Free Republic

OVERHEARD: Sen. John McCain (R) adding some fuel to the fire of constant veepstakes buzz surrounding one of his colleagues. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) was giving a group of interns a tour of the Capitol on Thursday when McCain breezed by. The senior senator from Arizona quipped to Portman’s young crew, “Now you can say you interned for Vice President Portman.” Portman is said to be on Mitt Romney’s shortlist of potential running mates.

This past week, we tried a new grassroots strategy to take on Mitt Romney. And it worked, better than we could have ever dreamed! Right now, President Obama is sinking in the polls, and the race looks very tough. But the more people know about Mitt Romney's economic plans—tax breaks for millionaires, layoffs and cutbacks for the rest of us—the less support he gets. That's why we're launching a huge program to make sure that swing voters realize that Romney isn't just some rich guy who happens to be running for office—he's running to raid America for the 1%. Our...

President Barack Obama mistakenly confused Mitt Romney with his father George on Monday at a fund-raiser in New York – the latest in a string of election gaffes from US presidential candidates.

Yesterday I projected ahead why I felt Mitt Romney would lose in a close election to President Obama. The three main factors that led me to my conclusion were: 1)Not being able to personally maximize the turnout of WHITE conservative/evangelical voters or motivate them to come out and support him 2)Not holding Obama to 13% of the conservative vote (what the Democrats got in the 2010 midterms) and/or facilitating the establishment of a 3rd party to bleed conservative votes away from him 3)Not being able to win the white working class vote by 30 points as the GOP did in...

For any other candidate, raining on a presidential announcement parade would be seen as sabotage. Not former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The 2012 presidential candidate told CNN’s Piers Morgan Monday that he wasn’t offended when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire on the same day he was set to formally announce his intention to seek the 2012 GOP nomination for president. In fact, though Romney shared his plans one week in advance and Palin insisted on keeping the destination of her top-secret bus tour under wraps until the day before her New...

In contrast to what many believe, I do not support political parties. I support and vehemently defend policies that make sense, and attack those that don't. In case you did not know that, I am going to surprise you with a blast of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who is pandering to the Iowa farmers with a message "I Support the Subsidy of Ethanol". On his first trip back to the nation's first voting state as a soon-to-be declared presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reaffirmed his support for federal ethanol subsidies -- an always important campaign issue in...

Now that two of the top three candidates for the Republican nomination have pulled out of the race, the big winner is the one candidate left standing: Mitt Romney. The polling before Huckabee and Trump pulled out was — in my survey — Romney-22, Huckabee-20, Trump-15, Gingrich-11, Palin-9, Bachmann-6, Pawlenty-3, and Daniels-2. Now, Romney will inherit a large proportion of the votes left on the table by Huckabee’s and Trump’s withdrawal. My polling suggests that, based on the expressed second choices of the Huckabee and Trump voters, Romney will get 30% of Huckabee’s voters and 40% of Trump’s. These additions...

A GOP frontrunner in the party's 2012 primary with a checkered past on health care, Mitt Romney produced a rather bold headline today with his op-ed in the USA Today: As first act, out with ObamaCare. "Health care is more than just one-sixth of the American economy. It is a source of well-being for individuals and families. We are blessed with much that is good in American health care. But we have taken a turn for the worse with ObamaCare, with its high taxes and vastly expanded federal control over our lives. I believe the better course is to empower...

Romney’s Venue Problem May 11, 2011 5:17 P.M. By Katrina Trinko Mitt Romney will be giving a major health care speech tomorrow at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. Two interesting tidbits about the Center: it’s affiliated with a university that provides abortions Planned Parenthood cannot do and it helped fund new embryonic stem cell lines — which requires the destruction of human embryos. From the University of Michigan Alumni Association [emphasis mine]: The University of Michigan today announced the formation of a consortium to create new embryonic stem cell lines that will aid the search for disease treatments and...

Republican college degree holders are more likely than those without a degree to support Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, 21% vs. 13%. Similarly, Romney's support climbs from 9% of Republicans earning less than $24,000 annually to 21% of those earning $90,000 or more. The reverse is true for Sarah Palin, who is favored by nearly twice as many Republicans without a college degree as those with one, 16% vs. 9%, and her support decreases by income from 22% among the lowest income group to 7% among the highest.

