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Don't expect to see Mitt Romney at the Republican Party's national convention this summer. An aide to the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee confirms that Romney isn't planning to attend the convention where Donald Trump is expected to become the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nominee. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.

"...the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, appears incapable of putting or unwilling to put on the mantle of confidence-inspiring leadership. He does not convey a genuine sense of understanding of the people's angst and is unwilling to display an immutable set of core convictions. The campaign, thus far, seems to be relying on the assumption that the election in November will be solely a referendum on Barack Obama, as enough people will be so intent on change of any sort that they will vote for Romney as the only alternative."

Ann Romney: No more debates for MittBy Keith Laing - 02/25/12 03:10 PM ET Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife Ann said the former Massachusetts governor would not participate in any more debates in the GOP primary. Introducing Romney before his speech to the conservative group Americans For Prosperity's forum in Troy, Mich., Ann Romney said that she decided that her husband should stop debating the other Republican candidates. "I've also decided no more debates," Ann Romney said to laugher in her introduction of her husband. "If we do another debate, he's going to sit in the audience and watch...

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - At his third and final stop of a one-day swing through the state of Iowa, Mitt Romney did his best to keep the focus on the economy, but ended up addressing both his faith and President Obama's role in bringing down Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi. Asked by reporters as he was leaving the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce whether the president deserves some credit for the death of the ousted Libyan leader, Romney said: "Yes. Yes, absolutely." At an earlier town hall in Sioux City, Romney expressed satisfaction at Qaddafi's demise. "I think it's about time....

“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” – Taylor (Charlton Heston); The Planet of the Apes, (1968) This classic line is all that came to mind when I read this piece in POLITICO—following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision not to enter the presidential field, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s law firm made a number of calls requesting early state filing deadlines… that’s right. She thinks she can blow it up. She just might. Poll Shows Palin Within 5 Points of Obama She Has A Documentary Out, Doncha Know? Palin’s political action...

One Republican presidential candidate who would benefit if Sarah Palin entered the contest is Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor has sunk dramatically in the polls since the entry of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and a Palin candidacy probably would skim off some the tea party support boosting Perry, The Washington Post’s political blog The Fix reports. Two national polls now show Perry leading Romney by 12 points, and a substantial part of this strength is with the tea party. Perry runs neck and neck with Romney among GOP members not associated with the tea party but leads all rivals...

Just as I said. According to O4P insiders , Palin lured Perry into the race to pop Romney's bubble and are relying on Romney to go negative on Perry and pop Perry's bubble and thus the reason for Palin's late entry. Read the article , Team Romney is getting ready to pull the trigger.

TAMPA -- Mitt Romney has dispatched three senior campaign officials to hold strategy briefings with Republican National Committee members at the RNC’s summer meeting here, as Romney tries to consolidate the party establishment around his 2012 candidacy. No other Republican presidential candidate has a presence at the four-day meeting, according to multiple RNC members. Romney’s team arrived in Tampa -- which will host the 2012 Republican National Convention -- to present the case for his candidacy to the RNC’s 168 state party chairmen and other committee members, the vast majority of whom are unaligned in the presidential contest. Romney’s deputy...

Election '12: The Republican presidential front-runner is oddly silent on Washington's momentous budget talks. Mitt Romney can run, but he can't hide his positions forever. Massachusetts' former governor went to North Hollywood, Calif., on Wednesday with a "what else is new?" observation. "The president's policies almost without question have caused this recession to be deeper and longer than it would have been," he said. There's no "almost without question" about it. But it takes more to be elected president than pointing out what 14 million unemployed Americans — 6.3 million of them out of work for more than six months...

Mitt Romney has been criticized for not speaking out more forcefully on the debt-ceiling negotiations. But Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, has taken a subtler tack, avoiding the issue of the debt ceiling as he presses a more general assault on President Barack Obama's economic record. That has attracted the attention of his GOP challengers, who have begun to accuse him of ducking the most vital issue of the campaign so far. "The current debate is about what kind of leadership you're going to show," former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said in an interview Monday. "If you're running for president,...

