Free Republic

Just before Thanksgiving last year, a group of former aides to Mitt Romney convened at his salmon-colored Belmont home, many of them gathering for the first time since Romney had disbanded his presidential campaign some nine months before. Romney had invited them for a post-mortem of the election weeks earlier, the type of dispassionate assessment that the Harvard Business School alumnus so enjoyed. But over cookies, they found few of the metrics for success that Romney prized -- Republicans had been decisively thumped at all levels -- and his attention shifted from 2008 to the future.

Likely 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney is publishing a book. The Republican former governor of Massachusetts has signed a deal with St. Martin’s Press to put the book out next March, The New York Times reports. The work will be titled “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness” and is currently set for 304 pages. It will read like a campaign platform, including Romney’s take on the economy, military and families, jobs, education, health care, energy and citizenship, The Times reports. St. Martin’s hasn’t revealed how much Romney will be paid. Perhaps Romney was trying to match former Alaska Gov....

Former – and perhaps future – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants to make one thing clear, he’s not sniping at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, another likely presidential candidate. Earlier this month when Romney and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., were interviewed on CNN, they were asked about radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Palin’s inclusion in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people. Romney quipped, “Was that the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people? I'm not sure. If it's the most beautiful, I understand. We're not real cute.” Some pundits took that...