The only Mormon in the South Carolina legislature is Alan Clemmons, a real estate lawyer from Myrtle Beach with a shiny bald head, natty suits, and a hyperactive Twitter feed. -SNIP- Mormons make up about 2 percent of the U.S population, but they’re closer to 30 percent of the Republican presidential primary field, where two clean-cut, handsome, moderate, millionaire former governors — Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — appear to be seeking the nomination. -SNIP- “This year will be very much like my election,” Gov. Nikki Haley told POLITICO. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female or...

"In a previous post, Elephant Watcher examined how Huckabee's starting position for the 2012 race differs from when he ran in 2008. It's worth conducting a similar analysis of the Romney campaign...."

In NH, Romney praises Obama for bin Laden’s death (Ignores Pres. Bush and VP Cheney) NASHUA, N.H. — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama deserves credit for authorizing the military operation that resulted in Osama bin Laden’s death. Before starting a round-table discussion with New Hampshire business owners today, Romney thanked Obama, U.S. military forces and the intelligence community for finding and killing the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Last week, shortly before a certain ex-terrorist (now pining for the fjords) swallowed the news cycle, there were still some folks paying attention to the nascent GOP primary race. In an early stop in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney attended a forum hosted by Americans for Prosperity and moderated by Tim Phillips.It wouldn’t exactly take a modern day Nostradamus to know that Phillips was going to ask him about the health care plan he signed into law when he was the governor of the Bay State. The somewhat uncomfortable scene which then unfolded seemed to resemble a display of dancing which...

Mitt Romney Makes 'Hang' Obama Gaffe During Unofficial 2012 Debut By Ujala Sehgal April 30, 2011 | 2:34 p.m. Updated: April 30, 2011 | 4:30 p.m. The spotlight was on Mitt Romney yesterday at the Republican gathering in Manchester, New Hampshire, purportedly a summit on jobs and the economy, but also a showcase of five Republican presidential hopefuls, including Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Romney. Many interpreted the summit as Romney's unofficial debut as a 2012 candidate. And, it seems that Romney got off to a difficult start. The Atlantic writes: Romney was off in just about every...

PITTSBURGH—Mitt Romney’s pre-recorded video greeting for the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting received a lukewarm response here Friday, a reminder of his weakness on an issue important to the Republican base that at times dogged his 2008 campaign. (...) “I’m sorry I can’t be with you today in Pittsburgh, but I wanted to wish the National Rifle Association my congratulations (on) 140 years of defending our basic Constitutional rights,” he said in a two-minute video message. “Way to go!” Unlike tea party favorite Michele Bachmann, who also sent a pre-recorded video message, his two-minute spiel was not interrupted by applause....

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's abrupt withdrawal from the race for the Republican presidential nomination -- after hiring a topnotch New Hampshire campaign manager and planning to fly around the country next week -- has naturally inspired a lot of punditry on the Republican presidential race. Some of it is nonsense. I read someone earlier this week confidently stating that Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee were the only Republicans who can beat Barack Obama because they're doing better than other possible nominees in polls. Please. All those polls show is that these two who ran in 2008 have higher name recognition...

Poor Mitt Romney. He already had one big strike against him — his Mormonism — even before he contemplated his second run for the presidency. But thanks to the Tea Party, he’s also under serious fire for his 2006 Massachusetts health care plan, which his conservative critics liken to Obamacare — dubbing it “Romneycare” — since both plans mandate individual health coverage and expand the reach of Medicaid... ...Obama, and his close friend and political ally, current Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who says Romney’s plan is working “brilliantly,” expanding affordable health coverage to nearly 98% of the state’s residents. The...

I'm just curious what the official Free Republic stance is on Obama's birth certificate with respect to the 2012 election. Is demanding Obama produce his long form birth certificate a requirement of every prospective candidate? Is it the litmus test for supporting a candidate? So where Mitt Romney is rightly persona non grata around here it is OK to push Donald Trump and defend his positions because he is pushing the birth certificate issue? And write off true conservatives like Mark Levin and Michele Bachmann?

According to the latest polls, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s political popularity trajectory is heading south. It was inevitable given our 24/7 fame-obsessed culture which feeds on new personalities and controversy to fuel the celebrity media machine. Once Sarah Palin resigned from her office as Alaska governor, she left that respected “higher platform” reserved for our elected leaders and crossed over into celebrity jungle. There, she willingly subjected herself to the unforgiving forces of media pop culture, where the masses are easily bored. And now, without a new hit show, movie, book, clothing line, charity cause, or fragrance, Palin is...