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Outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was too focused on the Republican Party base to win national office. Hogan said, “The party has been focused on firing up the base, and they have done a terrible job at reaching swing voters in the middle.” Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is often cited by conservative Republicans as somebody they might want to see run for president. You’ve called him an important voice, one of the important voices for the party. Do you think he would be good at...

With Pennsylvania’s county election administrators continuing to chew through mail-in and absentee ballots Thursday, the front-runners in the nearly deadlocked Republican U.S. Senate primary offered both argued that their paths to victory remained wide open. That case seemed a little bit easier for Dr. Mehmet Oz’s team Thursday night, as the cardiac surgeon-turned-daytime television superstar still held a 1,123 vote lead over former Wall Street executive David McCormick. As of presstime for this story, that broke down as follows: Oz, 417,719, or 31.2 percent; McCormick 416,596, or 31.1 percent. That’s with an estimated 98.6 percent of the vote in, according...

(CBS News) With pressure building on Mitt Romney to release more of his past tax returns, Ron Paul on Tuesday added his voice to the chorus of people - including some Republicans - who say Romney should just bite the bullet and release the returns, according to Politico. "Politically, I think that would help him," said Paul, Romney's former Republican presidential rival, in an interview with Politico. "In the scheme of things politically, you know, it looks like releasing tax returns is what the people want." Democrats and the Obama campaign have relentlessly hammered Romney in recent days for his...

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...

GOP regulars claim the "electability argument" will deliver the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. They say things like, "Mitt Romney can win the general election by appealing to the middle. Rick Perry can't win in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Milwaukee." Simple enough -- but wrong. Romney's no stronger on this front than Perry, the frontrunner in the polls. The core reasons: Perry's support among the party's base, and his strength on the key issues of the economy and job creation. Based on what we know today, next November's election will be decided on the economy and as a referendum...

BOSTON (AP) -- A day after they clashed at a GOP presidential debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry told conservatives in rival Mitt Romney's home state that their former governor sounds like a liberal. And without naming him directly, Perry said Romney has changed his position on Social Security. "Other candidates in this race have used words like `fraud' and compared it to a criminal enterprise," Perry said, referencing language Romney used in his book to discuss issues involving Social Security. "Under the media spotlight, they change their tune and they start sounding like liberals." Perry made the comments at a...

Republican presidential contender Rep. Ron Paul had some tough words for his Republican opponent Texas Governor Rick Perry, calling him “candidate of the week” and said his poll numbers would fall once voters get to know him better. “He was the one saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’m all for secession,’ and that kind of talk,” Paul told the Associated Press referring to a 2009 interview in which Perry said there was no reason for Texas to secede from the union, but suggested it was a possibility if Washington political leaders continued to “thumb their nose at the American people.” “The only...

With Rick Perry proving to be a serious threat to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, the former Massachusetts governor swung through Tampa Friday to exploit what some Republican see as Perry’s Achilles heal: immigration. "We must stop providing the incentives that promote illegal immigration,’’ Romney told more than 100 people attending a Republican Hispanic conference in Tampa. " As governor, I vetoed legislation that would have provided in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and I strengthened the authority our state troopers had to enforce existing immigration laws." Romney, 64, never mentioned by name the Texas governor, who leads Romney in most...

When Republican Steve Poizner ran against Ira Ruskin in a heavily Democratic state Assembly district in 2004, Poizner assured voters he was against the war in Iraq, was 100 percent pro-choice and would stand up to "Republican Party bosses.'' But six years after narrowly losing that Peninsula race to the liberal Ruskin, Poizner — who now wants to be governor — is painting himself as the only "true conservative'' in the GOP primary. As California Republicans head to Santa Clara this week for their spring convention, Poizner's new battle plan puts him in a unique position among the three gubernatorial...

ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK AIR — Sen. John McCain on Wednesday blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare and abusing executive powers, leveling his strongest criticism to date of an administration whose unpopularity may be dragging the Republican Party to the brink of a massive electoral defeat. "We just let things get completely out of hand," he said of his own party's rule in the past eight years. In an interview with The Washington Times, Mr. McCain lashed out at a litany of Bush policies and issues that he...

The judiciary is becoming an important election issue. John McCain is warning conservatives that control of today's finely balanced Supreme Court depends on his election. Unfortunately, his jurisprudence is likely to be anything but conservative. The idea of a "living Constitution" long has been popular on the political left. Conservatives routinely dismiss such result-oriented justice, denouncing "judicial activism" and proclaiming their fidelity to "original intent." However, many Republicans, like Mr. McCain, are just as result-oriented as their Democratic opponents. They only disagree over the result desired. Judge-made rights are wrong because there is no constitutional warrant behind them. The Constitution...

Romney's visit in South Carolina had a not so surprising McCain/Anti-mormon moment.

Pundits who have written off Rudy Giuliani are nuts. As he explores a 2008 bid for President, Giuliani sits atop the Republican pack in most polls - with support that will not quickly erode, despite his stance on some social issues. But look who's right there with him in pole (and poll) position: another Republican with the gift of gab and a reputation for independent thinking. Enter Arizona Sen. John McCain, every bit as intelligent and irascible as Giuliani. These two good friends - both of whom appeal to moderate Republicans - are on a collision course for the nomination....

WHEN POLITICAL HANDICAPPERS START LAYING ODDS on a presidential election, the conversation inevitably turns to Iowa and New Hampshire. Their status as the first caucus and primary states remains critical, but as media scrutiny has amplified their importance, both have morphed into a kind of Heisenberg fishbowl. Otherwise humble locals, constantly harassed by marauding network TV crews to name their candidate, sometimes retort, "I don't know. I haven't met him yet." It's no surprise political prognosticators are starting to look elsewhere for early clues about the race in 2008. Michigan's status as an important early primary state has been overlooked--until...