Free Republic

GOP being Punk’d? We know that Democrats are crossing over in open primaries, such as Mississippi and Alabama, in order to vote for Rick Santorum, a big union candidate, their votes intended to throw the Republican National Convention into a contested balloting process. This tactic was written up at the Daily Kos. Big union money has even invested for the Santorum campaign. Pardon me for not having all the pertinent facts and I confess I don’t even have time to search for them all, today, to say nothing of presenting and formatting them, here. Can you help? Place further information...

Illinois Primary Could Be Rick Santorum's Big Chance The Republican presidential contest next week gives the conservative a shot at seizing the momentum from front-runner Mitt Romney, who leads him there by just 4 points. By Paul West March 14, 2012 — After a pair of pivotal Southern tests, the Republican presidential race has become a battle between Mitt Romney's grind-it-out delegate arithmetic and Rick Santorum's popular momentum. It's not exactly an even nomination fight at the moment. Romney remains the clear favorite, though his campaign advisors don't expect him to lock up the needed 1,144 delegates before May, at...

....Newt Gingrich is not getting out of the race any time soon. Here’s why: Gingrich firmly believes that staying in the race is the best way to prevent Mitt Romney from clinching the nomination before the convention in August. And he actually may have a point.... Gingrich knows that it is virtually impossible for him, or Santorum for that matter, to beat Romney on delegates, but he makes the case — and it is not far-fetched — that unless Romney starts winning delegates at a faster pace he won’t clinch nomination by end the end of the primaries.... “My expectation...

Supposedly Team Paul is engaged in "initial discussions" with Santorum and Gingrich too, but c'mon. Newt's chances at the nomination are only slightly higher than Paul's are and Santorum's hawkish social conservatism makes him a total nonstarter for libertarians. Just today, Reason editor Matt Welch published a column shivering at the thought that Team Sweater Vest might be back for another try in 2016. Romney’s the only game in town for the rEVOLution, just as he’s been since the debates started. (According to Time, one of Romney’s allies joked that Paul is their “deputy campaign manager.”)This is the right time...

Despite his losses in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, Mitt Romney appears to have expanded his delegate lead on Tuesday. The most recent projections from AP show Rick Santorum took 31 delegates from Alabama and Mississippi, while Newt Gingrich took 24 delegates and Romney got 23 But this morning, Romney was projected to win all nine delegates from American Samoa’s caucuses, and he also won the Hawaii caucuses by a large margin. AP projections show Romney beat Santorum 18 delegates to four in those jurisdictions. So, as of this morning, Romney has won 41 delegates from Tuesday’s contests, compared to...

Newt Gingrich says, "Between us, Santorum and I are stopping Romney."

More than half of Republicans nationwide (53%) say that all members of the current field of GOP presidential candidates should stay in the race until one clinches the nomination. About one-fifth (21%) say that Newt Gingrich should drop out, leaving Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum to compete for the nomination, while another fifth (20%) say all candidates but Romney should drop out, allowing Romney to focus on the general election campaign..... Some Santorum supporters have argued that Gingrich should drop out, saying that Santorum alone would have a better chance of consolidating the conservative GOP vote that has thus far...

If Mitt Romney wins the Republican presidential nomination, he'll have many options for a running mate. His current rival Rick Santorum probably won't be one of them. Romney said as much Tuesday when Neil Cavuto asked him on Fox Business if he would choose a candidate to his right in order to win the election. "Well that would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum," Romney said. "Because I mean look at his record. I find it interesting that he continues to describe himself as the real conservative.

Birmingham, Ala. -- The question for Republican Newt Gingrich is not whether he will stay in the presidential race after Tuesday's primaries in Alabama, Mississippi and Hawaii. The question is where he'll take the campaign next. The Gingrich campaign provided the latest answer, announcing plans to head to Illinois and Louisiana later this week even as most polls offered little certainty about how Tuesday's contests would turn out. Gingrich, a former House speaker who represented Georgia, had predicted victories in nearby Alabama and Mississippi. But more recently he and his advisers have revised expectations to say that even a "strong"...

5 PM ET: NETWORK EXITS SHOW ALABAMA TIGHT; ROMNEY TAKES MISSISSIPPI... DEVELOPING DRUDGE POLLS HAVE CORRECTLY PREDICTED EVERY RACE

BILOXI, Miss. - Rick Santorum said today that if a U.S. soldier shot and killed 16 civilians, as U.S. officials have suggested, then the Afghan people deserve an apology. After an energy conference here, Santorum told reporters that the incident needs to be investigated further, calling it a "horrible situation." "If it turns out to be the case that this person did a horrible wrong and it was a deliberate act, a deliberate act by an American soldier and that is something we should clearly say was something that we should apologize for," Santorum said. "That it's not a mistake,...

