Free Republic

Tim LaHaye, the co-author of the best-selling Christian book series “Left Behind,” and his wife, Beverly, plan to endorse Newt Gingrich’s bid for president, The Daily Caller has learned from three sources. The campaign learned of the endorsement from the influential Christian conservatives Thursday night, one source said. That person told TheDC that the campaign is “very encouraged” by it. (RELATED: Full coverage of Newt Gingrich’s campaign) LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series sold more than 63 million books. It’s the bestselling Christian fiction series in history, according to its website. LaHaye supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the 2008 Republican...

Gingrich 25% Santorum 24% Romney 22% Paul 9% Perry 4%

Romney 30% Gingrich 20% Paul 16% Santorum 13% Perry 7% Huntsman 3%

Romney 30% (N/C) Gingrich 18% (+1) Santorum 17% (-1) Paul 12% (-1) Perry 5% (-1) Huntsman 1% (N/C)

Mitt Romney: 36 Newt Gingrich: 25 Rick Santorum: 17 Ron Paul: 7 Other: 5 Undecided 10 Other: 5

The young men in business suits, gingerly picking their way among the millwrights, machinists and pipefitters at Kansas City's Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill. Gaping up at the cranes that swung 10-foot cast iron buckets through the air. Jumping at the thunder from the melt shop's electric-arc furnace as it turned scrap metal into lava. "They looked like a bunch of high school kids to me. A bunch of Wall Street preppies," says Jim Linson, an electronics repairman who worked at the plant for 40 years. "They came in, they were in awe." Apparently they liked what they saw. Soon...

Commentary: Looking at his record, it's a losing argument BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Is Mitt Romney for real? Romney, who may well be President Barack Obama's opponent in 2012, he had great time last week blaming the president for the current jobs shortage. Speaking to the CPAC right-wing conference in Washington, D.C., Romney said that the dismal employment situation, a year after Obama took office, showed the president was a "failure" who was "going downhill faster than... Lindsey Vonn." OK, let's take him at his word. Then what does that say about Romney? The Republican contender was the governor of Massachusetts...

Newt Gingrich opened the Sunday morning GOP debate by going on the attack against Mitt Romney, taking the bait in a question from moderator David Gregory by delivering a lengthy denunciation of Romney’s record and economic platform. “I think what Republicans have to ask is who’s most likely to survive in the long run” against President Barack Obama, Gingrich said. Gingrich called Romney a “a relatively timid Massachusetts moderate who even The Wall Street Journal said had an economic plan so timid it resembled Obama” and noted that during Romney’s administration, Massachusetts was “fourth from the bottom” in job creation....

Romney 30% Gingrich 23% Santorum 19% Paul 9% Perry 5% Huntsman 4%

As media buzz reached a fever pitch in the minutes before a Republican presidential debate hosted by ABC News, Yahoo! News, and WMUR-TV, Las Vegas Sun reporter John Ralston tweeted unexpected news: Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Ralston said, has made a $5 million contribution to a Super PAC devoted to promoting the candidacy of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “ADELSON gave $5M to Newt SuperPAC on Friday,” Ralston tweeted. The Sun was among the first to report in December that Adelson committed to donate or raise $20 million to aid Gingrich in seeking the White House. At the time, an...

Romney 29% Gingrich 17% Santorum 16% Paul 12% Perry 6%

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich may not have finished in the top ranks in Iowa, but he thinks upcoming primaries are still up for grabs and his Reagan-like leanings still make him a contender. "I think our plan is to compete with Romney here in New Hampshire, which is clearly his stronghold," Gingrich said in an interview with CNBC Wednesday as he campaigned in the state. "It's one of his best three states. I mean if he can't win here he wouldn't be able to stay in the race; so I assume he'll win here but I think...

Romney 26% Gingrich 22% Paul 13% Santorum 8% Perry 6% Huntsman 2%

Romney 24% Gingrich 23% Paul 13% Perry 7% Santorum 6% Bachmann 5% Huntsman 2%

As Florida voters begin to focus on the state’s pivotal GOP presidential primary at the end of January, the leading contenders are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, according to a poll by TelOpinion Research, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida. Romney and Gingrich are essentially in a statistical dead heat, with Romney leading with 27 percent of the vote to Gingrich’s 26, according to the telephone survey of 780 Republican voters, conducted from Dec. 15-19. Bill Lee, a Republican pollster who co-founded TelOpinion, said that matches the national...

Newt Gingrich said that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be among the candidates that he would consider when considering a potential running mate..... Gingrich, speaking Wednesday during a conference call with conservative voters hosted by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, was asked by one of the attendees whether he would consider Palin as a running mate. "She is certainly one of the people you would look at. I am a great admirer of hers and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska, she’s somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in...

During his speech Thursday night to Republicans in Davenport, Iowa, Rick Santorum disputed popular conservative pundit Ann Coulter's recent criticism of his record on immigration. "Tell Ann Coulter, next time you see her, get her facts straight," the former Pennsylvania senator told an audience of more than 200 at the Center for Active Seniors. Arguing on behalf of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in her syndicated column Wednesday, Coulter portrayed Santorum as soft on illegal immigration, citing his vote against the so-called "E-Verify" measure to provide automatic electronic verification of workers' immigration status. But Santorum said that he voted against...

Link only: http://www.elpasotimes.com/texas/ci_19640173

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is taking aim at Rick Santorum in a tongue-in-cheek new radio ad which blasts the former Pennsylvania senator for supporting earmarks during his years in Congress. The spot highlights how Santorum—a nonfactor in the race as recently as a few weeks ago—has become a fat target for fellow candidates. [See the latest political cartoons.] The ad accuses Santorum of trying to get more than $1 billion in earmarks over his years in Congress, and for voting for the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," the 2005 proposed bridge in Alaska which became a symbol of wasteful government projects....

Newsmax and Ronald Reagan’s eldest son Michael Reagan say the 2012 presidential election is crucial to America’s future and Newt Gingrich is the candidate who will best continue the Reagan legacy. On Thursday Newsmax released a special online broadcast, “The Newsmax 2012 Campaign Special,” hosted by Michael Reagan. The exclusive election program is featured in lieu of the Newsmax Republican presidential debate originally scheduled for Dec. 27. Newsmax is the nation’s leading online media company, reaching more than 10 million Americans monthly through its popular website, Newsmax.com, email news alerts and its monthly magazine. Forbes magazine has described Newsmax as...