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Special delivery for President Obama: From Romney, with love? The former Massachusetts governor and all-but-declared presidential candidate sent his leftover pizza to President Barack Obama?a>??s election headquarters after a fundraising event in Chicago on Thursday. "Great deep dish at @ginoseast. Sending the extra slices to @barackobama and his Chicago HQ team," he tweeted, adding a photo of the deliveryman. Jeff Himmel, president of Bravo Restaurants, Inc., which owns Gino’s East, wouldn't take sides, adding Obama is no stranger to his home-town restaurant's famed pies. "I’m quite certain that the President has visited our institution on several occasions and is familiar...

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...

White House hopefuls Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin lead a narrower field of potential rivals for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, according to a poll released on Thursday. The Gallup survey is the organization's first since Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and real estate mogul Donald Trump opted out of the slowly evolving primary race. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and so far the apparent front-runner, led Palin by 17 percent to 15 percent, well within the poll's 4 percentage points margin of error. Texas Representative Ron Paul ranked third at 10 percent. But the...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani isn't just thinking about running for president next year: It's his obsession and he's already mapping out a strategy to knock off GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. **SNIP** What's more, adds King, Giuliani has already been "talking to people in New Hampshire" about his strategy to focus all his early attention there, not the Iowa caucus, because beating Romney in the former Massachusetts governor's political backyard will propel the New Yorker's candidacy into the next two showdowns in South Carolina and Nevada. "He would focus on New Hampshire almost entirely," said...

Once upon a time there was a president, wavering in popularity. He was deemed by some political pundits as “highly beatable.” He had just done his whole thing with health care, which left voters fuming, and two years before the presidential election, Republicans picked up a slew of seats in the House, taking control. But then, the Republican Party did the unthinkable: It gave the nomination to a guy because it was essentially “his turn,” and the candidate got shellacked by the incumbent Democratic president. That president was Bill Clinton; the “It’s His Turn” candidate was Bob Dole; the year,...

The Republican presidential field is starting to look like “ The Hunger Games,” with those who had no fight in them, those who overplayed their hand and those who were undisciplined out of the fight to the finish before the real contest begins. Mitt Romney - a stronger, well-fed combatant - is eager to enter the arena. Alarmed by the alacrity with which at least half a dozen contenders fell by the wayside, some well-heeled spectators are rushing to support him even before they have a chance to size up the other combatants – some of whom are in stealth...

Unless things change, the man (or woman) elected in 2012 will be the last American president to preside over the world's leading economy. If things get really bad, he will find himself presiding over the early stages of American collapse. Not "decline" but "collapse." "Decline" is what happens when you're Britain in the 1940s and you cede global dominance to a major ally that shares your language, legal system, cultural inheritance and broad geopolitical objectives. That deal isn't on offer this time round. Nor was the United Kingdom circa 1948 in thrall to anything like the same levels of spendaholic...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads in some polls for the Republican presidential nomination, but he's also lost key backers - including some in Orange County, which was a base camp for his failed 2008 bid. ((snip)) "It was one of the most brain-dead campaigns I've seen," Schroeder said. "I was planning 15 months in advance, but their planning window for events was five days. That meant they didn't focus on California until five days before the primary." ((snip)) Additionally, Schroeder sees the health-care reform Romney championed in Massachusetts as a liability for someone challenging Barack Obama's similar reform on...

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...

Here are the first three words Willard Mitt Romney needs to say in Michigan tomorrow, but never will. “I screwed up.” The only way for Willard to move on, get some closure, etc. on this grand fiasco of RomneyCare is to finally man up and admit that in 2006 the Democrats in Massachusetts beat him like a rented mule. Acknowledge the undisputable truth that, thanks to his raw political ambition, we have tax-paying American citizens being fined $2,000 for the crime of having no dough, to quote The Band. Oh, and by the way, illegal aliens still get free health...

Republican college degree holders are more likely than those without a degree to support Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, 21% vs. 13%. Similarly, Romney's support climbs from 9% of Republicans earning less than $24,000 annually to 21% of those earning $90,000 or more. The reverse is true for Sarah Palin, who is favored by nearly twice as many Republicans without a college degree as those with one, 16% vs. 9%, and her support decreases by income from 22% among the lowest income group to 7% among the highest.

"In a previous post, Elephant Watcher examined how Huckabee's starting position for the 2012 race differs from when he ran in 2008. It's worth conducting a similar analysis of the Romney campaign...."

Mitt Romney Makes 'Hang' Obama Gaffe During Unofficial 2012 Debut By Ujala Sehgal April 30, 2011 | 2:34 p.m. Updated: April 30, 2011 | 4:30 p.m. The spotlight was on Mitt Romney yesterday at the Republican gathering in Manchester, New Hampshire, purportedly a summit on jobs and the economy, but also a showcase of five Republican presidential hopefuls, including Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Romney. Many interpreted the summit as Romney's unofficial debut as a 2012 candidate. And, it seems that Romney got off to a difficult start. The Atlantic writes: Romney was off in just about every...

PITTSBURGH—Mitt Romney’s pre-recorded video greeting for the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting received a lukewarm response here Friday, a reminder of his weakness on an issue important to the Republican base that at times dogged his 2008 campaign. (...) “I’m sorry I can’t be with you today in Pittsburgh, but I wanted to wish the National Rifle Association my congratulations (on) 140 years of defending our basic Constitutional rights,” he said in a two-minute video message. “Way to go!” Unlike tea party favorite Michele Bachmann, who also sent a pre-recorded video message, his two-minute spiel was not interrupted by applause....

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's stock is rising. Trump was tied for first place with Mike Huckabee in his debut yesterday in the Gallup poll of Republicans' choices for the 2012 presidential nomination. Both garnered 16 percent from registered Republicans. Trump's popularity was buoyed by strong support among liberal and moderate Republicans, who, unfortunately for Trump, are typically outnumbered by conservatives 2 to 1 among GOP primary voters. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who now hosts his own show on Fox News Channel, had a commanding lead among conservative Republicans, 18 percent to Trump's 13. Trump carried moderate/liberal Republicans 21-13 percent...

Poor Mitt Romney. He already had one big strike against him — his Mormonism — even before he contemplated his second run for the presidency. But thanks to the Tea Party, he’s also under serious fire for his 2006 Massachusetts health care plan, which his conservative critics liken to Obamacare — dubbing it “Romneycare” — since both plans mandate individual health coverage and expand the reach of Medicaid... ...Obama, and his close friend and political ally, current Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who says Romney’s plan is working “brilliantly,” expanding affordable health coverage to nearly 98% of the state’s residents. The...

Donald Trump believes that he’s fit to be president. Why, you ask? Because he knows so much about foreign policy or economics? Or perhaps because he has a lot of experience working in the public sector? No, because he’s rich. “I’m a much bigger business man and have (a) much, much bigger net worth. I mean, my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney,” he said yesterday on CNN’s State of the Nation. “I built a very big net worth and I’d like to put that ability … to work for this country.” He added that he doesn’t...