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DES MOINES, Iowa — Looking past Iowa, Mitt Romney defended his conservative credentials Tuesday as he anticipated escalated attacks in New Hampshire and beyond from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. “Perhaps people forget that I ran for president four years ago, you may recall that along with Mike Huckabee I was the conservative alternative to John McCain,” Romney said on Fox News Channel. He was responding to rival Newt Gingrich, who had accused Romney of lying about his moderate record. Romney said Gingrich, who has fallen in polls in the face of negative attack ads by Romney’s allies,...

Mitt Romney, under fire from all sides on the strength of his political convictions, said Thursday he has been as consistent as a person can be during his political career. "I've been as consistent as human beings can be," the presidential candidate said in a meeting with the editorial board of New Hampshire's Seacoast Media Group. "I cannot state every single issue in exactly the same words every single time, and so there are some folks who, obviously, for various political and campaign purposes will try and find some change and try to draw great attention to something which looks...

WASHINGTON - Among the Republicans angling to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. a year from January, Mitt Romney is the closest to achieving his goal. The former Massachusetts governor has reached the decisive phase in his presidential campaign: attempting to consolidate his support and cinch the nomination. (snip) Romney’s most ardent conservative critics have been left to rally around Herman Cain, simultaneously engaged in a book tour and presidential campaign, in a last-ditch effort to prevent his nomination. (snip) ...the Romney staff is focused on what it sees as an inevitable clash with Obama and the Democrats. But with the...

BOSTON — Republican Mitt Romney is finding it hard to avoid comparisons between the Massachusetts health insurance mandate he signed into law and the federal version enacted by President Barack Obama as he weighs another presidential run. A federal judge struck down the Obama mandate last week, and appeals of that ruling and other court challenges are likely to wend their way to the Supreme Court during the next two years, legal experts say....

As we all know, Mitt Romney's biggest problem in the 2012 Republican primaries is that conservatives don't trust him, given that he used to be a pro-choice moderate who got health coverage for Massachusetts' uninsured. His answer to this problem has been to run frantically to the right, staking out the most extreme position he can on any issue that comes up (his latest is an attack on lazy unemployed people). But the truth is this strategy is going to fail. What Mitt needs to understand is that voters don't make judgments based on checklists. If a true-blue conservative wants...

Here is an unusual interview Mitt Romney did with a woman named Eliane Brick. The introduction to the interview is 1:25 long, so you may want to move it forward to that point. She asks Romney what role “faith” plays in his decision to run for President. Romney goes out of his way to make clear he “believes in God,” but says that his personal faith must remain separate from his commitment to uphold the laws and govern for all the people. Let’s just say the video closes with Ms. Brick making clear the importance of “faith!” NOTE: Mitt Romney...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is also a presumptive candidate for President in the 2012 election, which was a topic of conversation on The Tonight Show last night. Host Jay Leno opened the light, if not somewhat boring interview with questions about a potential White House bid, to which Romney replied, “If you ever see me sign up for a gig on Fox News, it’ll be a clear indication that I’ve decided to run for president,” adding “that’s not in the cards anytime soon, thanks.” It was a gentle yet pointed dig at the cable news channel who includes on...

One prominent Republican calls on his party to drum Palin out of the 2012 race. Here's why he'll be disappointed. "Morning Joe" Scarborough earned a splash of attention within the politerati this week with a Politico column calling on the Republican Party to "man up" and denounce Sarah Palin. His main point is that Palin is poison for the Grand Old Party: The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public...

Much of the punditocracy is obsessed with Sarah Palin. It's understandable on several levels. First, she makes for good copy and has a knack for coining catchy phrases ("death panels") and new words ("refudiate" -- it's now in the dictionary). She is controversial and opinionated, so given the choice between, say, a story on John Thune and one on Palin, it's a no-brainer to choose the best-selling author, TV reality show star and Tea Party darling. But conservatives suspect there's also some mischief-making afoot -- the desire by liberal-leaning members of the media and the White House to make Palin...

Saying that a woman engaged in feline fisticuffs might be called sexist. But when that woman actually accuses another of seeking to "claw" critics, illustrating her assertion with a cat-like hand gesture, well . . . It's no secret that Nicolle Wallace is no fan of Sarah Palin. But the former Bush communications director and McCain campaign aide perhaps took things to another level with her attack on Palin on today's Morning Joe. [snip] Wallace unleashed a hail of criticism of her own: * "Mistakes were made [by McCain in choosing Palin]." * "Her troubling deficiencies." * "Her incredible cynicism,...

