Free Republic

For the men (and one rather polarizing woman) who might run for president as Republicans in 2012, now is the wilderness campaign. After the midterms, the struggle for the nomination will move out into open country. But for the moment, it's all guerrilla warfare and tactical maneuvering - in the form of Web videos and op-eds, speeches and endorsements, and the occasional public dig at a potential rival. By definition, in a wilderness campaign it's hard to tell who's winning. Are all of the endorsements Sarah Palin has made building an army of "Mama Grizzly" Republicans who will rise up...

A tantalizing bit of 2012 gossip dropped way, way down in an otherwise fun piece about amnesty shills boo-hooing over having (temporarily) lost McCain. Note to Politico: This is what’s called “burying the lede.” Their hope now is that Republican presidential candidates and former operatives under Bush, a reform proponent, can convince GOP congressional leaders that the issue needs to be dealt with before 2012 — or that they could risk alienating the burgeoning Hispanic vote in the crucial swing states of New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a front-runner for the nomination, has signaled...

In potentially the first inter-staff dust up of the 2012 presidential race, an aide of Sarah Palin is hitting back at Mitt Romney’s camp for saying the former Alaska governor is “not a serious human being.” Asked about the comments by POLITICO, a longtime Palin aide unloaded on Romney’s staff. “It shocks me that anyone would try to do that,” the aide said. “You’d think we’d all be working together toward a common goal – that being 2010 – and that should be the focus right now. Those who try to claim the mantle of Reagan would be good to...

It didn’t take long for Sarah Palin’s team to respond in kind to insults reported by Time’s Mark Halperin from an unnamed aide to Mitt Romney. After the anonymous adviser sniffed that Palin is “not a serious person,” an anonymous “longtime” adviser to Palin told Politico’s Andy Barr that Romney and his team seem a lot more interested in self-promotion for 2012 than in getting Republicans elected in 2010. Furthermore, the source said, Romney’s “finger in the wind” leadership seems to have led his own team out of control:

To understand why Democrats ever picked Mondale, you have to understand where the party — and where the country — was in 1982 and 1983, when the nation’s verdict on Reagan and his policies was far less positive. In those days, with unemployment surging over 10 percent and the president’s popularity slipping to sub-Carter levels, Democrats mistakenly assumed that the ‘80 election had been a mirage. The electorate, they figured, had acted in haste and was rapidly returning to its senses. The results of the 1982 midterms, when Republicans (who had begun the cycle with claims that they’d win...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly 4 million Americans—the vast majority of them middle class—will have to pay the new penalty for not getting health insurance when President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law kicks in, according to congressional estimates released Thursday. The penalties will average a little more than $1,000 apiece in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report. Most of the people paying the fine will be middle class. Obama pledged in 2008 not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 a year and couples making less than $250,000. Republicans have criticized the penalties, even though...

BEDFORD, N.H. - When it comes to health care, Mitt Romney is hoping to have it both ways, even as he accuses the White House of doing the same. In the weeks since President Obama and the Democratic Congress enacted their health care overhaul, Mr. Romney, the once and presumably future candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has confronted an issue that is alternately viewed as a strength and a vulnerability. As he promotes himself as a problem-solving pragmatist, Mr. Romney can justifiably point to the landmark universal coverage law in Massachusetts that he, as governor, proposed in 2006. But...

... [I]t’s now becoming clear that [Mitt Romney is] the man we have to thank for our new national health care law. “I mean, a lot of commentators have said this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney, the Republican governor and now presidential candidate, passed in Massachusetts,” President Obama told Matt Lauer recently on the “Today” show. Good work leading the way, Mitt! We did not actually hear a whole lot about how Obama’s health care bill was similar to Romney’s during its long, torturous struggle through Congress. Particularly not during the parts that involved placating...

