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A year before Republicans pick a 2012 candidate, their presidential outlook remains muddled. Nothing exemplifies their dilemma more than the all-but-certain candidacy of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. By traditional standards, he should be the GOP front-runner. He was the 2008 runner-up, is personally attractive and professionally successful and can mount a well-financed, professional campaign. But he doesn't even have clear support within the party's mainstream wing, let alone the increasingly influential tea party faction. His problems were evident from what he said — and didn't say — when he joined other hopefuls in wooing activists at last week's annual...

The presidential field may be wide open, but one candidate is playing the role of the inevitable front-runner, as his performance at the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference this weekend shows. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney brought with him to the event a large entourage that stayed for several days, while most other potential candidates dropped in and out of the conference to make their speeches and headline a reception or two. Other serious contenders brought just a few key staffers, but many didn't even have their top political aide in tow. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Arkansas...

When Mitt Romney's second book, No Apology, came out a year ago, it looked like he was moving away from the far-right demagoguery of his 2008 bid for the presidency, and toward a more moderate centrism for the 2012 election cycle. (See "New and Improved Romney," Talking Politics, February 10, 2010.) But times change, and so does Mitt. A year later, with the Tea Party–fueled extremism of the 2010 midterms foretelling a rightward tilt to the GOP presidential primaries, Romney is tacking back — as evidenced by changes made to two sections of the text in the new paperback edition...

Without having compared the hardcover to the paperback myself, I’m duty-bound to add a question mark to the headline. But his spokesman is quoted in the piece and didn’t push back hard against the allegation, so I assume it’s a fair cop. On what planet does he gain more by doing this than he loses? In the original hardcover, Romney tried to carefully distinguish between the Massachusetts [health-care] law and the national version that was nearing passage as he wrote.But the Massachusetts model has become Romney’s bête noire among conservatives, who loathe the national reform they call “Obamacare.” The rewritten...

As President Obama prepares to launch his 2012 re-election campaign, one of his top advisers admits they have no idea who might be his ultimate GOP opponent. 'This is most unfathomable Republican field in my lifetime," Obama political adviser David Axelrod tells USA Today. "I don't think anybody in the media or in either party can tell you with any degree of certainty who the Republican nominee will be." But Axelrod, who left the White House last week to begin working for the campaign, went out of his way to praise one of Obama's potential rivals, Mitt Romney. The former...

WASHINGTON — New Hampshire Tea Party movement activist Andrew Hemingway is not lacking in contact with likely presidential candidates. He’s talked hockey with Tim Pawlenty. He sat down with former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum at the Concord Country Club. And plans are in the works for Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to appear before a group of Hemingway’s fellow conservatives. the notable exception among the field of would-be GOP presidential contenders? Mitt Romney. “Romney for the most part is inaccessible,’’ said Hemingway, a Bristol resident who is chairman of the state’s Republican Liberty Caucus. “Pawlenty, I could call him right now...

A new poll shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the early frontrunner in New Hampshire, where he holds a commanding 23-point edge over his closest potential rival -- former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The New Hampshire Journal poll, conducted by the Republican firm Magellan Strategies, found Romney comfortably at the head of the pack of rumored 2012 hopefuls with 39 percent of the vote. He's followed by Palin at 16 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 10 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 8 percent and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) at 7 percent. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney continues to hold the pole position for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination in the latest National Journal Political Insiders Poll. But the surprise runner-up to Romney was the two-term Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who moved up from fifth place when the last ranking of the potential GOP White House contenders was conducted a year ago. Romney's assets and liabilities are well known and haven't changed much since last January. He has a national network of political and financial supporters left over from his unsuccessful run for the 2008 Republican nomination, a command of economic issues...

As we all know, Mitt Romney's biggest problem in the 2012 Republican primaries is that conservatives don't trust him, given that he used to be a pro-choice moderate who got health coverage for Massachusetts' uninsured. His answer to this problem has been to run frantically to the right, staking out the most extreme position he can on any issue that comes up (his latest is an attack on lazy unemployed people). But the truth is this strategy is going to fail. What Mitt needs to understand is that voters don't make judgments based on checklists. If a true-blue conservative wants...

