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Powerful conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., thinks former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin deserves a prime speaking position at the Republican convention. "I'd love to see Sarah Palin have a big slot — as far as speaking — because there's no one still in America that excites the base of conservatives and even libertarians as she does,” he told Fox News Thursday. “She can draw a crowd more than any other Republican, and I think has more influence in primaries than any other endorsement right now, so I think she'd be good."

Kevin Madden, a Republican communications expert with long ties to Mitt Romney, will become a more frequent and visible spokesman for the presidential campaign, a source close to the decision said on Friday. The increased responsibilities for Mr. Madden came in the wake of criticism from nervous Republicans about Mr. Romney’s campaign team. The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that the campaign “looks confused in addition to being politically dumb.”

Herman Cain is denouncing Democrats for suggesting that attacking President Barack Obama’s connections to Rev. Jeremiah Wright is racist, saying that using the reverend to go after the president is “fair game.” “It is fair if someone wants to highlight the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his relationship with Barack Obama because, quite frankly, it wasn’t highlighted enough in 2008 when he was running for president the first time,” Cain told Greta Van Susteren of Fox News on Thursday. “This administration, which has been shown to go after people who donate to Mitt Romney and try and slander their reputation, then,...

Republican strategists should generally be wary of campaign advice from liberals -- and when it's from the media, generally becomes definitely. Washington Post political writer Chris Cillizza recently suggested Mitt Romney's general-election strategy should start with getting a "positive first introduction" to voters through the liberal media because "only the national media can provide that megaphone and serve as a sort of validator for him." How hard did he laugh after he wrote that? No Republican should think he could end-run the liberal media establishment entirely and not suffer damage. Ask Dick Cheney. On the other hand, no Republican can...

Before I get to the thread title material, let me say that Bush is not going away anytime soon. Obama brought him up today with Medicare Part D and will continue to bring him up again & again. If Romney praises Med. part D, Obama can say "See, Romney agrees with me that the first Republican president was right about the federal gov't..." as he said today. If Romney attacks Med. Part D as being big gov't, Obama can retort "Why is Romney attacking me for attacking Bush? Romney has also attacked Bush." And the issue of whether or not...

Myths have this habit of hanging around, growing and even be repeated and believed. Mitt Romney is the center of one of the biggest myths going around. What is the myth of Romney? The myth of Romney is that he is electable. It is right up there with the myth he is a conservative. The headlines for today by the Romney friendly media are that Romney one two states. As always the drive by media does not go into the story the way it should be delved into. Romney won Arizona handily. He took 47% to Santorum’s 26%, Gingrich’s 16%...

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead over GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new poll. And a CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday also indicates that the president's approval rating has inched over the 50% mark in CNN surveys for the first time since last May, when the polls were still registering the after effects of the death of Osama bin Laden. The number of Americans who say the economy's in good shape has jumped 13 points since January, though the survey shows a majority still think...

A version of this column appeared originally in THE DAILY BEAST.As he campaigns for re-election, Barack Obama pursues a profound and uncommon honor denied to nearly two-thirds of his predecessors. Contrary to a widely held popular belief, political history doesn’t anoint incumbent presidents as automatic winners or even presumptive favorites. The numbers show that most presidents fail in their efforts to maintain a long-term hold on the affections of the fickle public and that Obama will face an uphill struggle in attempting to reprise his epic victory of 2008. Of the 42 men who served as president before the current...

A day before a campaign rally in Georgia, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum won a suburban Atlanta straw poll with 40-percent of the vote. The straw poll was conducted Saturday, Feb. 18 by the Coweta County GOP. Continue reading on Examiner.com Santorum wins straw poll in advance of Georgia rally - Atlanta Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-atlanta/santorum-wins-straw-poll-advance-of-georgia-rally#ixzz1mrzjmeiA

Although there is much talk among political observers about the possibility of a brokered GOP convention in Tampa, Republican National Committee Communications Director Sean Spicer is not buying it. "The last time we had a brokered convention was in the 1940’s, and we’re four contests in that have awarded delegates," Mr. Spicer told me on Wednesday. "We are four weeks and four states into a process. I get that it’s the buzz, but I literally spend as much time worrying if some space alien attack happens."

