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Santorum says Romney nomination "will destroy this country"

Gingrich's support on the rise this month by Jeffrey M. Jones PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans are most likely to name Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as their first choice for their party's 2012 presidential nomination, with Herman Cain close behind. Among all Republicans nationwide, Romney is the choice of 20% and Gingrich 19%. Among Republican registered voters, Gingrich is at 22% and Romney at 21%. Mid-November 2011 results: Next, I'm going to read a list of people who are running for the 2012 Republican nomination for president. After I read the names, please tell me which candidate you are most...

<p>A judge handed Occupy Boston a major win today, granting a court order that forbids police to carry out a New York-style clearing of the Dewey Square encampment except in cases that pose a major threat to public safety. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre issued a temporary restraining order this afternoon, saying Occupiers will allowed to stay camped peacefully opposite South Station until a court hearing for a preliminary injunction Dec. 1. Police are still allowed to clear the park if there is an “outbreak of violence” or a catastrophe such as a fire, she said. “It’s a big victory,” said Occupy Boston member Kristopher Eric Martin. “Not only in Boston, across the country, this is a big victory in the sense our First Amendment rights are going to be heard.” The order does not, however, prevent police from making arrests on the property, part of the state-owned and privately managed Rose Kennedy Greenway. Lawyers for the Occupy Boston requested the restraining order as a pre-emptive move, after police in New York removed protesters and seized tents from Zuccotti Park, the site of the original and figurehead Occupy Wall Street demonstration. Attorneys for the city argued that Occupy Boston’s lawyers jumped the gun; there has been no wholesale clearing of demonstrators to date, and they say the city has no plans to carry out such an operation. “This is a simple matter,” attorney Raquel Webster argued on the city’s behalf. “We should not be here today. It’s premature.”</p>

With all the chaos surrounding the Republican nomination race, one thing is very clear: somewhere along the way, Mitt Romney made a Damn Yankees-like pact with Satan to score this group of individuals to run against. It is certain that a vast majority of Republican primary voters do not like Mitt Romney. In fact, we can go further – they can’t stand him. That’s why he’s never broken 30 percent in any national poll of Republican primary voters. That’s why Tea Party support has shuffled from Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry to Herman Cain. Sadly, though, none of those candidates...

Sometimes it seems as if the GOP Establishment is sleepwalking off a cliff. In 1996, having scored the stunning victories of the off-year congressional elections, the GOP suits dutifully lined up behind the impossible Bob Dole. From the moment Americans realized their choices would be Clinton or Dole, "Bubba" was never behind one day in the polls. It's looking like déjà Dole all over again. Mitt Romney is the proverbial GOP next-in-liner. After the Tea Party helped Republicans score major victories in '10, the GOP Establishment is hunting desperately for a way to lose the very next election. Mitt Romney...

The PUGET SOUND CONSERVATIVE UNDERGROUND Message Board › Warning: Black Hole for Romney Forming Let me preface this by stating my belief that Mitt Romney is, in all probability, a nice intelligent good-hearted man, notwithstanding his handsome looks and beautiful family who appear to have come straight from central casting. That stipulated, after tens of $millions spent and years of practice trying to sound Conservative, why can’t he completely shake the aura of a car salesman? Or, is it just me? He tries to sell you that he’s a bonafide Conservative, and that he has been all along, but when...

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...

The evidence suggests otherwise — but for the wrong reason. There’s a long list of reasons why Mitt Romney might not be our best choice to go up against Obama, and some of them are really good reasons. One reason is Romney’s part in creating the Massachusetts health system that Democrats claim (perhaps rightly) was the blueprint for ObamaCare. Another is that as governor of a very liberal state, Romney signed into law all sorts of bills that are going to be used by Democrats to persuade many middle of the road and even conservative voters that there really is...

Governor Deval Patrick is scheduled to make an announcement this afternoon about special election to fill the US Senate seat left vacant by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Patrick is scheduled to make the announcement in the press briefing room at the State House, according to his staff. No details were released about the substance of the announcement. [Snip] It is an election that has considerable national implications, as Democrats try to maintain a 60-seat majority in the Senate. State lawmakers are also still trying to weigh one of Kennedy's final wishes: He wanted the governor to have...

BOSTON — The state’s highest court has ruled that sex offenders convicted before 2006 cannot be forced to wear GPS devices if they violate probation or parole. In the 4-3 decision, the Supreme Judicial Court said a 2006 law requiring all sex offenders to wear GPS devices cannot apply retroactively. David Frank, of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said the case was a balancing act between public safety and constitutional rights. “The court had to balance the right of the public to protect itself against sex offenders and those who have been convicted of certain crimes versus a defendant’s constitutional right to...

Howie thread starting with his Sunday Boston Herald column