Here is an unusual interview Mitt Romney did with a woman named Eliane Brick. The introduction to the interview is 1:25 long, so you may want to move it forward to that point. She asks Romney what role “faith” plays in his decision to run for President. Romney goes out of his way to make clear he “believes in God,” but says that his personal faith must remain separate from his commitment to uphold the laws and govern for all the people. Let’s just say the video closes with Ms. Brick making clear the importance of “faith!” NOTE: Mitt Romney...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is also a presumptive candidate for President in the 2012 election, which was a topic of conversation on The Tonight Show last night. Host Jay Leno opened the light, if not somewhat boring interview with questions about a potential White House bid, to which Romney replied, “If you ever see me sign up for a gig on Fox News, it’ll be a clear indication that I’ve decided to run for president,” adding “that’s not in the cards anytime soon, thanks.” It was a gentle yet pointed dig at the cable news channel who includes on...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney, a likely GOP presidential candidate for 2012, told supporters he won’t announce his candidacy before the end of the year — but political analysts said yesterday the discussion is the strongest indicator yet that he’ll run. “We know who is running, they’re just doing everything but coming out and saying so,” said Andy Smith, director of the Political Center at the University of New Hampshire. Romney held a conference call with 245 of his top supporters Thursday and told them that unlike his failed 2008 run, he won’t be announcing until later in the cycle, according...

On Thursday's Parker-Spitzer, CNN's Kathleen Parker bizarrely and inaccurately claimed that Alexander Hamilton came to the United States illegally and drafted the Constitution: "Let's remember...a lot of Americans did come through the back door such as Alexander Hamilton. He got off the boat from the West Indies, and all he did was write the Constitution and become the first Secretary of the Treasury." Parker raised this false history during a discussion of Pedro Ramirez, Fresno State University's student body president, who was outed as an illegal immigrant by a student newspaper. After playing clips from Ramirez and his opponent during...

Free Republic is a pro-life, pro-family, pro-liberty constitutional conservative activist web site. Those who cannot live with that should simply stay away!! (saves wear and tear on my zot button - bitterly clinging redneck, Jim) Romney is an unrepentant abortionist/statist lying political whore! Just to be absolutely clear, there will never ever be a RINO Romney campaign on FR!! If he somehow becomes the nominee, FR will be running a full-time campaign to DEFEAT him!! If you wish to support him then I suggest you sign off FR and onto Wankers for Mitt!! Those statments make me worry that FreeRepublic...

As evidence against my skepticism of Sarah Palin’s supposed front-runner status for 2012, I give you the latest round of Public Policy Center polls: PPP’s newest batch of 2012 Republican primary polls conducted right before last week’s election finds Mitt Romney ahead in the critical early state of Florida, Tim Pawlenty surprisingly weak in his home state of Minnesota, and Sarah Palin posting leads in Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Maine. All of her leads are relatively slim, but the fact that she’s ahead of Huckabee in Texas and West Virginia is notable, and her leads in Maine (by 23...

Rove is right. He predicted how O'Donnell would flop and hinted that it could cost the GPO additional senate seats.... In my personal opinion, he was thinking about Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, etc. All of these should have been captured by the tea party. Personally, I think O'Donnell cost real conservatives senate seats. Say what you will... but Rove was right. Don't hate the messenger.

Tea Party, Shmea Party. Post-election surveys suggest that Mitt Romney still leads as the favored Republican presidential candidate for 2012. His lead looks especially big in New Hampshire: Almost 30 points. Does this big lead translate into a smooth ride to the nomination? That depends on whether Romney's campaign follows the path of George W. Bush's in 2000 — or Hillary Clinton's in 2008. Here's the happy scenario for Romney: Like Bush in 2000, Romney is the Republican heir apparent in 2012. Like Bush, Romney has the backing of the party's biggest donors. Like Bush, Romney has national campaign experience....

(VIDEO AT LINK) Former Governor Mitt Romney has kept a high profile throughout the midterm election season endorsing and fundraising for GOP candidates, an effort that some analysts say has established his position as frontrunner for Republican nomination in 2012. Romney hasn’t escaped President Obama’s attention – and in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview last night, Obama compared his health care plan to Romney’s and practically announced Romney’s candidacy. Obama weighed the political costs of health care reform and said Republicans didn’t cooperate as much as he had hoped they would. “We thought that if we shaped a bill that...

DAYTON, OHIO - Mitt Romney ambled through the exhibits at the InfoTech 2010 conference here the other day, shaking hands, posing for photos, sneaking an occasional chocolate turtle and, ever the salesman, promoting the candidacy of yet another Republican candidate. On this trip, he was stumping for Rob Portman, the Republican Senate candidate who is heavily favored to win his race Tuesday. Romney was self-effacing as he moved along the rows of exhibits. "This is Rob Portman, he's running for Senate," he said as he introduced the former congressman to a group at one exhibit. "I'd love for you to...

George Martin has got to be still kicking himself today. Not because of his exceptional Bakersfield Business Conference: I am not aware of any event that compares to what George has been able to create. I am referring to him getting caught up in the moment and introducing Sarah Palin as "the next president of the United States." Come on! I always look forward to the Republican love fest that we call a business conference. It is the only time that I hear so much rational thought about how to clean up the mess in our state and federal governments....