Free Republic

...a pair of polls...ought to be scaring the pants off of Romney’s camp. A PPP Michigan poll shows Santorum leading...by a 39-24 percent margin. The ARG poll also has him ahead, though by a smaller 33-27 percent differential. ...if any in his campaign were inclined to dismiss Santorum’s surge...this poll is proof they are dead wrong...a loss in Michigan would be fatal to [Romney's] presidential hopes...the air would go out of his inevitability balloon and Santorum would, despite his threadbare national campaign, assume the unlikely role of frontrunner. ...a defeat [in Michigan] would be considered a personal repudiation of [Romney's]...

On Friday, Ann Coulter turned up on Medved's radio show to talk about Mitt Romney. During the interview Coulter claimed that conservatives aren't going for Mitt because he's "too square". Coulter has not only jumped the shark by endorsing Romney in the first place, she's gone stupid. Conservatives don't like Romney for one obvious, glaring reason: he can't be trusted. Ann (along with many other Romney supporters) has become expert at providing lame excuses and explanations for Romney's past proclamations that he was "more gay-friendly" than Teddy Kennedy, has "always supported a woman's right to choose", and "doesn't want to...

People have been asking me all week if conservatives will stick with Herman Cain, but I think he's got a bigger problem than the conservative vote. A lot more women than conservatives vote, and the women I've talked to are finished with him. There's a new CBS poll which says that 38 percent of female Republican primary voters are "less likely to back him" now that more accusers have come forward. Among all registered voters, CBS reports that Cain has lost support among women since last month—from 28 percent in October to 15 percent now. My sense is that 15...

Ann Coulter on the GOP Presidential field.

As a Candidate whom Many Pro-lifers Would Like to Support: her actual abortion record and rhetoric is shocking to the conscience in that Sarah Palin: - happily appointed in 2009 a Planned Parenthood board member to the Alaska Supreme Court - indicates that chemical abortifacients that kill the youngest children should be legal - distinguishes between her "personal" and public pro-life views (personally pro-life means officially pro-choice) - rather than fighting for protection, Sarah indicates support even for public funding to kill some unborn children - whitewashes other candidates misleading millions to believe that pro-choice politicians are pro-life - allows...

The moment of truth has come and gone but the horrified real-time reaction in the conservative twittersphere echoes on. These nuggets from Philip Klein, Jonah Goldberg, and Mollie Hemingway will give you a taste; liberal Ezra Klein came closest to capturing the spirit of the thing while our old pal KP wondered whether Mitt’s ever actually met a Republican primary voter. I’m not surprised that he doubled down, though. Read this post from two days ago about the particular pitfall to Romney in apologizing. Pawlenty can afford to eat crow and say he’s sorry about cap and trade because his...

When I see the fervor of Sarah Palin’s fans — and by no means just those who swell the adoring crowds who go to her public appearances — I am convinced that the question is not, “How can she win the GOP nomination?” but “How can she not win it?” When you have anywhere between five and fifteen GOP candidates, all expressing basically the same conservative views, how can anyone other than the only one with the passionate fan base possibly win? And yet: Reading between the lines of what conservative-movement people are saying and writing, there is a great...

Is the Sarah Palin backlash beginning? Unlikely, but this remark from Rep. Jack Kingston on “America’s Morning News” radio show this morning is further evidence that the GOP is far from united behind the former Gov. of Alaska. Kingston told the hosts that he wished Palin would “butt out of primary races” because “what she is doing is dividing the Republican party at a time when we don’t need to be divided.” Of course, one might argue it’s that very division that Palin has used to her best advantage. Or that she has done a good job creating the perception...

Immediately after Nikki Haley's overwhelming victory in the South Carolina Primary, we noted Team Mitt's panic over the credit Governor Palin received: It appears Mitt Romney is getting a bit nervous as a result of all the well-deserved credit Governor Palin received for helping Nikki Haley in South Carolina, both in the media and by Haley herself. In fact Romney is so nervous he feels compelled to return to South Carolina to campaign for Haley before the runoff on the 22nd. [...] This is classic Mitt Romney. When all the mud was flying and Governor Palin publicly and steadfastly stood...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won the Southern Republican Leadership Conference Presidential Poll April 10, defeating Rep. Ron Paul by a single vote, 438-437. Behind Romney's victory is Romney's recent magic act: Campaigning against an Obama health care plan almost identical to the one he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts while at the same time positioning himself as the “conservative” Republican presidential contender. With his risible “conservative” packaging, the Republican contender has truly become the greatest pretender. “Conservative” Romneycare was made possible only by many new tax increases, including gigantic income tax increases (as much as $1,116 per...

