Free Republic

The first votes for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination are still months away, but Ohioans have already given nearly a quarter of a million dollars to would-be candidates, including $58,000 to “SarahPAC,” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s political action committee. Trailing just behind Palin in cash from Ohioans is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s “Free and Strong America PAC,” which has received $50,000. Ohio, long a bellwether in presidential politics, isn’t necessarily considered a must-win for Republican primary candidates. But the enthusiasm a candidate musters in the Buckeye state — including financial contributions — can be indicative of how they’ll...

Mr. Romney's campaign said he would still compete in Iowa's caucuses, now slated February, 2012. But the former Massachusetts governor's absence from the Aug. 13 straw poll will likely diminish his chances, some Iowa officials say, while raising the odds that whoever wins the poll will be best positioned to claim the status as Mr. Romney's top rival for the nomination. According to 2008 election-day surveys, 60% of Iowa caucus-goers called themsevles evangelical or born-again Christians. In the New Hampshire primary, the figure was 23%. In the general election that year, about a quarter of voters in both parties were...

Mitt Romney won't be doing any apology tours on climate change. The early GOP presidential front-runner has broken with his party's conservative ranks to declare global warming a real threat to the planet that merits some sort of action to curb heat-trapping emissions. But the former Massachusetts governor is also quick to trash cap and trade, carbon taxes and other controversial policies that have been kicked around over the last decade in Washington. In a sense, Romney's initial global warming stance sounds a lot like that of former President George W. Bush, who during his two terms reluctantly accepted climate...

In case you missed the lead story yesterday, likely because you were following the Weiner Saga, Mitt Romney is running for President. Though he had a hard time defeating Huckabee last timeand whom he seems to have an ongoing feud with, Romney seems to be thinking that all the major issues that plauged his last candidacy have evaporated and the only real issue the Conservative Republican base has with him is RomneyCare. This could not be further from the truth. The list of Romney's problems is a long one, so buckle up. **YOUTUBE VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP**

CNN’s Peter Hamby presents what could be an interesting problem for the media — or maybe it’ll be a no-brainer. Mitt Romney will officially announce his White House intention Thursday in New Hampshire. At the same time, Sarah Palin’s bus tour will make a stop in the state: Peter Hamby CNN Reporters will have a harrowing choice to make when it comes to which one of these to cover. They can decide to follow Palin, don their Kevlar “press” hats, and risk the dangerous situation Sarah’s forcing them to endure on a daily basis. Or, the press can choose to...

CHICAGO, - Potential Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney finished a day of fundraising in Chicago by sending leftover pizza to President Obama's campaigners. Romney said he enjoyed the deep-dish pizza at Gino's East and sent some to Obama's Chicago re-election headquarters, ABC News reported Friday. "Great deep dish at @ginoseast. Sending the extra slices to @barackobama and his Chicago HQ team," Romney wrote on his Twitter feed. The message was accompanied by a picture of a delivery boy heading out of the restaurant. A source with Obama's campaign confirmed the pizza was received.

The moment of truth has come and gone but the horrified real-time reaction in the conservative twittersphere echoes on. These nuggets from Philip Klein, Jonah Goldberg, and Mollie Hemingway will give you a taste; liberal Ezra Klein came closest to capturing the spirit of the thing while our old pal KP wondered whether Mitt’s ever actually met a Republican primary voter. I’m not surprised that he doubled down, though. Read this post from two days ago about the particular pitfall to Romney in apologizing. Pawlenty can afford to eat crow and say he’s sorry about cap and trade because his...

While some potential Republican presidential candidates have criticized President Barack Obama’s decision not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body, presumed frontrunner Mitt Romney agrees with the president. "It's best not to release the photo because it has the potential to incite retaliatory violence against Americans," Romney said in a statement to Politico. That was the same point made by Obama....

