Free Republic

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — As he watched last week's Republican debate from his apartment in University of Michigan's married student housing, Derek Osborne could hardly contain his disgust every time Rick Santorum came on TV. "He represents a part of the Republican party that drives me absolutely crazy," he seethed. Osborne, a Ph.D candidate, is a Mitt Romney supporter. He's also a moderate Republican who is alarmed at what he sees as the anti-intellectual fervor—and undeniable political power—of the Tea Party movement. As the latest candidate to emerge as the main populist rival to Romney, Santorum has become the primary...

A combative Mitt Romney on Monday broadened his call for Newt Gingrich to release records from his work as a consultant, speculating that those documents and records from a House ethics investigation from his time as speaker could show “potentially wrongful activity of some kind.” “We could see an October surprise a day from Newt Gingrich,” Romney told reporters at a media availability here. “And so let’s see the records from the ethics investigation, let’s see what they show. Let’s see who his clients were at the time he was lobbying Republican congressmen for Medicare Part D.

GILBERT, S.C. — Mitt Romney and a top surrogate called for Newt Gingrich, Romney's chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, to release the House Ethics Committee report that led to a reprimand of Gingrich and a $300,000 fine. After Romney was pressed on his tax returns, Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) stepped in and interrupted Romney. "The people of South Carolina are not talking about tax returns. They're not. They're talking about jobs, spending and the economy," she said before taking a shot at Gingrich, who is neck and neck with Romney in recent polls of South Carolina. "In all...

Sahil Kapur has a good piece up at TNR about the Tea Party’s plans to go after Mitt Romney because he’s not the “rock-solid fiscal conservative” they want. According to Kapur, FreedomWorks, the Dick Armey-led Tea Party organization, is threatening to “uneash part of its $25 million treasure trove in an attempt to sink his candidacy.” Meanwhile, Joe Miller, the Tea Party candidate who took on Lisa Murkowski in Alaska and lost last November, has his own political action committee dedicated to going after Mitt Romney where it matters most: New Hampshire. Last November, the Tea Party swept into state...

A crowd of about 40 in a hot warehouse stacked with plumbing supplies cheered when he said it was time for politicians to spend less time thinking about getting re-elected and more time on "thinking about how to get the country on the right track and put Americans back to work."

With Mike Huckabee's exit from the race, Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin are now on top of the Republican field, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday. Twenty percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they'd support the former Massachusetts governor, while 18 percent say they'd support the former Alaska governor. Newt Gingrich comes in third place with 11 percent. In the April 15-20 poll, Huckabee had 16 percent (tied with Donald Trump). Romney had 13, Palin had 10. While Romney and Palin now share the top spot, Gallup's positive intensity tracking shows Republicans feeling less enthusiastic about their two...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pulled in an eye-popping $10.3 million during a national fundraising effort Monday that he described as the kick-off to his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. The event was staged at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the site was no accident: Nevada is key to Romney's early primary state strategy. Nearly 800 participants dialed for dollars all day and hauled in nearly $4 million more than when his campaign staged a similar event four years earlier. Romney has been scarce on the campaign trail in recent months as he's focused heavily on...

Now that two of the top three candidates for the Republican nomination have pulled out of the race, the big winner is the one candidate left standing: Mitt Romney. The polling before Huckabee and Trump pulled out was — in my survey — Romney-22, Huckabee-20, Trump-15, Gingrich-11, Palin-9, Bachmann-6, Pawlenty-3, and Daniels-2. Now, Romney will inherit a large proportion of the votes left on the table by Huckabee’s and Trump’s withdrawal. My polling suggests that, based on the expressed second choices of the Huckabee and Trump voters, Romney will get 30% of Huckabee’s voters and 40% of Trump’s. These additions...

On Monday, Meghan McCain told Kennesaw State University that she wants Mitt Romney, not Sarah Palin, to be the next president. As McCain explained, "My personal favorite right now is Mitt Romney. I like that he's not so radical. I like that he has really, really played his cards right, almost perfectly since the last election" (as reported by Marietta Daily Journal). McCain's endorsement may be a double-edged sword for Romney. On the one hand, her endorsement is a boon because she chose him over her own father's running mate. And McCain enjoys a devoted following among independents, moderate Republicans...

BARTLETT, N.H., March 5 (UPI) -- Republican Mitt Romney delivered a scathing assessment of U.S. President Obama Saturday night, calling him "unequal to the task of leading the free world." Speaking in the early presidential battleground state of New Hampshire, Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is expected to make another run at the White House in 2012, said Obama has done a lousy job staying on top of Middle East and North Africa political unrest, CBS News reported.