In the days immediately before and after passage of the landmark health care reform bill, Mitt Romney responded so forcefully as to suggest his own political fate is tied to the new law. It may well be. Just as health care, or “Obamacare,” as it is derided on the right, hangs over this year’s midterm elections, it is already casting a shadow on the 2012 presidential contest — and its GOP front-runner. What was once thought to be an asset for Romney, his passage as Massachusetts governor of a health care mandate for the state’s residents, now poses a potentially...

NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR: More closed-door meetings on health care. The president and members of his own party now pow-wowing in private over the very next move. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney telling me they’re doing it all wrong. And he knows. He overhauled health care when he was running Massachusetts and says that his plan was nothing like the president’s now. More of my chat with Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann.

BOSTON -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is stepping back into the public spotlight after spending two years behind the scenes laying the groundwork for a second presidential campaign. (snip) Romney has shifted from social issues that brought accusations of flip-flopping and undermined his 2008 White House bid. With unemployment hovering around 10 percent, his new focus is on economic themes and fix-it skills he claims as a former businessman. That plays to what some observers believe would be his strength in a second race. They could also distinguish him from potential rivals such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin,...

Alas, the befuddled Ms. Parker considers Mrs. Palin bedazzling, but not "rightful heir to the presidency," and will resort to literary lunacy to punish McCain for not choosing Romney and Mrs. Palin for being bedazzling and not being Romney (or at least dropping out, purportedly to do more for Trig, in favor of Romney).Full disclosure: I wanted Mitt Romney to be the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, not John McCain. Nevertheless, I believed that McCain, despite his significant failings, was much better for America than the radical "Senator from ACORN" nominated by the Democrats. (Glenn Beck's terrifying assertion that McCain would...

Sarah Palin Should Beware Of Exploiting Her Youngest Child By Kathleen Parker February 14, 2010 A hurdle familiar to any mother is learning to view her baby as separate from herself. How many of us have answered questions about our babies in first-person plural? -- How old is your baby? -- Oh, we're 22 months now. Well, no, we're not; he is. Yet we nod in universal understanding of the profound sense of oneness that evolves in part from pregnancy. For nine months, mother and baby are inextricably "we" -- linked in body and spirit, every move and morsel belonging...

Mitt Romney's Man by Samuel P. Jacobs AP Photo If Scott Brown pulls off an upset in the race to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate, he may have Mitt Romney to thank. Samuel P. Jacobs on the 2012 GOP presidential hopeful's hidden hand. There are a number of forces driving Republican Scott Brown’s surprising surge in the Massachusetts special Senate election campaign. He’s benefiting from public anger over the Obama administration’s health-care reform plan. He’s buoyed by a tide of cash from around the country, donated by conservatives eager to send a message by upsetting Democratic front-runner Martha Coakley....

His supporters say the book will show Romney is more thoughtful than Sarah Palin. BY KENNETH T. WALSH Friends of Mitt Romney say his upcoming book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, is a lengthy and detailed explanation of his philosophy and should be a fitting prelude to a 2012 presidential campaign if Romney decides to run. The book, which comes out March 2, seems designed to position Romney as a thoughtful conservative who has ruminated carefully about the major issues of the day, ranging from the global economy to national security. Romney supporters say it will serve as...

Besides the occasional Republican either voting for socialized medicine or preventing a filibuster of it, the guilt of the association with the proposal that passed the Senate and the GOP is very deep. In fact the recent bill, without the public option (but will force people into public care) looks increasingly like the failed experiment of Massachusetts.

(snip) Unlike McKeon and Shuster, Cantor endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential primary. Cantor's PAC transferred $5,000 to Romney's PAC in January -- about five months before the two Republicans participated in a forum for the National Council for New America in May. The report also indicated that Cantor's campaign committee also received $5,000 from Romney's PAC in May -- a donation that Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom chalked up to mutual admiration between the two.(snip)

Amidst all the exciting news coming out of NY-23 yesterday, there was an article in the Washington Examiner by Mark Tapscott. At the very end of Tapscott’s article, David Keene is interviewed about the Upstate New York campaign: This race will have more impact on the Republican politics than any other this year. I believe Hoffman will win on Tuesday, but regardless of the outcome, he and the conservative base of the Republican party have already won by proving that conservatives can no longer be ignored by an establishment that has all too often ignored those it is supposed to...