Free Republic

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has now secured at least 88 of the 155 delegates at stake in the Texas Primary, bringing his secured delegate total to 1174, 30 more than necessary to win the majority of the delegated needed for the GOP nomination. With 4% of Texas precincts now reporting, Romney has consistently maintained or increased a 60 point lead over his nearest competitor, Congressman Ron Paul. In the contested race for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, David Dewhurst is holding a 48% to 31% lead over his nearest rival Ted Cruz in a nine person contest.

No link yet. I'm just seeing it on CNN. Reuters said Fox called it as well.

ATLANTA - Mitt Romney says he's a better tea party candidate than his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.The former Massachusetts governor lashed out at Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum on Wednesday, the day after losing contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.Romney says his opponents are members of a Republican Party that had lost its way. He says spending on lawmakers' pet projects doubled under Gingrich, a former House speaker. He says Santorum, a former senator, was a major proponent of that type of spending.Romney says the tea party movement was created to fight Washington insiders who spend too much...

According to the survey, which was released Monday, 28 percent of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say they support Perry as their party's presidential nominee, with Romney at 21 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is at ten percent, with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who's making his third bid for the White House, former Godfather's Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, all at seven percent. The poll indicates that Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is at four percent, with former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at three...

Her chief of staff provided the following statement to New York Magazine in response to Karl Rove: "Of all the potential candidates, Governor Palin would no doubt be the one desiring new energy and ideas…and, refreshingly, hiring advisers who aren’t entrenched in any political machine."

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...

LAYTON -- A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can become president of the United States of America, says Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush. "Absolutely," said Rove, who was in Layton on Thursday night for a stop-over to address a room full of fellow Republicans at the Davis Conference Center. While he was at it, Rove, who served as the keynote speaker for the Davis County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner, autographed copies of his book. More than 400 people attended the event at a cost of $50 per person, which...

Former Governor Mitt Romney may not have decided whether to run for president, but someone else in his household has already made the call. "My wife thinks I should run," he declared tonight in an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. "She's absolutely committed. She's saying, 'You've got to run, you've got to have somebody who understands the world of the economy, small business, who can create jobs.' She's convinced I've got to run. But I have to look more broadly and say, 'Alright, Do I have a team necessary to do this?'" Romney, continuing a whirlwind tour of television interviews...

Former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney thinks Sarah Palin would be "great" as a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. "I believe she is an extraordinarily powerful and effective voice in our party, that she has generated a great deal of support and attention, that she'd be great in a primary process," Romney said Tuesday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." "She'd bring attention to the process, and frankly, the more people we have on the stage in those debates talking about different ideas and different approaches, the better." Although he wouldn't speculate on whether he could beat her...

Sh'yeah....riiiight....

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...

Make what you will of this, but National Journal's Reid Wilson is reporting that Mitt Romney and his team are thinking about sitting out next year's Iowa caucuses: Though there is no official campaign, and no strategy decisions have been finalized, Romney’s team has considered running a very different race from the last one. After Romney spent millions of dollars and a huge chunk of time in Iowa, only to finish behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, his strategists have spoken with potential consultants about the prospect of skipping Iowa altogether this time and launching a campaign from New Hampshire....

Dearly as I esteem Ross Douthat, I thought his blogpost today on the press and Sarah Palin did not hit the nail on the head. Ross: "No politician, from Bush to Barack Obama to Nancy Pelosi, is hated so intensely by so many Americans [as Sarah Palin]. And this is what’s so problematic, to my mind, about much of the Palin coverage: The media often acts as though they’re covering her because her conservative fan base is so large (hence the endless talk about her 2012 prospects), when they’re really covering her because so many liberals are eager to hear...

Mark DeMoss, a well-connected Romney supporter, released a memo recently that touted Romney as the best candidate. More notable, however, were his swipes at other Republicans who are prospective candidates for 2012. DeMoss begins the memo, which he sent out to hundreds of major donors and pastors, outlining what he sees as needed in the upcoming campaign. He then quickly moves into listing people who "share" the same values, including Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin. At the end of the list, DeMoss states that values alone cannot win, and then proceeds to list why he believes...

Mitt Romney, the AP reports, has stepped down from the board of the Marriott hotel chain, another methodical step toward his 2012 run. His aides have told other Republicans that he expects to launch his campaign in April.

We haven't had any formal announcements from Republican candidates yet-- and it appears that we may have to wait a while from that. We've heard rumblings on who will run and it appears to be a fair share of people-- but only one can get the nomination. It would appear that non-official exploratory committees are already formed and people like Romney, Pawlenty, and others are criss-crossing the country, particularly to Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire. So let's take a look at some of the signs of the start of the 2012 Presidential Cycle: Robert Gibbs is leaving the White...

Sooner or later the bubble had to pop. Mitt Romney has had a pretty swell time of it in 2010. The former presidential contender has been ambidextrous in his political maneuvers, carefully challenging President Obama on key economic issues that play to his own strengths as a pragmatic technocrat. The success generated by his book No Apology earlier this year seemed to verify his place as the GOP’s resident wonk. The book even won praise from detractors as a thoughtful policy manifesto. As Republicans rode a wave of voter dissatisfaction towards taking back the House, Romney faithfully played the role...

Well. We've just seen, the fruits of our corrupt, lame, spineless and wimpy "Republicans" idea of how to deal with democrats: Surrender. Abject surrender. How deeply disappointing this month has been.

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...

Sarah Palin wasted little time firing back at Barbara Bush, who used an interview with Larry King early this week to express her hope that Palin will stay in Alaska. "I think the majority of Americans don't want to put up with the blue bloods," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's radio show on Wednesday. "And I say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes. The blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners." While it's true that Barbara Bush remains a well-liked figure, particularly within...