Birmingham, AL - Monday, March 12, 2012 The Alabama Republican Party hosts a presidential candidate forum with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum at the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham. AL Candidates Forum: Live at 6:30pm (ET) on C-SPAN. The Alabama Republican Primary is Tuesday, March 13. Fifty Republican delegates are at stake.

Is this an admission that Rick Santorum can't win the nomination through the primary process, or just a restatement of the belief that we're heading to a brokered convention anyway? BizzFeed's Zeke Miller gets a Santorum campaign strategy memo that outlines their argument that Mitt Romney isn't as far ahead as some believe, and that Santorum will pull together the disaffected conservatives that show up in Tampa: In a strategy memo pushing back on Mitt Romney's narrative that it will take an "act of God" to deny him the nomination, advisor John Yob argued that they have a strategy to...

Newt Gingrich leads the Alabama Republican presidential primary with 34%. Gingrich is followed by Mitt Romney with 31%, Rick Santorum with 24%, and Ron Paul with 6%. Gingrich leads Romney 39% to 30% among self-identified Republicans, followed by Santorum with 23% and Paul with 3%. Among self-identified independents and Democrats, Romney leads with 33%, followed by Santorum with 28%, Gingrich with 17%, and Paul with 15%. Gingrich leads Romney 34% to 31% among likely Republican primary voters saying they will definitely vote in the March 6 primary, followed by Santorum with 25% and Paul with 5%. Gingrich leads Romney 37%...

Mitt Romney leads the Mississippi Republican presidential primary with 34%. Romney is followed by Newt Gingrich with 32%, Rick Santorum with 22%, and Ron Paul with 8%. In a similar survey conducted March 7-8, 2012, Gingrich was leading Romney 35% to 31%. Romney leads Gingrich 36% to 33% among self-identified Republicans, followed by Santorum with 23% and Paul with 5%. Among self-identified independents and Democrats, Gingrich and Romney lead with 25% each, followed by Paul with 24% and Santorum with 18%. Gingrich and Romney are tied at 33% each among likely Republican primary voters saying they will definitely vote in...

"Another presidential candidate had an energy proposal back in 2008 as well. Former Senator Rick Santorum’s ideas, however, went an entirely different direction. Rather than increasing production, his solution was to “reduce US oil appetite” in an article he wrote, titled, “Reducing U.S. oil appetite This is one cause that could be helped by smart mandates and taxing“

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Friday defended GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney from critics who mocked him for calling himself an "unofficial Southerner" at a campaign stop the previous day. "Now they’re attacking Romney for joking about learning to say “y’all”? According to the left, no one can have a sense of humor - lighten up!" In Mississippi, Romney told the crowd that his bodyguard, a Mississippi native, was turning him into an "unofficial Southerner." "I'm learning to say 'y'all' and I like grits, and strange things are happening to me!" the former Massachusetts governor added. Critics were quick to...

Santorum Blasts Gingrich Over 'Romneycare' Chris Welch Springfield, Missouri (CNN) – It's a common aspect of Republican Rick Santorum's stump: attacking Mitt Romney for creating - and then "recommending" - "Romneycare" to President Barack Obama. But Saturday, fresh off his projected win in the Kansas caucuses, Santorum added that GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich is "honestly not a whole lot better." "For 20 years when I was pushing medical savings accounts, he was pushing a federal mandate for health insurance," Santorum said. "And when 'Romneycare' passed, he sent out a glowing statement talking about how this wonderful bill had just...

Gingrich Says He Will Stay in GOP Race Even If He Loses Mississippi, Alabama March 10, 2012 ELLISVILLE, Miss. – Spurning calls for him to get out, Newt Gingrich insisted Friday that he'll stay in the race for the Republican presidential nomination even if he loses two Southern primaries next week. (snip) Gingrich said he intended to campaign all the way to the Republican National Convention in August, regardless of whether he has won the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. His comments contradicted assertions by a key aide that Gingrich must win both states to remain viable. Asked...

(CBS News) BILOXI, Miss. - The four main candidates for the Republican nomination for president say they're committed to staying in the race right up to the convention this August in Tampa, Fla. There's just one problem: If they do, it might turn out that no one gets the number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright. Stumping in Birmingham, Alabama, Mitt Romney continued his Southern charm offensive, celebrating an endorsement from the country band Alabama. "Wouldn't you love to hear them sing 'Sweet Home Alabama'? Wouldn't that be wonderful?" he asked a crowd at one campaign stop. In...