WASHINGTON -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the early frontrunner among potential Republican candidates for president in 2012, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. While former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin commands the national spotlight, turning out "tea party" activists and headlining rallies, for now it's Romney who claims the lead at 25 percent, months before an official field takes shape. Palin, GOP nominee John McCain's 2008 running mate, took second with 18 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tied for third place with 16 percent. Finishing out the pack were Minnesota Gov. Tim...

Via GOP12, I’m surprised that this modest statement of painfully obvious fact is making waves today. Click the image below and skip ahead to 8:00 for the money part, although the whole thing’s worth watching. He starts with a cute bit about phoning the families of National Guardsmen to say hi, proceeds to talk about Campaign ’08, and then after the part about Obama praises Palin for her “energy and spunk and passion.” (“Code words,” says Ben Smith, trying to stir up trouble.) What makes this newsworthy, I guess, is that it’s a rare caution about hubris at a moment...

FOR MITT Romney, running for president in 2012 looks a lot like running for governor in 2002. All he has to do is elbow aside a Republican woman, run against Democratic leaders and their liberal lockstep politics, and keep talking about the economy. Eight years ago, that was the Massachusetts game plan. After Romney thrust himself into the governor’s race as the can-do candidate with a Harvard MBA, acting Governor Jane Swift took herself out of it. Romney then turned Shannon O’Brien, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate and the Democratic leaders of the Massachusetts Legislature, into the so-called “gang of three.’’...

Is O'Reilly in the tank for Romney? I realize this was a charity event, but O'Reilly's snarkiness towards all things Palin leads me to believe that Romney has already made his choice for 2012. http://twitpic.com/2gt3orCheck out Romney's twitter feed for more photos.

A tantalizing bit of 2012 gossip dropped way, way down in an otherwise fun piece about amnesty shills boo-hooing over having (temporarily) lost McCain. Note to Politico: This is what’s called “burying the lede.” Their hope now is that Republican presidential candidates and former operatives under Bush, a reform proponent, can convince GOP congressional leaders that the issue needs to be dealt with before 2012 — or that they could risk alienating the burgeoning Hispanic vote in the crucial swing states of New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a front-runner for the nomination, has signaled...

So Mitt Romney - the venture capitalist guru who never sweats - leads all Republicans in a new Zogby poll that has him within striking distance of Obama, 45-43. Can anyone be surprised? The economy’s a mess. We’re basket cases over keeping jobs and homes. Obama’s reduced to courting Whoopi and Barbara Walters today on “The View,” hoping a cozy chat will reassure the wives of independents and/or Tea Party sympathizers who’ve abandoned the president in droves. Close your eyes. Envision, for a second, the best known GOP contenders: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul. On the Ward...

So Mitt Romney - the venture capitalist guru who never sweats - leads all Republicans in a new Zogby poll that has him within striking distance of Obama, 45-43. Can anyone be surprised? The economy’s a mess. We’re basket cases over keeping jobs and homes. Obama’s reduced to courting Whoopi and Barbara Walters today on “The View,” hoping a cozy chat will reassure the wives of independents and/or Tea Party sympathizers who’ve abandoned the president in droves. Close your eyes. Envision, for a second, the best known GOP contenders: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul. On the Ward...

GIVEN the continuing partisan rancor over the health care reform act signed in March, how can responsible policymakers in the White House and in state capitols move forward to expand access to health insurance and reduce health care costs, goals that both parties share? The answer is simple: health insurance exchanges, which have long had bipartisan support. These exchanges, which the health care act requires states to establish, allow individuals and groups to purchase coverage, under some form of risk pooling, from a network of insurers. The next step is for the White House to help state governments put these...

* Gov. Palin posted this Monday on her Facebook Notes page: Journey into the Media’s Heart of DarknessHow ironic that on a day when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Daily Caller released 15 pages of JournoListers’ email exchanges about a dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig. It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, and it’s impossible to legitimize any “prominent” media...

How ironic that on a day when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Daily Caller released 15 pages of JournoListers’ email exchanges about a dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig. It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, and it’s impossible to legitimize any “prominent” media publication that continues to traffic in this bizarre narrative today. It wasn’t just a few fringe characters...