Free Republic

Romney to Skip Key Poll in Iowa By PATRICK O'CONNOR Mitt Romney will skip a key early test for Republican presidential candidates by forgoing the Iowa straw poll in mid-August, a decision that could recast the contest in the nation's first presidential nominating state. The Iowa straw poll, held in Ames, is one of the landmark events of the nominating contest. Mr. Romney's decision sends the clearest signal yet that he doesn't want to wade deeply into the social issues that carry particular weight with Iowa Republicans and instead intends to present himself to voters nationally as a successful businessman...

Today, Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC endorsed Christine O’Donnell, who is running to serve the people of Delaware in the U.S. Senate (www.christine2010.com). It also is sending her campaign a maximum $5,000 contribution. “Now is the time for Republicans to rally behind their nominee, Christine O'Donnell. She ran an impressive campaign. I believe it is important we support her so we can win back the U.S. Senate this fall,” said Romney.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney is down-sizing his stake in Massachusetts. He sold his Belmont mansion and bought a townhouse in a condo development. And now he more often resides in his $12 million mansion in La Jolla, Calif., or his $10 million house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Ever since Romney won just 51 percent in the Massachusetts GOP presidential primary, he has seemed less enamored with this state. And as a GOP presidential candidate for 2012, he apparently wants to distance himself from so-called RomneyCare, the Massachusetts health insurance program that became a model for so-called ObamaCare, the...

Mitt Romney attacks Obama's leadership on Oil Spill Has it come to this again? The president is meeting with his oil spill experts, he crudely tells us, so that he knows "whose @ss to kick." We have become accustomed to his management style — target a scapegoat, assign blame and go on the attack. To win health care legislation, he vilified insurance executives; to escape bankruptcy law for General Motors, he demonized senior lenders; to take the focus from the excesses of government, he castigated business meetings in Las Vegas; and to deflect responsibility for the deepening and lengthening downturn,...

The elections of Nikki Haley, who is poised to become the first female/first Indian governor of South Carolina and Tim Scott, poised to become the second black Republican congressman to serve in Congress (and who won against a segregationist's son, Paul Thurmond) were momentous and historical for all the obvious reasons... That being said, I do not expect the lamestream media to give these stories as much coverage as they deserve mainly because their "conservatives want segregation back" mantra is quite frankly the only age-old tactic liberals have to rely on for any hope of keeping their shackles on the...

If Sarah Palin, with her mega-wattage superstar status sucking up all the available oxygen in the room, is it worth sharing a stage and competing for some attention? Between now and the first GOP nomination season debate a year from now, that will be the question asked over and over again by the smart political operatives plotting Tim Pawlenty's, Mitt Romney's, and other nonreality show starring Republicans' paths to the White House. The cattle call season for the 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls is upon us, but the media obsession with all things Palin and her knack for dominating a news...