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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.

<p>Our purpose and goal on FR is to restore, defend, preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity!!</p> <p>The goal of the domestic enemy (the left), i.e., the statist liberals, Marxists and progressives is just the opposite.</p>

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...

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's lower economic growth estimates for this year and next diminish President Obama's already weakened prospects for a second term. Bernanke said Wednesday that the anemic recovery would be a lot slower than he had expected for the remainder of this year and in 2012, when Obama will be up for re-election. The Fed's two-year projections were the political equivalent of a cold shower for Obama, whose mishandling of a persistently weak economy has earned him failing grades from a large majority of the electorate. Bernanke's report that the economy is facing "head winds...

Barack Obama would easily take Nevada if he had to stand for reelection today...unless the Republicans nominated Mitt Romney. Obama has early double digit advantages against Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Sarah Palin in the state but has just a single point edge over Romney. Nevada is one of the few swing states we've polled in the last couple months where more voters approve (50%) than disapprove (46%) of Obama. Like everywhere else in the country Democrats are largely happy with him and Republicans are most unhappy- what sets apart his numbers in Nevada is his popularity with independents, 55%...

They haven’t even finished counting 2010 midterm ballots (New York’s 1st congressional district is still undecided), but already potential Republican candidates are testing the presidential waters for 2012. Among the early frontrunners will be former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Romney will have several powerful advantages: name recognition, plenty of money, a strong organization left over from 2008, and a reputation for business competence during an election in which economic issues and job creation are likely to dominate. But he will also have one enormous albatross hanging around his neck: the Massachusetts health-care program. One of the clearest lessons of the...

It's two weeks before the 2010 elections. Which means now's a fine time to start obsessing about the 2012 campaign. The next presidential race will unofficially begin on No. 3 -- the day after the midterm elections. It's possible we may not know the outcome of all the critical House and Senate races by then, and these races could determine which party controls the House and Senate. But once most of the 2010 votes are counted, the politerati will quickly pivot toward the next big thing. So let me get an early jump and tell you this: watch out for...

C’mon. Would it do any good at all? “I guarantee that, at the top of everyone’s list on how to differentiate your guy from Mitt Romney, the top of the list is health care — until and unless he takes the opportunity to say, ‘We tried, and it didn’t work. The individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare and Romneycare was wrong,’” said Bill Pascoe, a Republican strategist who wrote a post on his blog earlier this year titled “Say Goodbye to Mitt.”…An apology from Romney, or even an acknowledgement that the Massachusetts law has faults, could play into the...

The Mormon Church has launched a television ad campaign in nine test markets. The ads contain no Bible verses or doctrinal discussions ... just everyday folks talking about their everyday lives. And, oh, by the way ... they practice a faith that nearly half of Americans know little to nothing about. ... The campaign also features an interactive website with a chat room where people can talk with Mormons and watch longer versions of the featured ads. Swofford hopes that they'll be able to present 90 different ads, so viewers will see a different person each time they air. My...

No, this is not coming from Rasmussen or an internal GOP poll, but from the normally Democrat-sympathetic Public Policy Polling... With his approval numbers hitting new lows it’s no surprise that Barack Obama’s numbers in our monthly look ahead to the 2012 Presidential race are their worst ever this month. He trails Mitt Romney 46-43, Mike Huckabee 47-45, Newt Gingrich 46-45, and is even tied with Sarah Palin at 46. The only person tested he leads is Jan Brewer, who doesn’t have particularly high name recognition on the national level at this point. It’s not that any of the Republican...

1. Haley Barbour: Barbour's Republican Governors Association has become the story of the 2010 midterms. The RGA's second quarter fundraising numbers -- $19 million raised, $40 million on hand -- is an eye-popping total that should remind those who have forgotten about Barbour's reach in the GOP donor community. With Republicans poised to make significant gains at the gubernatorial level this fall, Barbour will almost certainly emerge with momentum after the November elections -- momentum that he may seek to channel into a presidential exploratory bid. 2. Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor is slowly and methodically rolling out endorsements...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee continued to insist on Sunday that he won’t make a decision on another presidential run until after this fall's midterm elections. “I haven’t closed the door. I think that would be foolish on my part, especially when poll after poll shows that there is strong sentiment out there. I end up leading a lot of the polls. I’m the Republican that clearly, at this point, does better against Obama than any other Republican,” said Huckabee, a Fox News contributor, on "Fox News Sunday.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Political careers are hanging in the balance the morning before the Utah state party conventions. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, may not be getting as big of a boost as expected from Mitt Romney, who is scheduled to introduce him at Saturday's GOP convention at the Salt Palace. Sen. Bob Bennett Bennett hopes Romney will be the wild card that draws more delegates to his side. But a Dan Jones & Associates poll for KSL TV and the Deseret News shows Romney isn't as popular with delegates as he is with the general population. Seventy-six percent of...

I asked Gov. Romney if I could ask him a question. After he told me that this was OK, I posed the following question to him: “You have stated your intention to spearhead the effort to repeal the ‘worst aspects’ of Obamacare, does this include the repeal of the individual mandate and pre-existing exclusion?” The Governor’s answer: “No.” Gov. Romney went on to explain that he does not wish to repeal these aspects because of the deleterious effect it would have on those with pre-existing conditions in obtaining health insurance.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) have both now confirmed that they will not attend the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC), which is taking place April 8-11 in New Orleans. Their absence is notable in the sense that they are the two who have been most noticeably planning for a run in 2012 and this is a chance to speak to a major group of conservative activists. Pawlenty had been scheduled to attend and was even advertised on the website as a featured speaker. The Minnesota Governor has pulled out however to attend the...

From his Free and Strong America PAC this morning: Today, Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC announced a new donation program, dubbed “Prescription for Repeal,” to support conservative candidates who will repeal the worst aspects of Obamacare and restore commonsense principles to health care. The first wave of endorsements goes to three conservative leaders in key Ohio Congressional Districts. The PAC will send each of the endorsed candidates a primary election contribution of $2,500. They are:

He was on the "Today" show yesterday and sat with the ladies on "The View" this morning. Over the course of the next two months he'll be pretty much everywhere. Mitt Romney's new book "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness" was released yesterday and you might as well get used to seeing him in the headlines again. His 19-state book tour guarantees a certain amount of media coverage. But early readers of Romney's book suggest that there's no chance that "No Apology" will generate the hot-cake-like sales of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue." The Boston Herald points out that "No...

<p>In the category of it’s never too early to start looking, a new poll found Mitt Romney is the early favorite in Texas for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.</p> <p>The survey by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina found Romney leading with 32 percent support, followed by Mike Huckabee at 29 percent and 23 percent for Sarah Palin.</p>