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Erick Erickson was out of patience, tired of reading about Mitt Romney as a paragon of conservative virtue, tired of hearing the callers to his Atlanta radio show praise Romney’s record. The founder of the red-meat blog RedState.com sat down last fall in his Macon home, beside a towering painting of Abraham Lincoln, and banged out an epic rant. Romney was “unprincipled,” he wrote, and yet certain to win the Republican presidential nomination—an outcome that would cause “the destruction of the conservative movement as we know it.” Time has not softened Erickson’s stance. The onetime Presbyterian church deacon turned CNN...

Rick Santorum’s front-runner status in the GOP presidential race is predicated on the idea that he is the consistent conservative alternative in the field. And that image had some serious holes poked in it at Wednesday’s debate in Arizona. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul tag-teamed the former Pennsylvania senator much of the night, calling into question his conservatism on issues ranging from earmarks and fiscal policy to his endorsements and even what is often considered Santorum’s most solidly conservative credential — social issues.

Kentucky’s junior senator says it would be an honor to be considered as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Senator Rand Paul first discussed his higher aspirations at the beginning of this year. He said he wouldn’t close the door on being a Vice Presidential candidate. After a speech in Louisville today, Paul held that door firmly open, saying he wants to be part of the national debate. Paul’s name has swirled as a possible pick that would give Romney points with the Tea Party. When asked directly what he would say if Romney made the...

On Wednesday, Chuck Todd, NBC News’ political director and host of MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown,” rhetorically asked: “Just what has Romney promised Ron Paul.”Nobody knows if some sort of bargain has been made, but it is interesting that Rep. Ron Paul has never really attacked Mitt Romney, yet he has frequently attacked more conservative candidates at just the moment they were beginning to pose a threat to Romney. (For example, consider his latest ad, attacking Rick Santorum.)The timing has been noticeable.Now, a Kentucky media outlet, WFPL News, might be offering us a clue: Kentucky’s junior senator says it would be...

Mitt Romney on Thursday denied that he has entered into talks with Ron Paul's campaign to secure his delegates in case the former Massachusetts governor falls short of the 1,144 needed to clinch the GOP nomination. While Romney remains the strong favorite to win the nomination outright, the proportional assignment of delegates in coming primary contests means that the he could fall short of the 1,144 threshold. In that case, signals from Paul to his delegates to support Romney could become crucial for whipping enough votes at the convention. Reports Thursday suggested that Paul and Romney had been discussing that...

RENO, NEV. — The remaining candidates in the winnowed Republican presidential field are attacking one another with abandon, each day bringing fresh headlines of accusations and outrage. But Mitt Romney and Ron Paul haven’t laid a hand on each other.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "We've gotta get out of all these foreign wars. There's so many foreign wars. We've just got wars." I'm gonna tell you something, folks. I could literally shoot myself. Anyway, great to have you here, Rush Limbaugh and the EIB Network and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies; 800-282-2882 is the e-mail, the phone number. E-mail is ElRushbo@eibnet.com. Folks, I want to read to you an e-mail that I sent to some friends dated January 13th. Something took place on that day that caused me to have an epiphany. And I kept it to myself. When...

Running mates? Santorum campaign says Mitt Romney 'has done deal with Ron Paul' By Toby Harnden Last updated at 9:05 AM on 23rd February 2012 After Wednesday's GOP debate, in which Ron Paul and Mitt Romney repeatedly attacked Rick Santorum over his 16-year record in Congress, the former Pennsylvania hinted that something nefarious was going on. 'You have to ask Congressman Paul and Governor Romney what they've got going together,' Santorum told reporters in the spin room in Mesa, Arizona. 'Their commercials look a lot alike and so do their attacks.' Santorum's top strategist John Brabender went even further, charging...

Chris Christie has resisted every temptation to run for president, but he’s no longer sure he’d be able to resist the temptation to join the GOP ticket as the vice presidential nominee. If Mitt Romney asked, he just might say yes, he said yesterday. Christian Heinze of the website GOP12 notes that Christie, the popular sharp-tongued Republican who endorsed Mitt Romney’s candidacy for president, is now singing a different tune when asked about being on the GOP ticket in 2012.“If Gov. Romney were to come and talk to me about it, I would listen because I love my party enough...

