bold headline today with his op-ed in the USA Today: As first act, out with ObamaCare. "Health care is more than just one-sixth of the American economy. It is a source of well-being for individuals and families. We are blessed with much that is good in American health care. But we have taken a turn for the worse with ObamaCare, with its high taxes and vastly expanded federal control over our lives. I believe the better course is to empower...

Romney’s Venue Problem May 11, 2011 5:17 P.M. By Katrina Trinko Mitt Romney will be giving a major health care speech tomorrow at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. Two interesting tidbits about the Center: it’s affiliated with a university that provides abortions Planned Parenthood cannot do and it helped fund new embryonic stem cell lines — which requires the destruction of human embryos. From the University of Michigan Alumni Association [emphasis mine]: The University of Michigan today announced the formation of a consortium to create new embryonic stem cell lines that will aid the search for disease treatments and...

Why would I support a GOP candidate who gave us socialized medicine and same-sex marriages? 56% (760) He's a total phony and flip-flopper 10% (139) He's a candidate who has had conservative rhetoric, but not conservative action 9% (122) Romney can run, but I don't think he'll be the nominee 7% (94) He's successful in business and finance, and that's what America needs right now 4% (54) Romney is the one Republican presidential contender I would never support, even against Obama 3% (42) If Romney were really any good, he would have beaten McCain last time 3% (36) He's all...

Mitt Romney, my personal favorite front-runner for 2012 on our side just performed a rare *suuuuuhuuckification* on the Hugh Hewitt radio show this afternoon in Hewitt's second segment. (Holy God Hugh, if you ever bore me again as you did in that first segment teasing a Romney appearance, I swear it will be worth my time to drop everything and drive to the OC so I can personally explain to you my displeasure.) No kidding, I think Mitt is the only one who even stands a chance against Zero. (Will save how he would have mopped the floor with Zero...

On Monday, Meghan McCain told Kennesaw State University that she wants Mitt Romney, not Sarah Palin, to be the next president. As McCain explained, "My personal favorite right now is Mitt Romney. I like that he's not so radical. I like that he has really, really played his cards right, almost perfectly since the last election" (as reported by Marietta Daily Journal). McCain's endorsement may be a double-edged sword for Romney. On the one hand, her endorsement is a boon because she chose him over her own father's running mate. And McCain enjoys a devoted following among independents, moderate Republicans...

His convenient and implausibly explained reversals on issues say all we need to know about his character. He will do or say anything to become president. We're all for transparency these days, and if anything is transparently clear about American politics, it is that Mitt Romney will do or say anything to become president. The best guess is that at heart he is an old-fashioned moderate, business-oriented Republican (just about the last one standing). But there's no knowing for sure. He may have no sincere beliefs at all. There was a piece about Romney on the front page of the...

This time, Mitt Romney has a clear pitch: I'm the strongest Republican to challenge President Barack Obama on the country's single biggest issue — the economy. "He created a deeper recession, and delayed the recovery," Romney said Saturday, previewing his campaign message before Republicans in this influential early nominating state. "The consequence is soaring numbers of Americans enduring unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index, and it is at a record high." "It's going to take more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work — it's going to take a new president," said the former...

Bartlett, NH - Leftover 2008 campaign signs outside the Carroll County Republican Committee dinner announce what's on everyone's minds, even Ann Romney's. "And I'm the one that is encouraging Mitt to think about pushing forward and think about running. So, yes, yes I am. I'm pushing him," she said before her husband took the podium. It's his first public speech in New Hampshire since the mid-term elections, and Mitt Romney sounded an awful lot like a candidate. "It's gonna take more than a good speech on his part, more than rhetoric to put Americans back to work. It's going to...

Headline on Drudge with link to article on Politico. Somebody is finally saying it even if it is Romney.

