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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been unofficially running for president for the better part of five years, and in that time, he has been asked about immigration over and over again. Now some of his rivals are arguing that his answers to the question have been inconsistent. And the issue blew up last week at a CNN debate on national security. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said someone who has lived peacefully in the United States for many years with a family, a community and a job should have an opportunity to become a legal permanent resident. Mitt Romney...

A gaping loophole in state insurance rules that lets freeloaders pick up coverage to pay for expensive surgeries — and then dump it once they’re treated — has cost taxpayers as much as $37 million a year, according to a study that warns the same wrinkle in Obamacare could add a staggering $2 billion a year to the deficit-wracked federal budget[Emphasis mine]. Exploiting a state provision that forces insurers to cover patients with pre-existing medical conditions, thousands of so-called “jumpers and dumpers” are buying plans just before major operations and procedures, and then chucking their coverage and passing those costs...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was accused on Wednesday of flip-flopping for comments he made in 2007 indicating he was open to a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Romney's remarks, made on NBC's "Meet the Press" when he was a candidate for president, were circulated by rival Newt Gingrich's campaign the day after the former Speaker of the House of Representatives came under similar fire for suggesting during a debate Tuesday night that he was in favor of such a pathway for immigrants. Opponents of a pathway, a large swath of the early-voting Republican electorate, have...

After tonght's debate, Mitt Romney's campaign clearly saw an opening to go after a surging Newt Gingrich, after he argued for considering a path to citizenship for immigrants who had originally come to this country illegally 25 years ago, but had spent decades integrating themselves in a community. “Newt Gingrich supported the 1986 amnesty act, and even though he conceded that was a mistake, he said that he was willing to repeat that mistake, by extending amnesty to immigrants who are illegally in the country today," Romney adviser and spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said in the spin room following the AEI/Heritage...

Former Romney adviser accuses him of `lying’ about Romneycare By Greg Sargent Jonathan Gruber, the M.I.T. professor whose ideas were central to Mitt Romney’s health reform law as governor of Massachusetts, has pilloried Romney in the past for seeming to distance himself from his signature accomplishment. But I’m not sure he’s ever gone quite as far as he did in this interview with Capital New York, in which he said Romney is flat out “lying” when he tries to make a distinction between Romneycare and Obamacare:

For Mitt Romney this is like the good old days at Bain Capital, except this time his takeover involves not another company but the Republican Party. In fact, Romney is seeking a hostile takeover of the conservative movement, methodically moving to take over Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and finally Newt Gingrich. Conservatives might remember what Romney did after he took over companies. You did not want to be a worker in a firm Romney took over. He liked layoffs. I now expect Romney to move fast to the right for a few weeks while...

OKLAHOMA CITY – So, how excited were the good, conservative folks at the Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame Museum when Republican Mitt Romney arrived there Friday morning for a fundraising event? They weren't really. There was polite applause and a "Wow, it's the GOP presidential frontrunner - in the buckle of the Red State Bible Belt! Gee whiz!" reaction. Yeah, there was some "enthusiasm, but it was more subdued than you would have guessed.This reporter came in expecting throngs. Perhaps a lot of them were "busy" or didn't have the spare $20.12 for a ticket. Regardless, Mitt Romney was...

As Ed Morrissey explained earlier this morning, the “bombshell” dropped by the Los Angeles Times today — that Romneycare provided health care to illegal immigrants who would not otherwise have had access to it — is less a bombshell than the LAT (or Romney’s competitors) would have us believe. Federal law requires emergency health care for illegal immigrants, but emergency care is inordinately expensive. If Romneycare provides illegals with access to cheaper clinical care, then, presumably, fewer taxpayer dollars go to health care for illegal immigrants in Massachusetts now than they did before Romneycare passed. But no GOP-er wants to...

As Ed Morrissey explained earlier this morning, the “bombshell” dropped by the Los Angeles Times today — that Romneycare provided health care to illegal immigrants who would not otherwise have had access to it — is less a bombshell than the LAT (or Romney’s competitors) would have us believe. Federal law requires emergency health care for illegal immigrants, but emergency care is inordinately expensive. If Romneycare provides illegals with access to cheaper clinical care, then, presumably, fewer taxpayer dollars go to health care for illegal immigrants in Massachusetts now than they did before Romneycare passed. But no GOP-er wants to...

