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C’mon. Would it do any good at all? “I guarantee that, at the top of everyone’s list on how to differentiate your guy from Mitt Romney, the top of the list is health care — until and unless he takes the opportunity to say, ‘We tried, and it didn’t work. The individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare and Romneycare was wrong,’” said Bill Pascoe, a Republican strategist who wrote a post on his blog earlier this year titled “Say Goodbye to Mitt.”…An apology from Romney, or even an acknowledgement that the Massachusetts law has faults, could play into the...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama Republican governor candidate Robert Bentley has turned down an offered endorsement from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, expected to be a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Romney on Thursday endorsed a list of 24 Alabama Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, state treasurer Kay Ivey in her race for lieutenant governor and Birmingham lawyer Luther Strange, who is running for attorney general. The Birmingham News reported that Bentley turned down the endorsement. A spokeswoman for Bentley, Rebekah Mason, said Friday that Bentley wanted to concentrate on the race for governor and did...

Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin are the clear leaders of the 2012 Republican presidential primary field, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday. Romney and Palin were the only potential candidates to earn more than 15 percent in the poll, with Mike Huckabee trailing not far behind. The three former governors were the only candidates to receive more than 10 percent, with Romney receiving 19 percent, Palin getting 16 percent and Huckabee at 12 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich came in fourth in the poll, getting 9 percent, reports Politico. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was the only other...

Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have the strongest support among potential candidates for the Republican party's presidential nomination in 2012, according to the results of a Gallup poll released on Thursday, with strong showings also turned in by Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich. The poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents showed that 19 percent support Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, while 16 percent support Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the GOP's vice presidential nominee in 2008. Former Arkansas Governor Huckabee and former House Speaker Gingrich received the support of 12 percent and 9 percent, respectively, while Rep....

[snip] In addition, Romney is presenting a more "easygoing and accessible" image instead of again offering up "the formally dressed, perfectly coiffed, carefully rehearsed candidate" of the 2008 campaign, according to the Globe. "Mitt is doing a better job at low-keying it,'' former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman Steve Duprey told the newspaper. "He would be wise to stay with it right through a presidential primary.'' Romney has been spending the summer at his $3.5 million home on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, where he drives a Chevy Silverado truck and can be seen in jeans, not suits. (That's an image...

Mitt Romney continues to look like an overwhelming early favorite for the 2012 New Hampshire primary but the most surprising thing about our newest set of numbers there may be that Ron Paul's in third place, outpolling Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin (albeit by small margins.) Romney leads the way with 31% to 14% for Newt Gingrich, 13% for Paul, 12% for Huckabee, 9% for Palin, 3% for Tim Pawlenty, and 1% for Mitch Daniels. Observations from the numbers: -Among voters who are more likely to support a candidate endorsed by Sarah Palin...Romney leads...with 29% to Palin's 21%. We've written...

Mitt Romney's the favorite at this early stage in a couple key Republican primary states: Florida and Nevada. Romney came up short in Florida last time, but for now Republicans in the state prefer him to the other leading potential 2012 candidates. Romney gets 31% with Palin and Gingrich tied for second at 23% and Huckabee and Paul further back at 15% and 6% respectively. These numbers are good news for Romney and bad news for Huckabee and Palin...

If the Republican nomination in 2012 shapes up as a two-way race between former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, expect fireworks to fly. Last week, GOP primary voters caught a glimpse of how things might play out between the two Republican heavyweights when anonymous aides from both camps exchanged pointedly personal barbs. The scuffle began when Time magazine’s Mark Halperin anonymously quoted one Romney aide in a column last Thursday, blasting Palin for her lack of substance, “She’s not a serious human being.” Another aide to the former Massachusetts governor ripped into Palin, arguing, “If...

A new poll from Public Policy Polling shows President Obama trailing Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich in support for the 2012 presidential election. Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Romney leads by 46 to 43 percent, ex-Arkansas Gov. Huckabee by 47 to 45 percent and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich by 46 to 45 percent. Obama is tied with ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 46 percent. The only potential Republican candidate he leads is lesser-known Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, 44 to 36 percent. The president’s numbers are the worst ever in Public Policy Polling’s monthly survey. But the poll respondents didn’t express much...

Huckabee’s taken potshots at her from time to time, but between this fusillade from unnamed Mitt advisors and the furious counterattack on Romney at Conservatives 4 Palin, I’d say that the 2012 primary is now, at long last, officially on. In the immortal words of Greg Stillson, “The missiles are flying. Hallelujah.” Still, few express much regard for Palin’s ultimate chances. One adviser to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and, by traditional standards, the putative 2012 frontrunner, says of Palin, “She’s not a serious human being.” Another Romney intimate warns, “If she’s standing up there in a debate and...

