RASMUSSEN 2012 POLL - Obama 45% Romney 45%

If the 2012 presidential election were held today, President Obama and possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be all tied up at 45% each, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

The president, seeking a second four-year term, beats another potential GOP rival, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, by six points – 48% to 42%.

That’s exactly my view. I voted for Romney in the primary as the best of a lot of bad options. He could at least articulate a message. After he has continued supporting RomneyCare as a success in recent weeks, I reject him as a viable option. Palin has potential, but has to earn it.

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for the White House,
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin.
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
He's in charge on November 5th.'"
The Prowler added: "Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."
The Romney supporters in the McCain campaign had access to internal polling which indicated well in advance of the November 4 election that McCain had no chance to win.
So they began working to position their man Mitt for a run in 2012. Just two days after the election,The Palmetto Scoop reported:
"One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
These aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.
Erick Erickson, who organized Operation Leper, said:
"Here’s what I think: I think there are some staffers on the McCain campaign who seriously screwed up the roll out of Sarah Palin, to which Governor Palin herself objected.
These staffers are now out trying to finish her off thinking, as typical D.C. types do, that if they don’t do it to her, she’ll do it to them. They just never understood who Palin is or what she is about."
"Likewise, I do think there are some staffers and others who expect Mitt Romney to run again in 2012,
they decided McCain could not win, and decided to undermine Sarah Palin and her chances hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign? (Mark Wallace, Romney pimp)
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

Who benefits most from Sanford meltdown? Californian (that's right) Mitt Romney

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

For a moment stepping outside the Romnybot -vs- Paily worshiper argument, this is great news for both GOP candidates and very bad news for Obama. Romney has a 50/50 chance of beating him and Palin is withing striking distance of the TOTUS. Obviously she is not such damaged goods as the MSM would have us believe.

Obama is not going to be able to help his Dem friends in 2010 if he is seen as a net negative. If Romney and Palin are leading him by next year anyone not in an overwhelmingly blue district will have to run from him in order to survive.

I always vote the most conservative candidate.

Of the choices, I'd clearly vote Palin in the primary. If she lost, I would support Romney in the general.

In the meantime, we can keep looking for an even stronger Conservative who can clearly articulate our message and win in 2012.

"A political party cannot be all things to all people.
It must represent certain fundamental beliefs
which must not be compromised to political expediency
or simply to swell its numbers."
-- President Ronald Reagan

"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party
over to the traitors in the battle just ended.
We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged
to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support.
Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates
wouldn’t make any sense at all.""
-- President Ronald Reagan

I voted Mitt in the primary but was going to go for Fred. The problem was I was in the last primary to stop Juan Pedro McLame. Mitt was a better choice. Fred started to late. Mitt had also been endorsed by Tancredo who was my top choice.

“The dimwits are terrified of Palin...”

Agreed. Even if you take this poll at face value, 2012 elections are still 3 years away. The only reason I can come up with for the constant attacks on Palin: She scares a lot of Democrats and Republicans alike. They should be scared - and I hope she keeps on scaring them.-—JM

I tend to agree with you. However, I honestly believe that an unleashed Sarah Palin will gain a great deal of strength over the next couple of years. She’s savvy (and has the battle scars to prove)enough to know that the media can’t be trusted to do what’s in the best interests of the country and will speak directly to the people. Part of the way she’ll do that is to campaign for Conservatives in the next congressional election. If the candidates she campaigns for win, she’ll gain a huge leap in support. A gamble, I know, but I think she’s willing to take it.

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