Free Republic

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new surrogate for Mitt Romney warned Saturday night that if Newt Gingrich is the nominee he could give Democrats united control of Congress. Henry Barbour, a top Rick Perry fundraiser who endorsed Mitt Romney after the Texas governor dropped out, said Gingrich could not beat President Obama and would cost Republicans many House and Senate seats. Barbour told The Hill that endorsing Romney and coming to his South Carolina rally was a "very easy decision" because of Gingrich, who he said would turn the presidential race from a referendum on Obama into "the adventures of Newt...

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Friday he's "very comfortable" with his decision to grant pardons or other clemency to more than 200 people, including convicted killers, in his last days in office, telling Fox News that Mississippi is predominantly Christian and believes in forgiveness. The pardons have set off outrage among some victims' families and prompted a judge to block the release of some of the pardoned inmates out of concern that proper notification rules were not followed. Barbour told Fox News that any problem with paperwork was an accident on the part of corrections officials, who needed to...

Haley Barbour spoke with the Clarion-Ledger editorial board where they talked about his interest in running for president, among other things. Barbour said that he will wait until after the 2011 legislative season ends, which is scheduled to happen April 3. In today’s world, that is just very late in the game. Barbour has been going around, visiting key states, giving speeches; usually in his previous capacity as chairman of the RGA. It isn’t as if his name is already out there, but other potential candidates like Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich have certainly...