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After Rick Perry’s wobbly performance shifted some momentum back to Mitt Romney, conservatives began another round of speculation about his appeal in the early-primary states. It seems that his religious affiliation remains a serious problem for him. USA Today reported on latest Gallup poll question: Although three of four Americans say they would support a presidential candidate who is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Gallup Poll finds that 22% say they would not. That figure has not changed much since Gallup started measuring opinion on this subject in 1967. One difference comes...

Those words were spoken today by Georgette Mosbacher, RNC Finance Co-Chair and huge GOP fundraiser, after Chris Christie’s announcement. The “we” is all the big bundlers, fundraisers, and money folks who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the field to be set — and that quote represents the coalescing around Mitt Romney that is expected to happen rather quickly now. Mosbacher went on to say: “I think tomorrow, we’ll be contacting one another and probably put something together with Romney… And I would say that the race is now Romney and Obama. Quite frankly, the enthusiasm wasn’t there...

Admits “changes in the climate” caused changes to claim that Romneycare should be model for nation With great confidence and smooth delivery during last night’s debate, Mitt Romney denied changing the text of his book, No Apology, saying, “One reason to elect me is that I know what I stand for. I’ve written it down. Words have meaning.” [1] Hours after the debate, Romney retreated from his written words, admitting the paperback edition of No Apology was scrubbed to remove the Romneycare reference: “We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country.” [2] This morning on Fox News,...

In his first one-on-one national TV interview since kicking off his presidential campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry referred to Mitt Romney as “Obama-lite” and charged that the former Massachusetts governor is blurring lines between Republicans and Democrats. But Perry told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday that his differences with Romney aren’t personal. “Oh, it’s business,” he said. “I just think it’s important for the people of America and certainly in a Republican primary to see the clear differences that the candidates have. We need to nominate someone who has a stark clear difference between the Republican nominee and...

For some leaders in the tea party movement, the ongoing skirmish over whether presidential contender Mitt Romney should speak at a Tea Party Express rally in New Hampshire on Monday is anything but an internecine quarrel. It is the opening shot, they say, in an all-out effort to make sure the former Massachusetts governor does not win the Republican nomination to challenge President Obama next year. Whether they have the reach to win that battle is uncertain. Romney, despite his slip from front-runner status since Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the GOP race, remains a formidable candidate with the most...

LA JOLLA — GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, scheduled to attend a series of fundraisers this weekend in San Diego, is also working on plans to nearly quadruple the size of his $12 million oceanfront manse in La Jolla. Romney has filed an application with the city to bulldoze his 3,009-square-foot, single-story home at 311 Dunemere Dr. and replace it with a two-story, 11,062-square-foot structure. No date has been set to consider the proposed coastal development and site development permits, which must be approved by the city. The former governor of Massachusetts purchased the home three years ago. According to...

Litchfield, New Hampshire (CNN) - Mitt Romney said Monday his experience in business would help propel him over his opponents for the GOP presidential nomination, including the man who threatens to be his biggest rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. ---- Romney has repeatedly faulted President Barack Obama for failing to understand how private business works, and he pivoted to apply that criticism to the Texas governor. Perry has essentially been a career politician, serving 11 years in the Governor's mansion and as Lt. Governor to then-Gov. George W. Bush before that. --- Perry, a tea party darling who is pursuing...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney treated supporters at a fundraiser in Virginia to a sneak peek of his inclinations regarding his vice presidential shortlist should he become the Republican nominee in 2012, according to a new report. At the Virginia Beach home of State Sen. Jeff McWaters Monday, Romney praised three up-and-coming stars of the GOP, saying his shortlist included Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the Bearing Drift blog reported Tuesday

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney still leads the 2012 Republican nominee race, but the person who polled second is a bit of a surprise: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. With Palin in the race, Romney has 26 percent, Palin has 18 percent and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is third with 12 percent, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll. However, without Palin in the race, Romney tops the field at 30 percent, Bachmann has 16%, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has 11 percent, and Texas Governor Rick Perry has 8 percent. Palin Remains a Factor The fact that Palin...

Election '12: The Republican presidential front-runner is oddly silent on Washington's momentous budget talks. Mitt Romney can run, but he can't hide his positions forever. Massachusetts' former governor went to North Hollywood, Calif., on Wednesday with a "what else is new?" observation. "The president's policies almost without question have caused this recession to be deeper and longer than it would have been," he said. There's no "almost without question" about it. But it takes more to be elected president than pointing out what 14 million unemployed Americans — 6.3 million of them out of work for more than six months...

