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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee predicted Sunday that Mitt Romney will win the Iowa caucuses despite not having spent much time or money there. Huckabee, 56, made the prediction in an appearance on "FOX News Sunday," but warned Ron Paul could still pose a serious challenge to the former Massachusetts governor. "I would probably say that Mitt Romney will end up winning it today," Huckabee told host Chris Wallace. "Now, I think, again, Ron Paul, because of his organization, that is where Mitt is at a disadvantage. He doesn't have the devotion," he went on. "If the weather is good,...

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) — For "Anybody but Romney" Republicans in a key conservative region of Ohio, Newt Gingrich has been picking up support as an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. The former House speaker has moved to the top in recent polling in Ohio, just as Republican presidential candidates prepare for the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, followed closely by the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Ohio's presidential primary is scheduled for March 6, one of the biggest prizes for Republicans among about a dozen states voting on "Super Tuesday." Mitt Romney hasn't excited some of the...

LANCASTER, N.H. – Mitt Romney today said that the $40 many Americans would lose if the payroll tax holiday isn’t extended would make a “very substantial difference” to those who would be without it. “It’ll be the difference between having a meal that includes meat or just Hamburger Helper,” said Romney in an interview with ABC News’ John Berman aboard his new campaign bus in northern New Hampshire. “It could be the difference between being able to take your family to McDonald’s at the end of the week. It means the difference between being able to go to a movie...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Former Massachusetts governor and leading GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has refused to sign a pro-life pledge by the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List, inviting a rash of criticism from more overtly pro-life candidates. The pledge asked candidates to promise to nominate conservative federal judges and appoint only pro-life persons to “relevant Cabinet and Executive Branch” positions. SBA List also called upon the candidates to promise to advance government-wide Hyde amendment legislation and a federal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and to “defund Planned Parenthood and all other contractors and recipients of federal...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's (R) campaign honeymoon appears to have ended, as other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination begin voicing open criticism of Romney. Romney, by virtue of his status as the putative frontrunner in the race, is now facing increasingly vocal criticism from his competitors, criticism that had otherwise been muted or nonexistent so far in the campaign. The attacks suggest that the campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination hasn't just begun, but has advanced to the point where candidates have started to throw elbows in order to jockey for position with primary voters. There was no...

"Um, let me tell you in my view it is not a good idea to go into a contract like was organized by the Republican party in Washington laying out a whole series of things which the party said these are the things we are gonna do. I think that's a mistake. I think instead that if you wanna get something done in Washington you don't end up picking teams with Republicans on one side snd Democrats on the other entering into a contract and saying ok were all gonna do this and if course then that works then the...

Mitt Romney did a good job at Monday night’s Republican presidential debate. But not that good. The former Massachusetts governor used his previous presidential campaign experience to come across as polished and presidential in the debate. It helped that his opponents refused to go after him, preferring instead to play nice and criticize President Obama. It’s a lot easier to win a contest when the other side isn’t playing too hard. But Romney apparently let his good night go to his head. Like a smart candidate, Romney stayed in New Hampshire and did some retail campaigning on Tuesday. In the...

"Despite my affiliation with the Republican Party, I don't think of myself as highly partisan." -- Mitt Romney in his book No Apology And there it was again. Front and center in last night's CNN New Hampshire debate with Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney twice -- not once but twice -- illustrated his problem as a presidential candidate and potential Republican president in the post-Reagan era. Midway into the debate Romney answered a question on how to deal with the issue of raising the debt limit by saying that as president he would concentrate on "reining in...

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney has a message to Tea Party candidates nationwide: If you lose your Republican primary bids, stay on the sidelines. The former Massachusetts governor on Monday warned the grassroots movement not to mount third party efforts in general elections, which he said would siphon votes from Republican nominees. "If there is a conservative candidate that runs in the general election, then obviously, divide and fail is the result," Romney said in an interview with the conservative Web site Newsmax. "Hopefully Tea Party candidates will run in respective primaries and they will either win or lose. And...

