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http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10274 Things are looking up for Mitt Romney. Not only has the outgoing Massachusetts governor been getting reasonably favorable press from usually hostile places but, courtesy of George Allen's Macaca moment, his position in the 2008 Republican presidential field suddenly looks more secure -- the most viable candidate to the right of front-runners John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Romney appears to sense the opportunity . . . (READ ON at the link above)

He’s not ready to run “Mitt for President” TV ads yet, but Gov. Mitt Romney has already hit the Internet with a video painting him as a hero in the battle of Beacon Hill, a move political watchers say should remove any doubt about his White House ambitions. Romney’s Commonwealth PAC Web site now features a video of the Republican’s “great American story,” which opens with a victorious Romney standing amid falling election-night confetti. Then, using not-so-subtle imagery, the video cuts to shots of Boston’s skyline under ominous dark clouds and crackling lightning, and an uphill shot of the State...

- Adults in the United States place three Republican politicians as their top choices for the next presidential nomination, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press. 26 per cent of respondents would vote like Arizona senator John McCain to be the next presidential candidate.Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is a close second with 24 per cent, followed by current state secretary Condoleezza Rice with 18 per cent. Support is lower for former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, Virginia senator George Allen, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Tennessee senator Bill Frist, and...

LOS ANGELES Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told the California GOP convention Saturday that the United States should encourage foreigners with skills to immigrate, while discouraging those who come here illegally and without skills. "It is wrong for us to build an absolute concrete wall against those with skills and enterprise," he said, referring to foreign students who come here for advanced study, "and have a wide open door for people with no education and no skills." His remarks were greeted with enthusiastic applause from this conservative crowd, for whom illegal immigration is a hot issue. Romney, a Republican governor in...

I've been scanning the news in the last few months about who the Republican party should key in on as far as a viable candidate for the upcoming presidential election. And it's not as far in the future as we might think.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, trailing in national polls of Republican voters, has the lead in organizing early primary states for the 2008 presidential run, in the opinion of neutral GOP politicians. Romney is particularly strong in Iowa, where caucuses begin the presidential hunt. A win there would swell Romney's now anemic identification among Republican voters. A footnote: A report in this column that Rudy Giuliani intends to run for president has been confirmed by one of the former New York mayor's closest Republican friends. He said Giuliani definitely is running.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Virginia Sen. George Allen are strong candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, although each has serious challenges to overcome. That’s the view of Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, and one of the most influential conservatives in Washington. “When I talk to each of the presidential candidates, every one of them brings up Romney — unsolicited — because they’re all focused on him as the smartest, toughest guy in the race,” Norquist told reporters Wednesday at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “He is very well thought of.” But...

First a disclaimer . . . I run a pro-Romney blogsite but do not get paid for it. I am a physician who blogs in my spare time and consider myself simply a vocal grassroots Romney supporter. ********************* Now on to the news at hand: This Examiner article has some interesting "insider information" for the 2008 GOP presidential race. To quote the start of the article: "Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Virginia Sen. George Allen are strong candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, although each has serious challenges to overcome. That’s the view of Grover Norquist, president of...

Related Links Arizona Politics Neither of the frontrunners has publicly committed to running. McCain repeatedly has said he will not decide until after the mid-term elections in November. Clinton also has been vague. Among Republicans, McCain was the top choice among more than 40 percent of those surveyed in the Rocky Mountain Poll. McCain unsuccessfully sought the party’s nomination in 2000. He was followed in the survey by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Next were former Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee and Sen. George Allen of Virginia. “Seeing McCain...

BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney issued an executive order Friday abolishing the state's 14-year-old governor's commission on gay and lesbian youth after lawmakers overrode his veto of a bill creating a new commission out of the reach of the governor's office. A spokesman for Romney said he issued the executive order because there was no need for two commissions both focused on the needs of gay and lesbian youth. Romney angered many gay rights activists and lawmakers when he flirted with the idea earlier this year of abolishing the commission, the first of its kind in the nation, after a press...

So, is anyone else baffled by the fact that John McCain is listed as the "strong frontrunner" among GOP 2008 presidential hopefuls? The political pundits all have him as the head honcho (usually followed by Romney and Allen) as evidenced here, here, here, here) and in the most recent National Journal 2008 Republican Insiders Poll. This was not always so . . . just a few months ago to a year ago Allen was leading in that Insiders Poll (actually, you can look at the figures and find that Romney has been gaining the most, percentage-wise, of any candidate.) However,...