It is “sad,” says MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, that presidential candidate Mitt Romney is running away from his Massachusetts health care plan, a plan that Gruber says “gave birth to one of the greatest pieces of social legislation in our history,” namely [Alleged] President Obama’s 2010 health-care reform legislation. Aside from Romney, Gruber is the man most responsible for the Massachusetts plan. And given how important the debate is over the ‘Cares — RomneyCare and ObamaCare, as they’re often dubbed — I decided to go to the man who perhaps knows more than anyone about the development of both. In...

It is “sad,” says MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, that presidential candidate Mitt Romney is running away from his Massachusetts health care plan, a plan that Gruber says “gave birth to one of the greatest pieces of social legislation in our history,” namely President Obama’s 2010 health-care reform legislation. Aside from Romney, Gruber is the man most responsible for the Massachusetts plan. And given how important the debate is over the ‘Cares — RomneyCare and ObamaCare, as they’re often dubbed — I decided to go to the man who perhaps knows more than anyone about the development of both. In a...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a front-runner for the nomination, has signaled quietly to Graham that Republicans must address immigration before the campaign heats up, according to several sources familiar with the conversation.

If you want a preview of President Obama's health-care "reform," take a look at Massachusetts. In 2006, it enacted a "reform" that became a model for Obama. What's happened since isn't encouraging. The state did the easy part: expanding state-subsidized insurance coverage. It evaded the hard part: controlling costs and ensuring that spending improves people's health. Unfortunately, Obama has done the same. Like Obama, Massachusetts requires most individuals to have health insurance (the "individual mandate"). To aid middle-class families too well-off to qualify for Medicaid -- government insurance for the poor -- the state subsidizes insurance for people with incomes...

I asked Gov. Romney if I could ask him a question. After he told me that this was OK, I posed the following question to him: “You have stated your intention to spearhead the effort to repeal the ‘worst aspects’ of Obamacare, does this include the repeal of the individual mandate and pre-existing exclusion?” The Governor’s answer: “No.” Gov. Romney went on to explain that he does not wish to repeal these aspects because of the deleterious effect it would have on those with pre-existing conditions in obtaining health insurance.

Yesterday, in a post about President Obama's offshore oil drilling plan, I noted that the "candidate of change" had once talked out of both sides of his mouth on offshore exploration. He condemned John McCain for wanting to expand offshore oil drilling one day, and then said another day that he was open to expanding it. So it goes. ..................................................... Reading Collins' piece, I was suddenly taken back, as if in a dream, to a more wondrous time, for me at least, during the 2008 Iowa Straw Poll at Ames. Back then, Romney was on a different tack, arguing that...

... [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...

Mitt Romney offered an enthusiastic defense last night of the comprehensive health care law he helped create four years ago in Massachusetts, even as he pointed to crucial distinctions between it and a similar national program enacted last week by Democrats. “Overall, ours is a model that works,’’ Romney said in response to a question after a speech at Iowa State University. “We solved our problem at the state level. Like it or not, it was a state solution. Why is it that President Obama is stepping in and saying ‘one size fits all’ ’’? Obama’s signing of a federal...

If Mitt Romney's book sales are any indication of how he will do against Sarah Plain in the GOP primaries, things are not looking too good for our former governor from Massachusetts, at the moment. While Sarah Palin’s book shot to # 1 at Amazon on pre-orders alone, on the same day that it was available for pre-orders (a good 2 months before it was released), Mitt Romney's book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness”, is still stuck at # 245 in the Amazon sales rankings, with only one day to go before release tomorrow. Of course book sales...

Here is video of former Gov. Mitt Romney going "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren...(Videos)Romney said Obama should keep his promise to show the health care debate on C-SPAN, but he also pointed out that Obama has made"a lot bigger promises that he's not kept." Romney said Obama has been "very unsuccessful in his first year, has not been able to accomplish virtually anything" and said that he is "pinning all of his hopes on seeing something happen on health care." In part two Greta asked Romney if he is planning on running in 2012, Romney answered "haven't made...