Free Republic

Republican strategist Ed Rollins on Monday downplayed the latest surge in rumors that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will jump into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, and instead argued in favor of another possible candidate. Christie “ought to stay running New Jersey,” Rollins said on Fox News’ “Kilmeade and Friends” radio show. “If I were advising him, I would tell him not to think about [a presidential bid],” Rollins said. “I can’t imagine Gov. Christie spending the next four or five months in the winters of Iowa, traipsing to the places he’s got to go in order to...

Election '12: CNN's John King dumbed down the GOP debate with his "deep dish or thin crust?" questions. Now, Fox News' Chris Wallace asks Michele Bachmann, "Are you a flake?" What she is is a heavyweight. How should a presidential candidate handle a snide, moronic question completely removed from the issues of the day? If you're Rep. Bachmann, you let the facts expose the questioner's stupidity. "I'm not only a lawyer," she told Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "I have a post-doctorate degree in federal tax law from William and Mary. I've worked in serious scholarship and worked in the...

WASHINGTON, DC – A new Iowa poll, which shows the most recent leanings of likely Republican voters in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, has Michele Bachmann in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney. This morning Bachmann appeared on Chris Wallace’s Fox News Sunday and was asked “Are you a flake?” Was Wallace simply being a tough journalist, or is Fox News’ bias in favor of Mitt Romney showing? Would Wallace ask Romney, "Are you a socialist?" in reference to Romneycare. ....Romney is well known to voters because of his 2008 presidential run. Given that he has a higher national name...

After all Sarah Palin did last year to contribute to the GOP's historical 2010 win, and all that she has gone through to shine the light on true conservative values, I am amazed how some of those on the right still disparage her. Jeff Kuhner of the Washington Times, and a fill-in host for Michael Savage, echoed leftist reporters like Susan Milligan of U.S. News and Bill Keller of the New York Times. Mrs. Palin (should she run) may be able to win the GOP nomination. The presidency, however, is a bridge too far. The media will eviscerate her. Outside...

His hire was also her first real campaign decision. If you’re not up to speed on the story, here’s what’s going on. Rep. Bachmann hired veteran Republican campaign strategist Ed Rollins to manage her campaign. Campaign managers have to carry a few qualities, among them toughness, a bit of ruthlessness, communications and fundraising savvy (and there are many qualities packed into those two qualities), and a certain ability to provide useful leadership and simultaneously blend into the background. That last is because, while they manage the campaign, the campaign isn’t about them. It’s about the candidate. But Ed Rollins tends...

Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins' response to the sharp criticisms from Sarah Palin's world just now was to "let it go." But he didn't go quietly, telling me, "I haven't lived in Washington D.C. in 15 years, and I've been taken to the woodshed by the big boys." "As far as we're concerned, it's not" an ongoing fight, he insisted. "This was my one comment, which I shouldn't have made, at the end of the day this has nothing to do with Michele, Michele's campaign, or any of the rest of it. This was my transition from being an analyst...

Via the Daily Caller and Politico, if jabs like this are already being thrown before Palin’s even in the race, how brutal will things be in six months when the two of them and Herman Cain are battling for the grassroots vote in Iowa? Good lord. It’s going to be a long, hot, nasty summer, my friends. “Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years,” Rollins told Brian Kilmeade on his radio show, Kilmeade and friends. “She got the Vice Presidential thing handed to her, she didn’t go to work in the sense of trying to gain...