Free Republic

Mitt Romney has realized that he can't avoid the issue of his Mormon religion, so he might as well embrace it. The Republican frontrunner's new South Carolina mail campaign emphasizes Romney's deep religious beliefs and 42-year marriage, in an effort to win over 60 percent of the state's Republicans that are evangelical or "born again" Christians. The ad, however, doesn't dive head first into touting Romney's Mormonism, but instead refers heavily to his "faith" and how it will influence him as president, also assuring South Carolina voters that the White House contender is "pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-family."

The fight to place all seven Republican presidential candidates on Virginia's primary ballot is moving toward the courts while one candidate bumped from the ballot, Newt Gingrich, insisted Wednesday that he was the victim of fraud. The conservative Citizens for the Republic and former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Paul Goldman said Wednesday that Virginia failed to follow its own laws in determining which candidates should make the ballot. The state delegated its duties to the political parties without double-checking their work, Goldman said. Virginia requires candidates to submit signatures from 10,000 registered voters, including 400 from each of the...

"It has recently come to our attention that your station has either been asked to run, or may soon be asked to run, various advertising spots produced by the Mitt Romney aligned SuperPAC “Restore Our Future” or Romney for President, the principal campaign committee of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Included among the Romney advertisements submitted to your station for broadcast are likely to be various advertisements which specifically mention Speaker Gingrich and purport to quote or reference the findings of a 1997 report issued by the House Select Committee on Ethics (the “Report”). The content of these advertisements state...

"I don't have lobbyists running my campaign. I don't have lobbyists tied to my..." [then a reporter takes Romney to task].

Republican presidential upstart Rick Santorum found himself under increasing scrutiny on Thursday as front-runner Mitt Romney tried to chip away at his credibility ahead of the key New Hampshire primary. Santorum's surge in Iowa, which held its nominating contest on Tuesday, was so quick that his record as a U.S. senator and strong conservative views against abortion and gay marriage escaped close attention from his 2012 presidential rivals and the media.His entry into New Hampshire was rocky. College students booed him at New England College over his position against gay marriage and he was forced to explain a remark he...

DES MOINES, Iowa - With only eight votes separating them, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have proved after last night’s Iowa primary vote that the battle between moderate and conservative forces in the Republican party will continue to both define and divide the GOP 2012 caucuses. Ron Paul landed in a close third place, while U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the strongest social conservatives in the race, announced the end of her candidacy Wednesday after coming in at sixth place. In the final count released this morning, Santorum’s 30,007 (24.54%) votes were defeated by 30,015 (24.55%) cast for the...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose support in Iowa has withered after riding on top of the polls, on Tuesday called former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a liar who would mislead the American people if elected to the White House - but added that he would still vote for him if Romney won the GOP nomination. On CBS' "The Early Show" this morning, CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell asked Gingrich about comments he had previously made about his chief rival and the Super PAC whose negative campaign ads have hurt his campaign: "You scolded Mitt Romney, his...

OTTUMWA, Iowa — Newt Gingrich challenged Mitt Romney Tuesday afternoon to act on his comments that he’s opposed to Super PACs. Gingrich said his rival should disown and condemn the attack ads being run against him by the Romney-friendly Restore our Future Super PAC. “Anything short of that is baloney,” Gingrich said. “We’ve got to understand these are his people, running his ads, doing his dirty work while he pretends to be above it. He can demand that every ad be positive.” Gingrich got peeved when a man asked him about a radio ad he’d just heard that described the...

Time Magazine's latest cover is out, with a photo of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney. The tag line: "Why don't they like me?" In a blog post accompanying the cover's release, Time columnist Joe Klein writes, "Romney has problems he can't do anything about. He's wealthy, a member of the Establishment in a party that is trending very strongly toward right-wing populism. He's also a Mormon, which is rarely mentioned by Republicans, but is an obvious disadvantage among the party's evangelical protestant base.

Republicans might not particularly like Mitt Romney, but they may have to learn to live with him if they want to take the White House next year. So suggests a poll released today by Purple Strategies, which surveys voters in 12 swing states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. President Obama's approval rating in the swing states is in peril -- just 41% overall and 37% among independents -- but his saving grace seems to be that voters there are even more sour on the Republican candidates. This critical block...

DUBUQUE -- Despite knocks from the left and right Monday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won new support in Iowa by laying out a moderate course to slash $500 billion from government spending. While other Republican presidential candidates have presented blueprints to scrap entire federal agencies, Romney vowed to "slay the deficit beast" by putting each government-funded program to a test: Are they so critical that they are worth borrowing money from China to pay for? He said Amtrak, public arts and broadcasting would be among the programs cut "These are wonderful things, but I'm not willing to borrow a...

Mitt Romney is always quick to lambast other Republicans for being career politicians, as if this is his first rodeo and he is a political newcomer. However, the truth is he’s been in politics for over seventeen years, many of which have been spent appealing to liberals and moderates and fighting to keep from being identified with Ronald Reagan. Yet the more one goes back and listens to the things Romney’s been saying during his nearly two decades of public service, the more one has to wonder why he thought someone would link him to Reagan in the first place....

Mitt Romney is going negative on Rick Perry, and he's using one of the most tried-and-true methods: the Internet. Today, Romney for President Inc. launched (snip) an anti-Rick Perry website aimed at undermining the former Massachusetts governor's best-funded opponent. snip The Washington Post shows other anti-Perry Web domain names are being gobbled up snip While no one is claiming ownership of the anti-Perry domains, The Post's Philip Rucker and T.W. Farnam note that the same day the domain names were purchased, Romney's campaign bought $2,851 worth of domain names at GoDaddy.com, which was the same vendor that sold the anti-Perry...

Here is video of Bill O'Reilly interviewing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney last night, where he pressed him hard on what he called the "fiscal disaster" of RomneyCare. Romney said it is essentially costing what they expected it to cost. He also claimed the plan takes people who had no health care and gives them a chance to purchase private, market-based health care. Romney argued that RomneyCare differs from ObamaCare in that it is a state-based solution rather than a Federal Program! He finally admitted that his plan in Massachusetts has NOT brought health care costs down, and he said...

Here is one thing I am certain about: A President Mitt Romney would never have bowed to anyone -- not to Saudi King Abdullah, not to Japanese Emperor Akihito. Here's another thing: A President Romney would not have traveled around the world badmouthing his country and making apologies for it. Here's a third: A President Romney would never have ordered the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay or lowered the American flag in Haiti.

Romney fans, please don't shoot the messenger. Mitt Romney's book has debuted at #1 atop the NY Times best-seller list among non-fiction hardcover books. However, the NY Times also provides some additional information that may explain how Romney's book hit the #1 spot. Whenever the NY Times places a "dagger" symbol next to a book, it signifies that "some bookstores report[ed] receiving bulk orders" for the book. The NY Times placed not just one, but two, daggers next to Romney's book. You can draw your own conclusion as to who it was that purchased Governor Romney's book in bulk. By...

Romney's Legacy: Socialized Healthcare RomneyCare

Asked during last night’s Republican debate about whether his campaign was downplaying his health care plan, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney replied, “I love it.” While praising the plan as a model of bipartisanship — and citing support for it from both Ted Kennedy and the Heritage Foundation — Romney failed to tell viewers what was in the plan. It’s worth reminding people, therefore, that the plan Romney loves: Imposes an unprecedented individual mandate, requiring everyone in Massachusetts to purchase a government-designated insurance product or face thousands of dollars in tax penalties. Significantly increased Medicaid eligibility and provided taxpayer-funded subsidies...