Politico notes correctly, that this is a great line directed at Romney, an “eh” line directed at Pawlenty, and a dumb line directed at Perry or Palin. There’s no obvious way out of this box: After four years of blaming the failures of Hopenchange in part on The One having never run so much as a lemonade stand, how do Republicans turn around now and take a chance on Bachmann? Bachmann said executive experience doesn’t matter if it comes with “more of the same big government as usual.” “This election will be about quite simply, who can lead that restructuring...

POSITIVELY PALIN! Posted on June 02, 2011 Drove through the rough weather last night in Massachusetts, hoping folks are safe this morning as residents survey the aftermath. Our prayers are with the victims of yesterday's twisters and all those who are faced with what may seem insurmountable rebuilding challenges. The damage we saw was shocking. It was an honor to meet great MA residents as we pulled off I-91, heard their concerns and hopes for their state and country, and shared their appreciation for the East Coast's inspiring history. We handed out copies of the Constitution and asked that...

The fact is that Mitt Romney is an unprincipled chameleon with ZERO core beliefs... a synthetic, calculated opportunism has taken their place. Meanwhile, most of what he actually has said and done betrays a Big-Government social liberal. Other fun facts regarding this 'conservative' fraud'spast actions, positions, and failures: refused to endorse the 1994 GOP "Contract with America" distanced himself from the Reagan legacy: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush" lost GOP House seats in both Massachusetts elections of his tenure, 2004/2006 (leaving Republicans with the least # of seats there since the Civil War)   strongly supported gay rights...

In an article for the Washington Examiner Byron York writes: “The bottom line is Sarah Palin is not going to run for president,” says a Republican adviser close to front-runner Mitt Romney. “She’s making money, she’s moved on, she’s kind of an entertainer rather than a politician. She still has some sway with the grass roots, but she is not going to run.”“I don’t think she’s going to run,” says a Republican close to Tim Pawlenty. “She has faded a lot in the last few months. I look at what she’s doing now and say that she’s found a way...

Mitt Romney sits at or near the top of almost every poll of likely Republican presidential candidates. He hasn’t worked hard for the distinction. While others swarm the early primary states, he has mostly stayed away. He’s the rare Republican hopeful not currently or recently employed by Fox News. In fact, he rarely appears on television at all. He’ll skip tonight’s Republican debate in South Carolina. And who knows? He may skip the next one, too. Romney has put the “invisible” in the invisible primary. Let’s give him his due: that looks more and more like a presidential-caliber decision. There...

The presidential field may be wide open, but one candidate is playing the role of the inevitable front-runner, as his performance at the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference this weekend shows. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney brought with him to the event a large entourage that stayed for several days, while most other potential candidates dropped in and out of the conference to make their speeches and headline a reception or two. Other serious contenders brought just a few key staffers, but many didn't even have their top political aide in tow. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Arkansas...

Sh'yeah....riiiight....

An array of Republican heavyweights who backed Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential bid are not yet committed to - and in some cases, downright skeptical of - the former Massachusetts governor’s all-but-certain 2012 campaign. In each of the traditional early states, top Romney supporters from the last campaign tell POLITICO that they’re hesitant to get behind the nearest thing the GOP has to a frontrunner. His difficulties are particularly acute in Iowa and South Carolina, where his former enthusiasts say they have not heard from him, believe he may be intent on downplaying the states in his second White House run...

Make what you will of this, but National Journal's Reid Wilson is reporting that Mitt Romney and his team are thinking about sitting out next year's Iowa caucuses: Though there is no official campaign, and no strategy decisions have been finalized, Romney’s team has considered running a very different race from the last one. After Romney spent millions of dollars and a huge chunk of time in Iowa, only to finish behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, his strategists have spoken with potential consultants about the prospect of skipping Iowa altogether this time and launching a campaign from New Hampshire....

WASHINGTON — New Hampshire Tea Party movement activist Andrew Hemingway is not lacking in contact with likely presidential candidates. He’s talked hockey with Tim Pawlenty. He sat down with former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum at the Concord Country Club. And plans are in the works for Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to appear before a group of Hemingway’s fellow conservatives. the notable exception among the field of would-be GOP presidential contenders? Mitt Romney. “Romney for the most part is inaccessible,’’ said Hemingway, a Bristol resident who is chairman of the state’s Republican Liberty Caucus. “Pawlenty, I could call him right now...