Sarah Palin's recent web video making a pitch to conservative women may have again shifted the political spotlight to the former governor of Alaska, but more than a half dozen other GOP hopefuls are toying seriously with a presidential run this summer. ......................................................... Still, few express much regard for Palin's ultimate chances. One adviser to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and, by traditional standards, the putative 2012 frontrunner, says of Palin, "She's not a serious human being." Another Romney intimate warns, "If she's standing up there in a debate and the answers are more than 15 seconds long, she's...

BOSTON — I consider myself lucky to have lived in Massachusetts during the years 2003 to 2007, when the Commonwealth (God save it!) was under the barely distinguishable leadership of Willard (Mitt) Romney, an affable parachute artist from Utah who came tumbling into and out of our politics so quickly that it's hard to believe he ever was here. For the most part, Romney was the kind of Republican we'd always liked: He was rich and white, and he wasn't dramatically concerned with either the civil rights of zygotes, or where some men might be putting their pee-pees when Jeebus...

The November midterm elections are just four months away, but a handful of politicians are already looking far down the calendar to 2012 -- and it's starting to show. Though the 2012 presidential campaign arguably began as soon as the 2008 campaign ended, the water testing is starting to become more visible. It takes a long time to raise the millions needed to run for president and build national attention -- so with about two years to go until the conventions, a few potential candidates seem to be getting the ball rolling. The political activity is taking place in all...

This isn’t intended as a criticism of Chris Matthews or his statement about Sarah Palin; in fact, he’s exactly correct in this analysis. If Palin decides to run for President and scores big in Iowa, survives in New Hampshire, and can go big in South Carolina, she will have a strong lead for the Republican nomination. Actually, that’s not exactly news, since that’s also the strategy for Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty (who is spending three days in Iowa), and anyone else seeking the Republican nomination. Matthews is also not wrong about what will happen if Palin manages to do...

1. Haley Barbour: Barbour's Republican Governors Association has become the story of the 2010 midterms. The RGA's second quarter fundraising numbers -- $19 million raised, $40 million on hand -- is an eye-popping total that should remind those who have forgotten about Barbour's reach in the GOP donor community. With Republicans poised to make significant gains at the gubernatorial level this fall, Barbour will almost certainly emerge with momentum after the November elections -- momentum that he may seek to channel into a presidential exploratory bid. 2. Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor is slowly and methodically rolling out endorsements...

Since we began ranking the 10 most influential Republican leaders early last year, we've made sure to note that this Line is not to be taken as an early ranking of the 2012 field. More and more, however, it is. As the 2010 election now stands less than four months away, the 2012 jockeying has begun in earnest with potential presidential candidates seeking to out-endorse and out-stump one another. The current leaders in that game are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who are both doling out cash by the bucketful through their respective PACs. Increasingly...

SUMMARY Nikki Haley was one of two conservative minority Republicans to post primary wins in South Carolina, thanks to strong backing from tea party voters. Judy Woodruff talks to two political watchers about what those wins mean for the general election. JUDY WOODRUFF: And for more on the primaries and the historical results in South Carolina, we're joined by Amy Walter, editor in chief of The Hotline, "National Journal"'s political daily, and Adolphus Belk Jr. He's a professor of political science and African-American studies at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He joins us now from Charlotte, North Carolina....

Nikki Haley may have been the big winner in South Carolina Tuesday, but she isn’t the only Republican whose star is rising in an early state that is key to winning the GOP presidential nomination. Both Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, were also winners in the 2012 sweepstakes. They got behind Haley at critical junctures in her campaign for governor while the rest of the potential GOP presidential field either endorsed another candidate or stayed out of the fray completely. . . . . . . Former Arkansas Gov. Mike...

The elections of Nikki Haley, who is poised to become the first female/first Indian governor of South Carolina and Tim Scott, poised to become the second black Republican congressman to serve in Congress (and who won against a segregationist's son, Paul Thurmond) were momentous and historical for all the obvious reasons... That being said, I do not expect the lamestream media to give these stories as much coverage as they deserve mainly because their "conservatives want segregation back" mantra is quite frankly the only age-old tactic liberals have to rely on for any hope of keeping their shackles on the...

PHOENIX (AP) - John McCain is calling in former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday. McCain and Romney are scheduled to appear together at a town hall meeting in Mesa.