Treasurer Tim Cahill ripped Gov. Deval Patrick and President Obama this morning for health care initiatives that the independent gubernatorial hopeful alleged will “bankrupt the country in four years.” “Last week Gov. Patrick criticized me as ‘missing in action’ on the issue of health care in Massachusetts,” Cahill said. “In reality, I’ve been critical of Gov. Patrick’s implementation and management of the Massachusetts universal health care program for a long time.” Cahill alleged the governor has “spent like we’re in a booming economy at a time when we’re experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” “If President Obama...

Utah's favorite political son made no apologies Saturday for his conservative cred -- a stance thousands of backers in the Beehive State hope will propel Mitt Romney to the White House. Speaking at the Salt Palace Convention Center hall, Romney weaved wit, humor and folksy anecdotes around enough anti-Barack Obama broadsides to energize his fawning fans. Most in attendance braved a sloppy snowstorm to hoist campaign-style signs, giving Romney's No Apology: The Case for American Greatness book tour the feel of a 2012 campaign rally. "I hope he does run," Midway's Bart Kotter said afterward. "The guy is an amazing...

How do you say “chutzpah” in Mormon? Mitt Romney is out on a book tour insisting that Romneycare and Obamacare have very little in common. “It’s the difference between a racehorse and a donkey,” is Romney’s line. And besides, the former Bay State governor writes in his new book, “the plan is working.” I don’t know how many of the working Massachusetts families facing insurance premium hikes of more than 30 percent this year alone - on top of the fastest-rising costs in America since the plan took effect - would say it’s “working.” But for Romney to say “there’s...

NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR: More closed-door meetings on health care. The president and members of his own party now pow-wowing in private over the very next move. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney telling me they’re doing it all wrong. And he knows. He overhauled health care when he was running Massachusetts and says that his plan was nothing like the president’s now. More of my chat with Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann.

Daniel Larison catches Mitt Romney trying to have it both ways on the $700 billion bank bailout: Romney says he was for Henry Paulson's good TARP but he's against Tim Geithner's bad TARP. Conveniently, this allows Romney to position himself as effectively anti-TARP under Obama while he was a supporter under Bush. Larison correctly argues, "One can either recognize that the original TARP was always potentially an opaque slush fund to be used for whatever purpose the executive branch wanted, and it was therefore an outrageous measure that ought to have been defeated, or one can accept the abuses of...

"Secretary Paulson’s TARP prevented a systemic collapse of the national financial system. Secretary Geithner’s TARP became an opaque, heavy-handed, expensive slush fund. It should be shut down." ~Mitt Romney This is the same line that Thune uses now. This is a ridiculous position to take. One can either recognize that the original TARP was always potentially an opaque slush fund to be used for whatever purpose the executive branch wanted, and it was therefore an outrageous measure that ought to have been defeated, or one can accept the abuses of the TARP that inevitably followed from the absurd way it...

BOSTON -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is stepping back into the public spotlight after spending two years behind the scenes laying the groundwork for a second presidential campaign. (snip) Romney has shifted from social issues that brought accusations of flip-flopping and undermined his 2008 White House bid. With unemployment hovering around 10 percent, his new focus is on economic themes and fix-it skills he claims as a former businessman. That plays to what some observers believe would be his strength in a second race. They could also distinguish him from potential rivals such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin,...

USA Today - headline and link only http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-02-21-romney_N.htm

With the latest Gallup Poll showing that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is leading the pack of potential GOP Presidential nominees, serious questions need to be asked of the candidate. Although Sarah Palin comes in 2nd in the polls and is actually in a statistical tie with Romney, Palin is the one who has been scrutinized to the point of navel-gazing. Romney, on the other hand, has so far received a pass from the media. If Republican voters are going to turn to a moderate governor of a very liberal state to be its standard bearer even after the policies...

The past week has been marked by the meteoric rise of Sen. elect Scott Brown, who just a few short weeks ago - as a friend recently put it to me - was the “third most famous person in his family.” How swiftly fortunes can change. Today, Brown is the undisputed darling of the Republican Party. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, Brown’s innate appeal is hard to deny. Perhaps it’s easiest to say that, at least from appearances, he has all the characteristics that made Sarah Palin a star in the GOP and none of her...