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Romney clarifies his position on Blunt amendment By PHILIP ELLIOTT | Associated Press – 10 hrs ago Email 6 WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday he opposed Senate Republicans' effort that critics say would limit insurance coverage of birth control, then reversed himself quickly in a second interview saying he misunderstood the question. Romney told Ohio News Network during an interview that he opposed a measure by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that was scheduled for a vote Thursday. "I'm not for the bill," Romney said before urging the interviewer to move on. Romney later said he didn't...

In contrast to what many believe, I do not support political parties. I support and vehemently defend policies that make sense, and attack those that don't. In case you did not know that, I am going to surprise you with a blast of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who is pandering to the Iowa farmers with a message "I Support the Subsidy of Ethanol". On his first trip back to the nation's first voting state as a soon-to-be declared presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reaffirmed his support for federal ethanol subsidies -- an always important campaign issue in...

On his first trip back to the nation's first voting state as a soon-to-be declared presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reaffirmed his support for federal ethanol subsidies -- an always important campaign issue in Iowa that figures to take on an even more central role in the divided GOP field. "I support the subsidy of ethanol," Romney told a potential voter after an event here was cut short by a fire alarm. "I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution in this country." Support for ethanol subsidies has long been considered a political necessity for...

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney announced this afternoon that a veteran public relations consultant was joining his burgeoning campaign as a senior adviser. Mark DeMoss is currently president of the DeMoss Group, which is a large Atlanta-based public relations agency that focuses on serving Christian leaders, businesses, and non-profit organizations. SNIP The campaign press release did not mention any religious component to DeMoss’s role, although in 2008 he was on the Romney campaign’s Faith and Values Steering Committee and spoke out prominently about why evangelical Christians should not discount Romney because of his Mormon faith. DeMoss said in an interview later...

A visit to a therapist might be necessary to help conservatives work through their issues with the current frontrunner. What if Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination for president in 2012? A vast majority of conservatives become anxiety-ridden at the mere posing of this question, and many go ballistic at the thought of it actually happening. So a quick visit to a therapist may be helpful. Imagine yourself lying on a couch in the spring of 2012 with soothing music playing in the background. News breaks that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has clinched the Republican nomination for president. Your...

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...

A pickup-driving image helped put Scott Brown in the U.S. Senate, so is Mitt Romney hoping it will drive him him to the White House? The 2008 Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor drove a beat-up pickup to a New Hampshire fundraiser last night. He's also driven it to other political events as he weighs another run in 2012. Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom says Romney has owned the Chevy since 2002 and uses it for errands around his New Hampshire lakeside vacation home.

As I type this, I am watching former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on “The Wendy Williams Show” talking about his impending talk show on Fox and am reminded, not for the first time, that quite a few presidential candidates function as if they never expected or even wanted to be president in the first place. They ran to gain a media platform. But few have done so as brazenly as Huckabee, who typically ended his homespun stump homilies with pedestrian pluckings of his bass guitar. Huckabee’s ultimate role in the 2008 race was to assist in the splintering of evangelicals...

At first sight it was no contest. On one channel Sarah Palin, the poster-girl of the American right, was wowing audiences with her first routine as a stand-up comedian. On a rival chat show Mitt Romney, the early frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2012, was delivering such dull fare that his host yawned. Writing a book and promoting it on late-night television have become an integral part of a presidential campaign launch. It certainly worked for Barack Obama. For Romney, the tactic seems to have backfired. He may be ahead of Palin in the opinion polls. But 5.8m people...

1. Mitt Romney: Romney gave a command performance at CPAC -- delivering a solid speech aimed at establishing himself as the de facto leader of the party and offering a detailed critique of the Obama Administration and its policies. And, his decision to put Matt Rhoades, communications director of his 2008 presidential bid, in charge of his Free and Strong America PAC was a savvy move that won him kudos among party insiders. Romney appears far more at ease in this race than he did in 2008; he knows who he is and what he can (and can't) do --...

If Mitt Romney's book sales are any indication of how he will do against Sarah Plain in the GOP primaries, things are not looking too good for our former governor from Massachusetts, at the moment. While Sarah Palin’s book shot to # 1 at Amazon on pre-orders alone, on the same day that it was available for pre-orders (a good 2 months before it was released), Mitt Romney's book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness”, is still stuck at # 245 in the Amazon sales rankings, with only one day to go before release tomorrow. Of course book sales...

In his new book, Mitt makes himself over as a muscular defender of America. Few things are more predictable than a GOP presidential candidate posturing as a he-man protector of America, and depicting his Democratic counterpart as an effete, appeasing girlie-man on the dangerous world stage. Mitt Romney — who himself has no personal military or foreign-policy experience of any kind — may not seem well-suited to the Republican role, but hey, if draft-dodgers like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney could use the formula against a genuine war hero, anything is possible. Romney, presumably warming up for 2012, flexes...

Washington » The snows that obliterated Washington last week interfered with many scheduled meetings, but they did not prevent the delivery of one important political message: Take Sarah Palin seriously. Her lengthy Saturday night keynote address to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville and her debut on the Sunday morning talk show circuit with Fox News' Chris Wallace showed off a public figure at the top of her game -- a politician who knows who she is and how to sell herself. This was not the first time that Palin has impressed me. I gave her high marks for...

From an AP article. The link is here.............

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: For those reading 2012 implications out of Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney’s monthly PAC newsletter provides some insights. Brown, R-Mass., is featured in two pictures in the newsletter, and Romney takes full ownership of his victory: “As supporters of the PAC, you deserve a thank you,” the newsletter from Romney’s Free Strong America PAC reads. “Your support made it possible for Governor Romney to get behind Senator Brown from the very beginning, when polls showed him a 30-point underdog and everyone assumed the outcome was pre-ordained in favor of the Democrats.” “Governor...

Mitt Romney's Man by Samuel P. Jacobs AP Photo If Scott Brown pulls off an upset in the race to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate, he may have Mitt Romney to thank. Samuel P. Jacobs on the 2012 GOP presidential hopeful's hidden hand. There are a number of forces driving Republican Scott Brown’s surprising surge in the Massachusetts special Senate election campaign. He’s benefiting from public anger over the Obama administration’s health-care reform plan. He’s buoyed by a tide of cash from around the country, donated by conservatives eager to send a message by upsetting Democratic front-runner Martha Coakley....

His supporters say the book will show Romney is more thoughtful than Sarah Palin. BY KENNETH T. WALSH Friends of Mitt Romney say his upcoming book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, is a lengthy and detailed explanation of his philosophy and should be a fitting prelude to a 2012 presidential campaign if Romney decides to run. The book, which comes out March 2, seems designed to position Romney as a thoughtful conservative who has ruminated carefully about the major issues of the day, ranging from the global economy to national security. Romney supporters say it will serve as...