After studying Mitt Romney’s experience with Homeland Security (HS), I would argue that Romney’s Homeland Security experience and credentials exceed those of any other 2008 presidential hopeful—republican or democrat (rivaled only by the “wild-card” candidate, Rudy Giuliani). His experience is not limited to sitting on committees and being briefed on these issues. He is often the one called upon TO DO the briefing to key committees due to his “on the ground” experience with devising and implementing large-scale security plans. Much of this stems from his great success in leading Salt Lake to a safe and successful Olympic Games in...

Most traditional barriers to religion in presidential elections have toppled, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. In particular, the survey to be released Monday showed that anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism are fading as voter taboos. But uneasiness about some religions persists. Thirty-seven percent of those questioned said they would not vote for a Mormon presidential candidate -- and 54 percent said no to the prospect of a Muslim in the White House. In addition, 21 percent said they could not vote for an evangelical Christian. Only 15 percent replied that they would not vote for a Jewish presidential candidate....

Gov. Mitt Romney says he would be willing to talk about his Mormon religion in broad terms should he run for president but would shy away from debating specific beliefs. "I think initially some people would say, `Gosh, I don't know much about your faith. Tell me about it.' And I'd probably outline the fundamentals: I'm a religious person, I believe that Jesus Christ is my savior," Romney said during an appearance on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show." "But then as you get into the details of doctrines, I'd probably say, 'Look, time out.'" Among other things, Mormons believed in...

WASHINGTON - Mormon Republicans may have a watershed moment coming soon, depending on whether their fellow party and religious member, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, will be accepted by the GOP's evangelical wing. If the Republican conservative base rejects a Mormon for office largely because of his faith, do followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continue their staunchly Republican loyalty anyway? Do they stay home in November? Do some ditch the GOP for independent status, or migrate to the Democratic tent? "I think that's a real possibility," says Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the University of Mississippi's...

State GOP Pick Gingrich In Presidential Straw Poll (AP) Minneapolis Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who engineered the Republican takeover of Congress a dozen years ago, got a boost Friday from Minnesota conservatives who want him to run for president in 2008. Gingrich was the top vote-getter in a straw poll of GOP activists at the state party convention. But the vote is at best a limited reflection of Republican sentiment in the state -- the ranks of the 1,275 delegates had thinned down considerably by the time the poll was taken, and 540 valid votes were cast. That was...

The state’s rising waters also lifted Gov. Mitt Romney’s national media profile as outlets ranging from local newspapers to The Weather Channel covered his tour of flood-ravaged neighborhoods throughout the state. Another turn in the national spotlight could introduce Romney to potential presidential supporters across the nation as a take-action leader if he handles it right, experts said. “His ability to part the waters like Moses in Massachusetts will serve him enormously well if he can pull it off,” said Richard Parker, public policy professor at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. Political pundits said images of Romney on network and cable news...

Voters nationally see Mitt Romney as a pretty face but an empty suit, giving him high marks for his chiseled good looks but low grades for honesty, conviction and uniqueness, according to a high-tech poll provided exclusively to the Herald. “He’s seen as the same old pol - nothing that makes him stand out,”said Aaron A. Reid, chief behavioral scientist for RKM Research and Communications. The survey used online responses from a scientific sample of participants to measure emotional “gut” responses to photographs of the candidates. Researchers say the cutting-edge technique - so far untested in the political polling field...

Gov. Mitt Romney flirted with abolishing a state advisory commission on gay youth for promoting a parade featuring a crossdressing master of ceremonies and embracing transgender teens, a spokesman said Friday. Initially, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor, who signed a proclamation hailing a similar parade in 2003, considering killing the Gov.'s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth because the parade press release was issued without the administration's blessing. On Friday, Fehrnstrom expanded on that explanation. "This year what was brought to our attention was a press release that was not authorized by this office but which went out...

Though well-respected, Novak and his sources are not free from a challenge, so let me do the challenging. Are Novak and his sources implying that the most morally conservative voters in the United States would rather endorse a left-wing, abortion-endorsing, socialist-leaning, gay agenda-adopting, Bill Clinton-marrying, liberal than a God-fearing, card-carrying conservative Mormon, who has had remarkable success in business and in politics, and who has shown he is able to win a liberal state like Massachusetts? Either something is very wrong with Novak or something is very wrong with the Evangelicals he is interviewing.