Washington — Defying his reputation as a 1950s square, the new, more casual Mitt Romney is popping up around the country as he readies a second run for president. He's going tieless on network TV, strolling NASCAR pits in Daytona and sporting skinny Gap jeans bought for him by his wife. His latest campaign book, just out in paperback, opens with a regular-guy scene: wealthy Mitt in a Wal-Mart checkout line, buying gifts for his grandsons and comparing the surroundings to Target, another discount store he says he's familiar with.

Unless you have been involved in an airplane crash in the mountains and have had no food for days –– and some would argue even then –– cannibalism is a bad option. So why has it become such a popular pastime for the Republican Party? The candidates who are admitting they might run against President Barack Obama in 2012 have almost no chance at competing with him –– much less making him a one-term president. If the Republicans are serious about beating Obama, they need a conservative who can exist closer to the middle of the political spectrum. Ron Paul...

Intellectual Conservative's resident Mathematics Professor takes another look at Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate. In a previous article in The Intellectual Conservative (Will I Have to Hold My Nose Yet Again?), I confessed that the not unlikely prospect of Mitt Romney securing the Republican presidential nomination filled me with dismay. I pointed out that every Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was a faux conservative and that I voted for all of them - with my fingers firmly clamped on my nose. In contemplating a vote for Romney, I rued the fact that my fingers would be similarly deployed....

Politico reports: President Obama on Monday once again brought up Mitt Romney's role in expanding health care in Massachusetts, in what has become a recurring political nightmare for the former governor who is seen as a likely Republican candidate for president. Speaking to governors of both parties, Obama said Romney actually had a decent idea about addressing the country's health care system. "I know that many of you have asked for flexibility for your states under this law," Obama said at the White House. "In fact, I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he's proud of what he accomplished...

Mitch, Mitt, And The Race They Can Win By John Taylor Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana is, according to current criteria, a moderate Republican, which is to say an authentic Reaganite. His mentors include respected centrists such as William Ruckelshaus and Richard Lugar. Now David Brooks and Andrew Sullivan want him to run for president in 2012. I'm a little confused about why fans of a more pragmatic conservatism would feel that way. Assuming an incumbent's advantage in a recovering economy, President Obama will probably be reelected. Why waste a candidate who could win in an open year? Presidential...

A year before Republicans pick a 2012 candidate, their presidential outlook remains muddled. Nothing exemplifies their dilemma more than the all-but-certain candidacy of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. By traditional standards, he should be the GOP front-runner. He was the 2008 runner-up, is personally attractive and professionally successful and can mount a well-financed, professional campaign. But he doesn't even have clear support within the party's mainstream wing, let alone the increasingly influential tea party faction. His problems were evident from what he said — and didn't say — when he joined other hopefuls in wooing activists at last week's annual...

A highlight: Shortly after unlovable Mitt finished speaking, he was upstaged by Sarah Palin, who isn't even attending the conference. A Palin look-alike (a pretty good one, actually) entered the ballroom and immediately attracted a massive crowd. For a moment, everyone thought it was a surprise appearance by the one candidate all the (non-Ron Paul supporting) attendees are actually excited by.

Mitt Romney affirmed the centrality of his Mormon beliefs during an interview Tuesday on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight show. Morgan initiated a conversation with Romney about religion by showing his guest a recorded clip from the 2008 presidential campaign wherein Romney said, "I believe in my Mormon faith. Â… Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they're right, so be it." When subsequently asked by Morgan if he still stands by those words, Romney didn't hesitate: "Absolutely." He continued: "My experience (in) Massachusetts running as a Mormon guy in a state that's overwhelmingly...

On May 2, Republicans will gather at the Reagan Library in Santa Barbara, Calif., for the first GOP presidential debate of the 2012 campaign. It's not clear which candidates will be there, but here's a safe bet: Each will declare himself, or herself, a Reagan Republican. Such is the hold of Ronald Reagan on the Republican Party that it is simply impossible to imagine a candidate not reaching for the Reagan mantle. And such is the hold of Reagan on our politics as a whole that, on the eve of the State of the Union, President Obama felt compelled to...