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The "straw poll" was open only to the 426 registered members of the Republican committee, and 65 percent of those commitee members participated. The take away: Romney's still the solid frontrunner here, but there's plenty of room for another Republican to break through here. Pawlenty's showing was also impressive, given how new he is to the scene. He has, however, been working New Hampshire, as have his suporters. The Republican committee members were also asked to pick the issue that was the "most important for the Republican nominee to focus upon": Reducing the size of the federal government: 49 percent...

You might expect that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of the top likely candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, would cozy up to tea party followers anytime he can. But he’s actually steering clear of the movement, The Boston Globe reports. “Romney for the most part is inaccessible,’’ says Andrew Hemingway, chairman of New Hampshire’s Republican Liberty Caucus. “[Minnesota Gov. Tom] Pawlenty, I could call him right now and say, ‘Let’s have coffee.’” Romney has kept his distance from tea party activists in key primary states, including the state viewed as a must win for him – New...

Potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, looking to bolster his foreign policy credentials, is on a Mideast swing that included a visit to Afghanistan on Sunday. Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney met the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 only to lose to John McCain. He has shown multiple signs of planning to seek his party's nomination again for the right to oppose Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012. Romney could be among as many as a dozen Republicans seeking the...

Congratulations, Mitt Romney! You have won the Hillary Clinton seat for the 2012 primaries. You're the long-distance frontrunner who is now expected to win New Hampshire. The Magellan poll of "likely 1,451 Republican primary voters," about 2/3 GOP registered and 1/3 independent: Mitt Romney - 39 percent Sarah Palin - 16 percent Mike Huckabee - 10 percent Newt Gingrich - 8 percent Ron Paul - 7 percent Tim Pawlenty - 4 percentanother candidate - 4 percent Rick Santorum - 3 percent Haley Barbour - 1 percent Romney has to be considered the frontrunner, even though he's polling only 7 points...

The title of Mitt Romney's new book, "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," is a not-so-subtle jab at the visits President Obama made overseas when he first took office, derided by the Right as the "American Apology Tour." Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has published a new book, "No Apology: the Case for American... Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has published a new book, "No Apology: the Case for American Greatness," which sets the stage for a second presidential run in 2012. He is shown here as he addresses a forum of the Foreign Policy Initiative at the W...