Free Republic

Reporting from Florence, S.C.— Newt Gingrich on Tuesday questioned why Mitt Romney has not released his tax returns, arguing that if the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination has nothing to hide, he ought to make the documents public before South Carolina holds its first-in-the-South primary on Saturday. "Either there's nothing there, so why isn't he releasing them, or there's something there, so why is he hiding them?" Gingrich told reporters here after holding a town hall at an art gallery. "I believe we have the right to know. Therefore, he owes us the knowledge. If there's nothing there, why...

Gingrich vs. Romney: Head to Head Debate? Now that Gingrich and Romney have emerged as the clear Republican front-runners, the two candidates are being heavily vetted for the impending primaries and caususes. After a number of crowded GOP stages, some suggest it is time to narrow the debates down to the front-runners. Do you want to see Gingrich and Romney discuss the issues in a one on one debate? Yes No Click the Human Events source link above to vote.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is skipping next week's presidential primary debate in Iowa. ABC is to televise the event nationally. Huntsman on Friday says he'll instead have a town hall-style meeting on Dec. 10 in New Hampshire, a state that is central to his political strategy. Huntsman has written-off Iowa and has spent neither time nor money there. Huntsman also has accepted an invitation to do a one-on-one debate with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire. The two will meet in Windham for a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate with tea party activists on Dec. 12. Gingrich has invited each...

Rick Perry wants Mitt Romney to cough up his form 1040s (that’s the US individual tax return document). The Romney camp demurred, saying they would consider doing so next year. (Remarkably, Romney has NEVER released, even during his governorship of Massachusetts.) Why won’t Romney do it? Speculation, from liberal group ThinkProgress and others, is that Romney pays a way lower tax rate than many Americans because of his extensive financial investments, from which income is typically taxed below that of regular income. One left-leaning analyst speculates Romney paid an effective tax rate as low as 14 percent on his $6.6...

A new poll from American Research Group released Monday shows that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is leading the Republican presidential race in South Carolina, traditionally the first state in the South to hold a presidential primary. The South Carolina Republican primary -- set up with the help of legendary Republican operative the late Lee Atwater, a native of the Palmetto State -- has proven decisive in recent years, helping to erect a firewall in the region for Atwater’s candidate George H.W. Bush in 1988 and propelling front-runners Bob Dole over Pat Buchanan in 1996 and George W. Bush...

It’s now been one month since I last did my prediction of the top five Republican Presidential Candidates, and this time around we saw a little change in rank. The biggest leap forward, was Mike Huckabee, which I previously had him placed third, he is now first. Followed by Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty. (Chart at link) Now I’m sure many of you disagree with Romney being third behind Sarah Palin, but I don’t view him as a good candidate. I don’t hate him, and I certainly would vote for him over President Obama, but he...

You might expect that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of the top likely candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, would cozy up to tea party followers anytime he can. But he’s actually steering clear of the movement, The Boston Globe reports. “Romney for the most part is inaccessible,’’ says Andrew Hemingway, chairman of New Hampshire’s Republican Liberty Caucus. “[Minnesota Gov. Tom] Pawlenty, I could call him right now and say, ‘Let’s have coffee.’” Romney has kept his distance from tea party activists in key primary states, including the state viewed as a must win for him – New...

When I see the fervor of Sarah Palin’s fans — and by no means just those who swell the adoring crowds who go to her public appearances — I am convinced that the question is not, “How can she win the GOP nomination?” but “How can she not win it?” When you have anywhere between five and fifteen GOP candidates, all expressing basically the same conservative views, how can anyone other than the only one with the passionate fan base possibly win? And yet: Reading between the lines of what conservative-movement people are saying and writing, there is a great deal...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is supporting his 85-year-old mother in her apparent feud with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, while also praising the former GOP vice presidential candidate for having “fantastic political instincts.” In an exclusive interview Monday, Bush told Newsmax.TV: “If it’s between my mom and Gov. Palin, I’ve got to go with my mom, just in general, because she’s my mother." He added with a smile, "So you’re not going to get me in trouble with disagreeing with my beloved mother of 85 years, who occasionally from time to time says things that give us all great...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney is down-sizing his stake in Massachusetts. He sold his Belmont mansion and bought a townhouse in a condo development. And now he more often resides in his $12 million mansion in La Jolla, Calif., or his $10 million house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Ever since Romney won just 51 percent in the Massachusetts GOP presidential primary, he has seemed less enamored with this state. And as a GOP presidential candidate for 2012, he apparently wants to distance himself from so-called RomneyCare, the Massachusetts health insurance program that became a model for so-called ObamaCare, the...

BOSTON — I consider myself lucky to have lived in Massachusetts during the years 2003 to 2007, when the Commonwealth (God save it!) was under the barely distinguishable leadership of Willard (Mitt) Romney, an affable parachute artist from Utah who came tumbling into and out of our politics so quickly that it's hard to believe he ever was here. For the most part, Romney was the kind of Republican we'd always liked: He was rich and white, and he wasn't dramatically concerned with either the civil rights of zygotes, or where some men might be putting their pee-pees when Jeebus...

On Saturday, May 1, the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby, some 20 thoroughbreds will run for the roses in the most famous and important race in the sport. That race of 3-year-old colts (and one filly) will be won in just over two minutes. Meanwhile, another exciting horse race – 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...

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...

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 Cahill - a former Democrat running as an independent for governor - said the 2006 law has succeeded only because of huge subsidies and favorable regulatory changes from the federal government.

Mitt Romney's role in overseeing passage of a universal health care plan in Massachusetts appears likely to cause headaches for the former Republican governor should he make his widely-expected run for the White House in 2012. As Matt Yglesias noted Sunday, all of the government-subsidized health care plans offered to low-income Massachusetts residents, under a program called Commonwealth Care, cover abortion.

For Democrats who see their political prospects this year as a tossup between catastrophic and merely horrible, there is hope on the horizon from a most unlikely source. No, not Rush Limbaugh, who recently praised his medical experience in the government-mandated, heavily unionized health care system of Hawaii. Mahalo to him. One of the most prominent supporters of the main ideas behind the health care plan passed by the Democratic Senate is a top Republican prospect for president in 2012 — Mitt Romney.-SNIP-Asked recently about the Democratic bill, Romney dismissed it as something “which no one understands.” Au contraire, to...

Oh, that’s quite good. Promoted from diaries. - Moe Lane If he doesn’t pull out a win in Massachusetts I’m gonna pull out all the stops to get him to move to Arizona. VIDEO His website is here… You can contribute here… even if John Cornyn won’t. Or especially since John Cornyn won’t. And finally, you can volunteer - EVEN if you don’t live in Massachusetts, you can make calls for Scott - here.

There is Scott Brown the Senate candidate in Massachusetts, and there is Scott Brown, the musician in New Zealand. They each have Twitter accounts, but the Scott Brown from Down Under laid claim to @ScottBrown first, and the Senate candidate had to resort to @ScottBrownMA. As the Boston Globe reports, in the past few days, as @ScottBrownMA has gained momentum through bloggers and twitterers and other social media, @ScottBrown has been inundated with people seeking @ScottBrownMA. Here is one of the tweets by @ScottBrown about the flood of contacts: Despite, or maybe because of, Martha Coakley's high profile as Massachusetts...

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld during their long-shot bids for U.S. Senate. The snub has outraged local Republicans who say national conservatives should be jumping at the chance to nab the first open Senate seat in decades despite Brown’s tough odds in the Jan. 19 special election. ...In 1994, NRSC’s leader, then-Sen. Phil Gramm, vowed an “all out effort,” during Romney’s underdog battle against Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The national party boosted...