On Saturday, March 3, Romney stood with Santorum and Gingrich on the floor of a shuttered DHL warehouse in Wilmington, Ohio, ....The three candidates discussed the nominating process. Romney raised the possibility of an unvetted candidate getting into the race and spoke of the perils such a scenario presented for the party. Not surprisingly, the other two assented and each agreed that he would reserve his support for someone now in the race. R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for Gingrich, said the consensus that emerged from the conversation was that the Republican nominee was among “the four of us” and not...

(CNN) - If Mitt Romney becomes the Republican presidential nominee, rival Rick Santorum would not rule out the idea of becoming his running mate, the former Pennsylvania senator said in an interview on Monday. Asked by the Christian Broadcasting Network if he would consider a vice presidential offer, Santorum said he would do everything he could to help the country. "Of course. I mean, look. I would do in this race as I always say, this is the most important race in our country's history. I'm going to do everything I can. I'm doing everything I can."

With his chances of gaining the GOP nomination slipping, Rick Santorum said on Monday that, if asked, he would consider an offer to be Mitt Romney’s running mate in the fall general election. The former senator from Pennsylvania responded “of course,” when David Brody asked him the question during an interview for the Christian Broadcasting Network.

See my old post that I made back in June 2011 before Santorum gained traction and back when Herman Cain and others were still in the race. Now Santorum has himself admitted that he is willing to be Romney's VP candidate. Those who disagreed with me do not understand politics. Rhetoric about homosexuality and abortion is for garnering votes and meant to divert attention from fiscal issues. The TEA Party was about fiscal issues. If it was about all other issues, the 2010 election would have been no different from previous elections. Santorum and Romney are both part of the...

...Romney said, “If they are 45 years old and they show up and say I want insurance because I have heart disease, it’s like, hey guys. We can’t play the game like that. You’ve got to get insurance when you are well and then if you get ill, you are going to be covered.”

PRINCETON, NJ -- A little more than one-third of Republicans say they would vote "enthusiastically" for either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum if either candidate were to win their party's nomination for president. Slightly fewer say they would vote enthusiastically for Newt Gingrich. This level of enthusiasm is similar to Republicans' feelings about voting for Romney in early 2008, but lower than the enthusiasm level for that year's eventual GOP nominee, John McCain. See all election 2012 data > These data are from a Gallup poll conducted March 8-11, 2012. The 35% of Republicans who at this point say they...

September 3, 2008 Interview with TPMtv - Santorum says that the GOP has moved away from the Goldwater, "small government" ideas. The full interview can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3uqZSih_wYU

Rick Santorum's latest attempt to use a Mitt Romney aide's "Etch-A-Sketch" remark against the Republican front-runner instead gave his rival a chance to fire back on Thursday, after Santorum seemed to say he'd rather see President Obama reelected than send Romney to the White House. Speaking at an event in Texas, Santorum again made the case that Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom's comments Wednesday on CNN about a "reset" of the campaign if Romney clinched the nomination showed the former Massachusetts governor's efforts to appeal to conservatives were insincere. "You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision...

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday said Republicans should give President Barack Obama another term if Santorum isn't the GOP nominee and for a second day compared rival Mitt Romney to an Etch A Sketch toy. Santorum reiterated an argument he has made before: The former Massachusetts governor is not conservative enough to offer voters a clear choice in the fall election and that only he can provide that contrast. "You win by giving people a choice," Santorum said during a campaign stop in Texas....

A super PAC supporting former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has used an out-of-context quote from Rick Santorum to argue that the former Pennsylvania senator is irresponsible on economics. The new Restore Our Future spot, called “Care,” ties Santorum saying he doesn’t “care” about the unemployment rate to his spending votes in the Senate.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is attacking rival Rick Santorum as a friend of "big labor" as they campaign in Wisconsin, where a fight over labor unions is fueling a bitter recall effort aimed at Gov. Scott Walker. Santorum, in turn, is aligning himself with the embattled Republican governor, a play for a party base that he hopes will carry him to victory in the GOP presidential primary on Tuesday. "As you know the fight against big labor led by Gov. Walker isn't over, here in Wisconsin," a voice says in an automated Romney telephone call. "I was shocked to...