The purpose of MitigateRomney.com is to serve notice to the GOP establishment and the moderate media that we are resolutely rejecting their manipulative tactics. They have worked vigorously to discourage supporters of conservative candidates and make the so-called “inevitability” of Mitt Romney into a self-fulfilling prophesy. For –at least- the past two election cycles they have pushed their left leaning candidates right into the GOP nomination by carefully massaging polling questions to fit the mantra they want unsuspecting viewers to adopt about their preferred candidate and even what spurious notions they chose to propagate about the candidates they ttansparently oppose....

If you are a Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum supporter, be concerned, be very concerned about the prospects of a brokered convention. While it’s still too early to see where the delegate math will fall once all the voting concludes in June, some things are beginning to take form. For one, the Gingrich team has finally come to the realization that they need Rick Santorum to stay in the race after all. This is because they are NOT confident that were Santorum to drop out, that Gingrich would receive an absolute majority of Santorum’s earned soft delegates. Hence, you see...

Mitt Romney, asked if there were any lessons learned in the wake of losing all three Republican voting contests Tuesday night, said that he simply “wasn’t there to respond” to former Sen. Rick Santorum’s attacks in the days leading up to voting. But today, speaking to reporters on a tarmac in Atlanta, where he flew from Colorado after losses in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado Tuesday night, he did not hesitate to go on offense, accusing two chief GOP rivals of behaving “like Democrats.”

Mitt Romney acknowledged on Wednesday that his path to the Republican presidential nomination is not going to be easy after three shock losses to newly ascendant rival Rick Santorum. A day after Santorum beat him in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Romney attempted to play down the results, saying his campaign did not devote a lot of time and money to the three state nominating contests and chose to compete strongly elsewhere.

The dueling press releases from Mitt Romney's campaign and the DNC this afternoon shed light on a new issue in the campaign: contraception. At a campaign event in Colorado last night, Romney criticized the Obama administration's new contraception benefit rule, calling the decision "a violation of conscience." The DNC shot back today with a press release saying Romney's campaign "misleads" on the issue, pointing out that Massachusetts's health care law kept in place a similar contraception mandate. "Romney is being hypocritical criticizing the President on contraception when his health care law kept in place a similar state mandate," the release...

FEBRUARY 5, 2012 Conservatives Cautious in Embracing Romney By Eric Morath Evangelical Christians and tea-party supporters, key members of the Republican base, will continue take their time in warming up to GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, a key conservative leader said on Sunday. “There is not going to be that enthusiasm among the base” for Mr. Romney, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization. “The focus now is on the House and the Senate and expanding conservative majorities” in Congress, he said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” suggesting some conservatives are growing weary...

It’s now been one month since I last did my prediction of the top five Republican Presidential Candidates, and this time around we saw a little change in rank. The biggest leap forward, was Mike Huckabee, which I previously had him placed third, he is now first. Followed by Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty. (Chart at link) Now I’m sure many of you disagree with Romney being third behind Sarah Palin, but I don’t view him as a good candidate. I don’t hate him, and I certainly would vote for him over President Obama, but he...

Why are so many long-shot or no-shot Republicans making noises about running for president? Howard Kurtz on the would-be candidates—and the upside of getting yourself mentioned. ****** You may be unaware that Mike Pence is on the verge of deciding whether to run for president. “Pence Announcement Looms in January,” a Politico headline blared the other day. Looming is a great journalistic verb, suggesting that the masses await, eyes turned upward, the great man’s decision. Which isn’t to suggest that the Indiana congressman—who may run instead for governor, a decision that looms over all Hoosiers—isn’t worthy of the Oval Office....