Luxury jets, hotels on Mitt Romney’s $5 million campaign tab (flip-flop alert) "... Mitt Romney shelled out more than $5 million in campaign cash over the past three months, including blowing $80,000 on hotel rooms in Las Vegas, $50,000 on a security squad and $125,000 on private jets — despite a pledge to scale back on luxury travel, new campaign filings show. The Beverly-based flights were aboard a 2005 Cessna Citation CJ3, an eight-seat luxury corporate jet with leather interior and a staggering $5.8 million price tag. "News of the flights comes after an April speech in Iowa, during which...

Did conservatives learn the wrong lesson from losing to Obama the first time? Recently Politico ran a piece by Alexander Burns titled “Mitt Romney’s Warning Signs.” Burns outlined three major reasons why Romney is a weak frontrunner and “remains extremely beatable.” The three reasons are: His fundraising quarter wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a tour de force either. (Romney “only” raised $18.25 million)His polling is solid, but stalled. (20% to 30% range)His personal shortcomings haven’t disappeared. Now I agree with all of the above but would like to add one more extremely important reason that explains both the lackluster fundraising...

The evidence suggests otherwise — but for the wrong reason. There’s a long list of reasons why Mitt Romney might not be our best choice to go up against Obama, and some of them are really good reasons. One reason is Romney’s part in creating the Massachusetts health system that Democrats claim (perhaps rightly) was the blueprint for ObamaCare. Another is that as governor of a very liberal state, Romney signed into law all sorts of bills that are going to be used by Democrats to persuade many middle of the road and even conservative voters that there really is...

Any candidate for president can fall victim to occasional stumbles, lapses, gaffes and clunkers. But Mitt Romney has a shot at raising ineptitude to an art form. The other day, he had to answer a question about how the economy has fared under the current administration. Before he was done, though, Romney managed to give the impression that if he dove off a dock, he'd miss the water. He also undermined his chief assets in the campaign: a supposed mastery of economic issues and a reputation for competence. Over and over, the former Massachusetts governor has accused President Barack Obama...

A few weeks ago, the race for the Republican presidential nomination was a jumble of candidates, none of whom seemed to be winning the party's hearts or minds: Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich. For a moment, some GOP voters even pinned their hopes on pizza magnate Herman Cain, mostly because he didn't sound — or look — like the others. But now, if you talk with Republican political professionals, the GOP race has suddenly settled into a contest among only two or three potential nominees. There's Romney, still the front-runner, stolidly running a cautious and conventional campaign. There's Michele...

Mitt Romney holds an eight-point lead over his Republican rivals for the White House in a survey of California voters released Monday by the Field Poll... Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani... second with 17 percent... Sarah Palin came in third... with 10 percent support. Fifty-four percent of registered California voters approve of President Obama's job performance (37 percent disapprove). Further, nearly half (49 percent) of voters there support his re-election bid...

Sahil Kapur has a good piece up at TNR about the Tea Party’s plans to go after Mitt Romney because he’s not the “rock-solid fiscal conservative” they want. According to Kapur, FreedomWorks, the Dick Armey-led Tea Party organization, is threatening to “uneash part of its $25 million treasure trove in an attempt to sink his candidacy.” Meanwhile, Joe Miller, the Tea Party candidate who took on Lisa Murkowski in Alaska and lost last November, has his own political action committee dedicated to going after Mitt Romney where it matters most: New Hampshire. Last November, the Tea Party swept into state...

Romney leads our newest poll with 22% to 17% for Herman Cain, 15% for Sarah Palin, 9% for Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty, 8% for Michele Bachmann, 7% for Ron Paul, and 1% for Jon Huntsman. Romney's strength is with those voters for whom electability is the paramount concern. He gets 27% with them to 14% each for Cain and Palin and 12% for Pawlenty. With GOP partisans more concerned about ideology Romney is third at 16%, behind Cain's 22% and Palin's 18%. If Palin doesn't run Romney's lead expands. He gets 27% to 20% for Cain, 13% for Bachmann,...

"Despite my affiliation with the Republican Party, I don't think of myself as highly partisan." -- Mitt Romney in his book No Apology And there it was again. Front and center in last night's CNN New Hampshire debate with Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney twice -- not once but twice -- illustrated his problem as a presidential candidate and potential Republican president in the post-Reagan era. Midway into the debate Romney answered a question on how to deal with the issue of raising the debt limit by saying that as president he would concentrate on "reining in...

STRATHAM, N.H. – Mitt Romney's political backyard is the most promising terrain in his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination. It's also the most perilous. The former governor from neighboring Massachusetts has a vacation place in New Hampshire, so the state really is his second home. He's well known and well established here, and he's putting more emphasis on the Granite State, which holds the nation's first primary, than he did four years ago. He'll be in Manchester for a seven-candidate debate Monday night. But the state's proximity to Massachusetts is a two-edged sword. Voters know a lot about...