Romney’s 2004 rules allowed benefits for illegal immigrants The Los Angeles Times is reporting Mitt Romney’s signature achievement while Governor of Massachusetts – Romneycare – includes provisions that allow illegal immigrants to receive full health benefits for free. According to the L.A. Times, then-Gov. Romney and his administration knew about provisions in the Romneycare that would allow illegal immigrants to receive free health care. The Times reported: “…there was broad understanding when Romney signed it that at least some people who would benefit would be in the country illegally.” [1] “Governor Romney’s government-mandated health care plan provided free care for...

On the Republican campaign trail, he derides any such public aid. But the healthcare law he signed as Massachusetts governor allows it. Reporting from Washington— The Massachusetts healthcare law that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed in 2006 includes a program known as the Health Safety Net, which allows undocumented immigrants to get needed medical care along with others who lack insurance. Uninsured, poor immigrants can walk into a health clinic or hospital in the state and get publicly subsidized care at virtually no cost to them, regardless of their immigration status.

Winning in politics isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. But how important a factor electability should be in a voter’s calculation remains very much in the eye of the beholder, leading to an active debate within the parties about who has the best chance to win next November — and how much it should matter. That fight is played out every four years as the two parties pick their presidential nominees. The party establishment — and many members of the media — tend to focus heavily on electability while the party’s activist base prizes ideological alignment. “Electability usually doesn’t matter...

Lauren and Nick Destito had a wonderful life in Plainville. They paid their bills and raised two sons in a lovely four-bedroom colonial that they were just eight years away from owning outright. But the economy collapsed in 2008 and soon crushed the small tree and landscaping business the couple had run since 1984. Now, the state of Massachusetts is grinding the Destitos into the dirt. The reason: the health insurance the Destitos bought, paid $750 monthly premiums on and repeatedly used at doctor visits apparently does not pass muster with the state’s mandatory universal health insurance law. Now the...

Will Romney’s Lawn Workers Sink His Candidacy? Alec MacGillisOctober 19, 2011Well, this much is clear: Rick Perry's campaign takes its cues from this blog, which just a few days ago asked in a headline, "Time for Perry to Bring up Mitt's lawn care?" Apparently, it was time. The question that came to my mind as that remarkable fracas last night was occurring was: could this turn into Mitt Romney's driver's license moment? Hillary Clinton was sailing along on an aura of inevitability in the fall of 2007, acing the debates much as Romney has done, when she found herself ganged up in a Philadelphia debate over her ambiguous...

Funny 17 second humor bit on the back and forth between Romney and Perry. :)

<p>The battle for the Republican presidential nomination erupted into all out war tonight as Mitt Romney and Rick Perry got personal in a series of angry clashes.</p> <p>Standing almost toe to toe, the two men repeatedly held up the debate as they bickered over everything from immigration to job creation.</p>

WASHINGTON - Among the Republicans angling to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. a year from January, Mitt Romney is the closest to achieving his goal. The former Massachusetts governor has reached the decisive phase in his presidential campaign: attempting to consolidate his support and cinch the nomination. (snip) Romney’s most ardent conservative critics have been left to rally around Herman Cain, simultaneously engaged in a book tour and presidential campaign, in a last-ditch effort to prevent his nomination. (snip) ...the Romney staff is focused on what it sees as an inevitable clash with Obama and the Democrats. But with the...

Mitt Romney has finally found a groove on the right. But he could find himself stuck there if he wins the GOP nomination. With Romney’s recent move to wield the immigration issue as a club against Rick Perry — painting him as “soft” on a topic that resonates with the Republican primary electorate — the former Massachusetts governor is taking advantage of a rare opportunity to outflank Perry on the right among conservatives. After the Texas governor wounded himself with his remarks in the last debate, Romney seized on the issue of illegal immigration, trying to paint Perry as an...

Rick Perry can't get out of his own way. During the presidential debates, he has reviled three immigration issues that Republicans hold dear: passing mandatory E-Verify legislation, rejecting federal and state versions of the DREAM Act, and building a border fence. About E-Verify, Perry foolishly claims that it would not make "a hill of beans" worth of difference. Regarding the DREAM Act, Perry said that those who disagree with his decision to enact it in 2001 "don't have a heart." As for the border fence, Perry insists that it is "idiocy" to build it. The debates represented Perry's chance to...

The lines of argument are hardening as the party's leading presidential candidates, who delivered speeches here on Saturday, continued to dig in for what Republicans believe could be a long and bitter fight for the nomination that extends into the spring as new rules allow contenders to pick up delegates even in states where they lose.