Free Republic

In state after state, evangelicals have sent Mitt Romney a clear message: We’re just not that into you. Some evangelicals do pull the lever for Romney. But consistently there is a wide gap between Romney’s support among evangelicals and his support among other groups. On average, there is a 19-point difference between Romney’s support among non-evangelicals and his support among evangelicals in Republican primaries, according to ABC News’s survey of primary states with exit- or entrance-polling data available. That’s a sizeable gap — and one that has complicated Romney’s path to the nomination. Evangelical leaders are dismissive of the notion...

Americans, from sea to shining sea, are hurting and confused. We are told, daily, that everything is getting better. America's best days are still in her future. The overwhelming evidence (continually declining home prices, escalating unemployment figures, massive cuts in defense as our enemies strengthen, etc.) point in the opposite direction. What are we to believe? Several politicians, who are all fine speakers, are running for the presidency. I fear that, metaphorically, our nation has hit a massive iceberg and has an irreparable rip from bow to stern. Like the RMS Titanic, we're going down. We don't need excellent orators;...

Over at Hot Air, Wolf Howling penned a comment that perfectly sums up my feelings about the Florida primary. I’ve spent the last few weeks watching Romney run the most intellectually dishonest campaign against Gingrich that I could imagine. Romney isn’t making the case that he has a better conservative pedigree, nor that his vision for America is superior or more conservative than Gingrich’s. He spent 17 million doing nothing but trying to delegitimize and demonize Gingrich with gross distortions of history. I haven’t seen anything like this since what the left did to Sarah Palin. And the last time...

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - At his third and final stop of a one-day swing through the state of Iowa, Mitt Romney did his best to keep the focus on the economy, but ended up addressing both his faith and President Obama's role in bringing down Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi. Asked by reporters as he was leaving the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce whether the president deserves some credit for the death of the ousted Libyan leader, Romney said: "Yes. Yes, absolutely." At an earlier town hall in Sioux City, Romney expressed satisfaction at Qaddafi's demise. "I think it's about time....

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has publicly distanced himself from the anti-Mormon rhetoric of a prominent Baptist minister who has endorsed his presidential campaign. But new evidence suggests that Perry’s team may be quietly advancing the notion that Mitt Romney’s faith should disqualify him from the White House. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has publicly distanced himself from the anti-Mormon rhetoric of a prominent Baptist minister who has endorsed his presidential campaign. But new evidence suggests that Perry’s team may be quietly advancing the notion that Mitt Romney’s faith should disqualify him from the White House. Lane responded the next day with...

In the days before the Values Voter Summit in Washington, aides to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney grew concerned about a speaker scheduled to appear shortly after Romney's speech on Saturday morning. Before such events, campaign aides routinely check who will be speaking before and after Romney; it's normal due diligence to know if there are any speakers who might be sources of controversy. [snip] That's when what had begun as an issue of concern over a variety of intolerant remarks turned into a Mormon issue. Seeing Jeffress' words, Bennett decided to include a passage in his speech addressing the...