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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is also a presumptive candidate for President in the 2012 election, which was a topic of conversation on The Tonight Show last night. Host Jay Leno opened the light, if not somewhat boring interview with questions about a potential White House bid, to which Romney replied, “If you ever see me sign up for a gig on Fox News, it’ll be a clear indication that I’ve decided to run for president,” adding “that’s not in the cards anytime soon, thanks.” It was a gentle yet pointed dig at the cable news channel who includes on...

Tea Party, Shmea Party. Post-election surveys suggest that Mitt Romney still leads as the favored Republican presidential candidate for 2012. His lead looks especially big in New Hampshire: Almost 30 points. Does this big lead translate into a smooth ride to the nomination? That depends on whether Romney's campaign follows the path of George W. Bush's in 2000 — or Hillary Clinton's in 2008. Here's the happy scenario for Romney: Like Bush in 2000, Romney is the Republican heir apparent in 2012. Like Bush, Romney has the backing of the party's biggest donors. Like Bush, Romney has national campaign experience....

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...

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney and his strategists expected his Mormon faith to fade as an issue for fundamentalist Christians during his first presidential campaign. This time around, should he choose to run again, they have doubts. ...But even as the national Republican establishment warms to Romney as never before, the former candidate and his closest aides now believe a group of voters will always be off-limits because of his religion. SNIP In Iowa, three-fifths of caucus-goers considered themselves “born-again or evangelical Christian,’’ according to a survey, taken for a media consortium as voters entered the caucuses. SNIP More than one-third...

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Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) held a fundraiser in Manhattan last week and outperformed Pres. Obama's own cash grab a day later on behalf of the DCCC, another sign of trouble brewing for Dems this cycle in all corners of the country. Romney headlined an event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on May 12 that raised $1.5M for his Free and Strong America PAC. By contrast, Obama's appearance at the St. Regis Hotel on May 13 raked in a lesser $1.3 million for the DCCC.

Mitt Romney has been the frontrunner for several months but Sarah Palin has been steadily climbing and closing the gap. It is essentially dead even, as of today, but for the first time she has a small lead and it is expected she will pull ahead. Intrade represents a type of stock market which trades in predictions regarding outcomes of future events. If you believe that Sarah Palin will be the Republican nominee in 2012, you can purchase a "contract" for the prevailing price, currently 25.8. Romney is currently 26.0. This price is determined by the contact traders themselves (anyone...

The race to win the GOP presidential nomination – is gearing up. It, too, has a large field, but this race is a marathon that takes four years to complete. Now, the time has come to begin handicapping the 2012 primary race. This list represents a snapshot of a moment in time, with fluid odds and a constantly changing field. Keep in mind that if this list were compiled a year ago, Mark Sanford's name would have been included – and possibly John Ensign as well. But that's horse-racing. Just ask the owners of Eskendereya, the consensus favorite to win...

Truth in advertising: I've been an off and on, Mitt Romney supporter. By and large, off. But I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Mitt deserves a second look.

Conservative superstar Sarah Palin opened the door today to joining forces with Mitt Romney for a 2012 White House run - a hot ticket that has some Republicans licking their chops at the prospect of unseating President Obama. “Sounds pretty good,” Palin declared at today’s Tea Party Express rally on the Common when asked about pairing up with the former Bay State governor - giving the idea a big thumbs-up as she left the stage after her headline speech. Earlier tonight, as Palin stopped for cannoli at Mike’s Pastry in the North End, she said she was “serious” about the...

Mitt Romney: 439 votes Ron Paul: 438 votes Sarah Palin: 330 votes Newt Gingrich: 321

The Southern Republican Leadership Conference Straw Poll doesn't carry a whole lot of weight, since it's skewed — like most of these things — by the makeup of the crowd, the intensity of Ron Paul's supporters and the ease of gaming the vote. That doesn't mean, however, that the various camps aren't trying to game it. One of the organizers told me that two groups, Paul's Campaign for Liberty and Evangelicals for Mitt (which denies ties to Romney) have purchased blocks of tickets to the event, typically given to supporters.

NEW ORLEANS -- I just wrote about "Evangelicals for Mitt," a group of evangelical supporters of Mitt Romney who are pressing people to support Romney at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll. Afterward, I spoke to a young female delegate who said she planned to vote for Romney in the poll. I asked her how she had ended up at the conference. She said "Evangelicals for Mitt" had contacted her and offered to pay for her to have a limited-access ticket -- so long as she agreed to vote for Romney in the straw poll. Asked how "Evangelicals for...

DES MOINES — There was no doubt about the sentiments of many of those at author Mitt Romney’s book-signing at the Des Moines Public Library Monday. “I’d be interested if he ran” for president again, Scott Newland of Des Moines said as he thumbed through Romney’s “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.” Among those waving Romney campaign-like signs and wearing Romney t-shirts, Shirley Woodruff was more direct about wanting to see the former Massachusetts governor make another run for the Republican nomination. “He’s at least honest,” she said, displaying a photo of herself and Romney’s wife, Ann. “He has...

Why the former Massachusetts governor should run health care reform. As I see it, there are three principal requirements for the job. The first is experience in management, business, and organization: maybe someone who's worked as a management consultant, an entrepreneur, and an executive in both the public and private sectors. The second is the ability and capacity to commit: someone who isn't likely to have any pressing obligations for the next several years, and who has enough cash that he or she doesn't need a large private-sector salary. Third is relevant experience in implementing a large-scale health-care reform program,...

Believe it or not, this may end up being Romney’s best argument in the primaries. Electability, pure and simple. Sure, he’ll do what he can to salve the wound that RomneyCare has left on his campaign, but that scar will be with him forever now. The difference in places like New Hampshire and Florida won’t be his posturing about repealing O-Care; potentially, it’ll be the fact that Mitt, perhaps alone among major Republican figures, stands a chance at beating The One. People will shudder at me saying that since that was also the argument for McCain, but the landscape in...

America has just witnessed an unconscionable abuse of power. President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation — rather than bringing us together, ushering in a new kind of politics, and rising above raw partisanship, he has succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends. He promised better; we deserved better.

The Massachusetts treasurer said Tuesday that Congress will “threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years” if it adopts a health-care overhaul modeled after the Bay State’s. Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill – a former Democrat running as an independent for governor – said the local plan enacted in 2006 has succeeded only because of huge subsidies and favorable regulatory changes from the federal government. ..................................................... He also gave reporters a copy of a recent state ledger sheet, showing the state’s Medicaid program ballooning from $7.5 billion to a projected $9.2 billion since the plan was adopted. Meanwhile, of...

SALT LAKE CITY — Mitt Romney brought his book tour Saturday back to the city where he led the 2002 Winter Olympics, telling an enthusiastic audience he could decide by Christmas whether to run again for president. "That's not a decision we've made at this point," Romney told a 12-year-old boy from Bluffdale who said he was "asking a question that a lot of people are wondering and that's, 'Are you going to run for president?' " The cheers the question received were among the loudest during Romney's hour-long appearance at the Salt Palace as part of his national tour for...

t’s page 258 – and suddenly we are back in Campaign Mode. The transition is very abrupt. On pages 256, Romney is describing an interesting program he advocated in Massachusetts: “a Parental Preparation Program for every underperforming school district. In order for parents in these districts to enroll their children in public school, the parents would have been required to attend classes themselves, where they would learn about the value of education as well as ways in which they could support their children’s educational experience.” On p. 257, a funny story about Romney’s business career, about his unsuccessful attempt to...