Free Republic

Ron Paul revels in the fact that he is the presidential candidate of America's small donors, receiving more contributions under $200 than any other Republican seeking the White House in 2012. But, like every other GOP presidential contender, he also has a mega-millionaire "sugar daddy" helping to fund a super PAC that is promoting Paul's candidacy. Yet while Newt Gingrich underwriter Sheldon Adelson and Rick Santorum super-supporter Foster Friess have shared the campaign stage - and the national political spotlight - with their candidates, Paul's benefactor, San Francisco entrepreneur Peter Thiel, has never met the Texas congressman he's aiding.

Birtherism is alive and well within the GOP ranks, and their 2012 nominee preferences tell a story about the difficulty Mitt Romney faces in trying to appeal to an electorate that's a whole lot further out there than he is. Birthers make a majority among those voters who say they're likely to participate in a Republican primary next year. 51% say they don't think Barack Obama was born in the United States to just 28% who firmly believe that he was and 21% who are unsure. The GOP birther majority is a new development. The last time PPP tested this...

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, has been an annual gig for me for years. But this year I concluded it was not my place and I declined to participate in the various venues at the event for which I was invited. Yes, the reason I declined was the inclusion of GOProud, a group identifying itself as representing “gay conservatives and their allies,” as a sponsor of the event. And it’s the reason why some of the nation’s most important conservative organizations – the Heritage Foundation, the American Family Association, Concerned Women of America, Family Research Council, Media Research Center,...

They haven’t even finished counting 2010 midterm ballots (New York’s 1st congressional district is still undecided), but already potential Republican candidates are testing the presidential waters for 2012. Among the early frontrunners will be former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Romney will have several powerful advantages: name recognition, plenty of money, a strong organization left over from 2008, and a reputation for business competence during an election in which economic issues and job creation are likely to dominate. But he will also have one enormous albatross hanging around his neck: the Massachusetts health-care program. One of the clearest lessons of the...

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...

It's two weeks before the 2010 elections. Which means now's a fine time to start obsessing about the 2012 campaign. The next presidential race will unofficially begin on No. 3 -- the day after the midterm elections. It's possible we may not know the outcome of all the critical House and Senate races by then, and these races could determine which party controls the House and Senate. But once most of the 2010 votes are counted, the politerati will quickly pivot toward the next big thing. So let me get an early jump and tell you this: watch out for...

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...

The Mormon Church has launched a television ad campaign in nine test markets. The ads contain no Bible verses or doctrinal discussions ... just everyday folks talking about their everyday lives. And, oh, by the way ... they practice a faith that nearly half of Americans know little to nothing about. ... The campaign also features an interactive website with a chat room where people can talk with Mormons and watch longer versions of the featured ads. Swofford hopes that they'll be able to present 90 different ads, so viewers will see a different person each time they air. My...

Former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney - believed by many political observers to be a clear GOP front-runner in the 2012 presidential race - is virtually in a dead heat with contender Sarah Palin, according to a new CNN poll. The poll shows Romney only 3 percentage points in front of former Alaska Gov. Palin, within the margin of error. “It’s a pretty open contest, and that’s interesting in and of itself,” said Suffolk University political professor John C. Berg. “It means the primary contest will be tighter.” Only months from the unofficial start of the 2012 presidential campaign, Romney...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Romney kicks off a 19-state book tour observers say could be an effort to garner support for a 2012 presidential run. The three-month tour to promote his book, "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," includes speeches and appearances in early-primary states as the one-time 2008 Republican presidential hopeful wages what some see as the most methodical campaign of any GOP presidential wannabe for the 2012 party nod, USA Today reported Monday. The tour begins next week. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington during the weekend, Romney polled...

Several prominent social conservatives have bailed out of this year's CPAC convention because of the presence of a group of gay Republicans. The three-day convention got started Thursday at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC and will feature such anti-gay figures as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, media personality Ann Coulter, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Conservative media personality Glenn Beck is the event's keynote speaker. Liberty University Law School, the Christian-based university founded by the late Jerry Falwell, backed out of the event after it was...

In discussing a new study confirming that polygamy is a staple within gay "marriages," a New York Times article has suggested that doing away with the concept of spousal fidelity in marriage represents an "evolution" that "might point the way for the survival of the institution." NYT columnist Scott James reported January 28 on a project by San Francisco State University's Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality examining various aspects of homosexual relationships. James says the study, which is scheduled for release this month, "reveals that monogamy is not a central feature for many." "Some gay men and lesbians...