The good news for Willard Mitt Romney is that his religion won’t knock him out of the Republican race for president next year. The bad news is, he’s got an even bigger problem now than the magic underwear jokes — Romneycare. “That’s the question he has to address,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H) was saying Friday afternoon. “Not just in New Hampshire, but nationwide.” You know how big a headache this is when even Mitt’s highest-profile supporters are dodging brickbats over the chaos that is Massachusetts health care.

Sarah Palin wasted little time firing back at Barbara Bush, who used an interview with Larry King early this week to express her hope that Palin will stay in Alaska. "I think the majority of Americans don't want to put up with the blue bloods," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's radio show on Wednesday. "And I say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes. The blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners." While it's true that Barbara Bush remains a well-liked figure, particularly within...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney, a likely GOP presidential candidate for 2012, told supporters he won’t announce his candidacy before the end of the year — but political analysts said yesterday the discussion is the strongest indicator yet that he’ll run. “We know who is running, they’re just doing everything but coming out and saying so,” said Andy Smith, director of the Political Center at the University of New Hampshire. Romney held a conference call with 245 of his top supporters Thursday and told them that unlike his failed 2008 run, he won’t be announcing until later in the cycle, according...

Mitt Romney had his chance, and he blew it. He was given the opportunity to establish himself as the Leader of the Republican Party on what has become the defining issue between the nation's two major political parties, and, in the process, solidify his position as the front-running candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination; but rather than showing the intelligence, cunning, and courage necessary to take ownership of the issue, he showed none, and blew it. All he had to do was say six simple words, words Americans love to hear: "I was wrong. I am sorry."

In a vacuum there’s nothing newsy about this, but 2012 isn’t a vacuum. We’ve talked before about the developing narrative: Palin vs. anti-Palin, “true conservatives” vs. centrists, blue-collar vs. white-collar, and … populists vs. “elitists.” With Beck having brought down the house at CPAC and the GOP in the grip of tea party fee-vah, why oh why would a potential nominee spritz cold water on populism? Branding, dear boy, branding: As Mitt Romney sets out this week to promote his new book, “No Apology,’’ he is also auditioning for a rapidly disappearing role in American politics: a politician who is...

Is Mitt Romney getting all the pieces together for another run at the White House? What seems to many as a forgone conclusion may soon become a reality, with the announcement of Matt Rhoades as executive director for Romney's Free and Strong America PAC. According to an article in Politico, Rhoades, who has served on other presidential campaigns and at the Republican National Committee was communications director for Romney's 2008 run. With the upcoming release and tour for Romney's new book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, Romney's 2012 intentions may be one of the worst kept secrets in...

The upper echelon of Republican Scott Brown’s Senate campaign in Massachusetts is filled with staffers who once worked in former Gov. Mitt Romney’s employ. But with the eyes of the nation on the state’s Jan. 19 special Senate election — and with other Republican luminaries such as Rudy Giuliani traipsing through Massachusetts for Brown in recent days — Romney himself has been conspicuously absent. Despite his status as one of the GOP’s most prominent national figures and a prospective 2012 presidential candidate, the former Massachusetts governor hasn’t appeared publicly with Brown since late October. Back then, when almost no one...

Here is video of former John McCain Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt on "60 Minutes" trying to hurt Gov. Sarah Palin by saying she was repeatedly "inaccurate" in statements she made during the campaign, which forced the McCain campaign to have to correct her statements. Schmidt is reportedly pushing a new book coming out about the campaign. Listening to this pathetic jerk makes it very clear why the McCain Campaign had no chance for victory. Schmidt was the wrong person to run McCain's campaign, and knows he is finished as a Campaign Manager for GOP candidates. He's trying now to cash...

Hotline on Call has a new poll that provides good news for former Massachuetts Gov. Mitt Romney and bad news for Mitt Romney. And it has bad news for former Gov. Sarah Palin and good news for Sarah Palin. The news: GOP insiders think Romney is way in front for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination while Palin has an awful lot of catching up to do. Literally: Voters were asked to rank 5 candidates in the order of likeliness to capture the GOP nod. The results: Likely To Win WH’12 Nomination (First place votes) Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney 81 points...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will make two stops in Iowa in March as part of his nationwide book tour, following visits by fellow 2012 GOP hopefuls Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty. Romney’s second book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” is due out March 2, and the promotional tour will take the former GOP presidential candidate to 18 states. Romney will visit first in the nation Iowa on March 29, signing books at the Des Moines Central Library and making a speech at Iowa State University, located in Ames.