I believe that Palin's appearance in Boston and New Hampshire today, combined with what she said, has revealed her strategy to win the nomination. I predict that Palin will pretty much leave Ron Raul, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich alone. Her attacks on other candidates' positions will be attacks on Romney 90+% of the time. The reason is very simple. In a two man race, if one of the candidates is Romney, the other one wins. Oh, Romney will win the Boston bedroom communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and a couple of Mormon...

When the news reached the Press Gallery in the Capitol that Sarah Palin was going to be starting a bus tour in Washington, D.C. on Sunday - maybe an indication that she was about to get into the Presidential hunt - you could feel a bit more excitement creeping into the 2012 race for the White House. And when word came later that Mitt Romney will make his bid official next week, the contours of the Republican nomination battle seemed to be getting clearer and clearer by the minute. "This Sunday, May 29th, Governor Palin and the SarahPAC team will...

Gee, I never saw this coming…but I’ll try to contain my excitement: A Romney spokesperson tells (sic) former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will formally announce his candidacy for president Thursday, June 2, in New Hampshire. CNN calls this ”breaking” news. Really, CNN? Is there anyone on the planet who doesn’t know that the Mittster is running for president, and has been since about January 2003? Interesting timing on the announcement from Team Mitt, though. Why now? Somehow I doubt today’s date was on his latest Power Point diagram. Is there, um, anything that’s happened in the past couple days that...

After spending the day in Chicago fundraising, Mitt Romney sat down with small business owners at Gino's East, a pizza joint famous for their deep-dish pizza. Not wanting any of the leftover slices to go to waste, Romney sent the remaining pies to where else but President Obama's Chicago reelection headquarters. Asked if the pies actually made it to Obama's HQ, a campaign source said that they had. In fact, Romney himself tweeted a photo of a delivery boy heading out with the loot, writing, "Great deep dish at @ginoseast. Sending the extra slices to @barackobama and his Chicago HQ...

Romney to announce in New Hampshire next Thursday.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Mitt Romney (17%) and Sarah Palin (15%) now lead a smaller field of potential Republican presidential candidates in rank-and-file Republicans' preferences for the party's 2012 nominee. Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain essentially tie for third, with Cain registering 8% support in his initial inclusion in Gallup "trial heat" polling. Notably, 22% of Republicans do not have a preference at this point. The May 20-24 poll is the first update of Republican nomination preferences after a recent flurry of activity in the race for the 2012 nomination, with several formally declaring their presidential candidacies, including Paul,...

The only Mormon in the South Carolina legislature is Alan Clemmons, a real estate lawyer from Myrtle Beach with a shiny bald head, natty suits, and a hyperactive Twitter feed. -SNIP- Mormons make up about 2 percent of the U.S population, but they’re closer to 30 percent of the Republican presidential primary field, where two clean-cut, handsome, moderate, millionaire former governors — Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — appear to be seeking the nomination. -SNIP- “This year will be very much like my election,” Gov. Nikki Haley told POLITICO. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female or...

PITTSBURGH—Mitt Romney’s pre-recorded video greeting for the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting received a lukewarm response here Friday, a reminder of his weakness on an issue important to the Republican base that at times dogged his 2008 campaign. (...) “I’m sorry I can’t be with you today in Pittsburgh, but I wanted to wish the National Rifle Association my congratulations (on) 140 years of defending our basic Constitutional rights,” he said in a two-minute video message. “Way to go!” Unlike tea party favorite Michele Bachmann, who also sent a pre-recorded video message, his two-minute spiel was not interrupted by applause....

Governor Mitt Romney has signed into law a permanent assault weapons ban that he says will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on these guns. Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts, Romney said, at a bill signing ceremony on July 1 with legislators, sportsmen's groups and gun safety advocates. These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people. Like the federal assault weapons ban, the state ban, put in place in 1998, was scheduled to expire in September. The new...