Free Republic

In another sign that Republicans are uniting behind Mitt Romney with an eye to November, Rick Santorum's national campaign manager has signed on as Romney's deputy national director of coalitions. The Union Leader reports today that the Romney camp reached out to New Hampshire-based activist Mike Biundo not long after Santorum left the race for a post that will involve coalition-building with key conservative coalitions such as "tea party activists, evangelicals, the pro-life community and the Second Amendment community." Santorum has yet to formally endorse Romney, and his camp has been careful to note that a scheduled May 4 meeting...

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are likely to meet in early May to discuss a Santorum endorsement, his role as a Romney surrogate and conservative policy issues, CNN has learned. John Brabender, a senior strategist for the Santorum campaign, told CNN that Santorum's goal is to have a policy-oriented session in which he tries to find a "comfort level" about the role "social conservatives, tea party activists and blue collar Republicans will play in the campaign and in the Romney administration." Even so, he said, "we are not walking in there with a litmus test. This is meant to be...

Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Monday sounded no closer to endorsing Mitt Romney than when he dropped out of the race last week, telling supporters on a conference call that he hasn’t even had a chance to speak to his onetime rival. Santorum said he has talked with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “I haven't had a chance yet to talk to Governor Romney, but we'll be talking to both of them and we’re going to go out and do what we believe is in the best interest of our country,” Santorum said in the call, which had at...