Free Republic

After watching the GOP presidential debate the other night, it was hard to avoid this conclusion: Mitt Romney looks more and more like the GOP presidential nominee. He's the best debater. He's got his issues and his rejoinders down pat. He brushes away his opponents like lint on his lapel. And all with such ease. That said, there's a teensy problem he just can't seem to beat: Conservatives don't like him. Or trust him. Or really want him to be the GOP nominee. Sure, you say, Republicans never like their nominees, and they still manage to vote for them. There...

DERRY, N.H. — Mitt Romney says he can appeal to Tea Partiers, even though activists and groups aligned with the movement are stressing that they need to defeat him in 2012. “I think I line up pretty well with the Tea Party,” he said in response to a question from The Daily Caller after touring the Derry Feed and Supply store. “They want to see smaller government. So do I.” But not everyone associated with the movement see Romney as one of them. Joe Miller, a former U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska and a Tea Party darling, is now running...

RUSH: Right. So the media was listening intently as I played the sound bite this week, Monday or Tuesday, and said, "Bye bye, nomination." Remember that? I said, "Bye bye, nomination." Well, the media has glommed on to that. They are thrilled. Listen. BASHIR: If Romney stands by his view that the world is getting warmer and that man is an important contributor, then how will he fare when so many Republicans believe that global warming is, in the words of Rush Limbaugh, a "complete hoax"? UYGUR: You've got 99.9% of the scientists in the world in one camp and...

He’s a flip-flopper who can seem disconnected from average citizens, and wears health care reform as a political albatross around his neck. That’s the standard line of attack against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. But, the same critique could also apply to President Obama. That means if Romney gets past GOP doubters and wins his party’s nomination, the 2012 election could be a head-to-head between two men with similar vulnerabilities. On the surface, they have little in common. Romney and Obama represent dramatically different backgrounds and cultivate vastly different political images. But they share some interesting traits. With or without...

In late spring 2005, Mitt Romney gathered with a dozen top policy and political advisers in a conference room near the governor’s suite on the third floor of the State House. For two years, they had grappled with the abstruse complexities of health care reform, sifting data, evaluating input from experts, and testing theories to craft a plan that would expand coverage to nearly everyone in the state and not break the bank. This was a bold move for a first-term Republican governor, some of whose more conservative advisers doubted the wisdom of a foray deep into policy turf long...

Before we abandon the auto bailout as a topic, I’d like to focus a little more tightly on the interplay it has inspired between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, because there’s something about it that seems strangely familiar. With the bailout now acknowledged as a rather remarkable success, Romney’s staff is trying to claim credit by pointing to an op-ed piece written by the former Massachusetts governor back in November 2008. As the New York Times reports: “Mitt Romney had the idea first,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman, citing the Times opinion article. “You have to acknowledge that. He...

The Mama Grizzly is coming out of hibernation. This weekend, Sarah Palin is launching her "One Nation" bus tour, visiting historical sites across the country. Palin will start on Memorial Day at the Rolling Thunder weekend motorcycle rally that starts at the Pentagon. Where it will end has yet to be announced. But given Palin's other recent move—the announcement of a feature-length film on her tenure as governor—it looks as if her ultimate destination may be the White House. Whatever Mitt Romney had on his plate for Memorial Day, he'd better make room. If we assume—for the purposes of page...

White House hopefuls Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin lead a narrower field of potential rivals for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, according to a poll released on Thursday. The Gallup survey is the organization's first since Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and real estate mogul Donald Trump opted out of the slowly evolving primary race. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and so far the apparent front-runner, led Palin by 17 percent to 15 percent, well within the poll's 4 percentage points margin of error. Texas Representative Ron Paul ranked third at 10 percent. But the...

When he announced his candidacy, I debunked what I considered to be the top five failed defenses of RomneyCare. In his speech this afternoon, Mitt Romney employed all of them in his desperate attempt to distance himself from ObamaCare despite its stark similarities to the plan he signed as governor of Massachusetts. Romney tried to differentiate between the national health care law, which he described as a “government takeover” and the Massachusetts approach, which he said was merely about expanding coverage. But both plans are remarkably similar – they force people to purchase government-approved insurance policies, expand Medicaid, and provide...

Belmont, Mass. — Long before it came time to actually choose a career, Peter Flaherty knew he wanted do so something exciting. “In Massachusetts, you kind of grow up with two things in your blood: sports and politics,” said Flaherty, a Belmont resident and father of three. “When I realized I was not going to be a professional athlete, I realized politics was the adult equivalent of professional sports.” Flaherty has always found room for public service in his professional life, which has seen him prosecute homicides, produce big-budget children’s movies and serve as a senior advisor to then-Gov. Mitt...

ABC's morning talk show "The View" will host two top Republican contenders for president during the next month. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) will appear Monday on the show, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will join the show's four co-hosts Feb. 1, the show said Wednesday. Pawlenty will be on-set to promote his new book, the same thing Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) will likely be doing when he appears in late February on "The View."

Laura Ingraham was on the Glenn Beck radio show in the last hour this morning...While talking about potential candidates for 2012, She was asked if Romney was a "progressive" she said NO he isn't one of them at all...I've heard that she loves Romney like a Ken doll and is a Romneybot, but this is amazing! She also said that she would take Newt as President in a heartbeat! What gives?

Former Massachusetts governor and likely 2012 presidential aspirant Mitt Romney has been on the wrong side of the defining political battle of our time. Mr. Romney claimed earlier this month on "Fox News Sunday" that the Massachusetts health reform plan he signed into law in 2006 is "the ultimate conservative plan." But there are many similarities between it and the ObamaCare loathed by conservative voters. Both have an individual mandate requiring most residents to have health insurance or pay a penalty. Most businesses are required to participate or pay a fine. Both rely on government-designed purchasing exchanges that also provide...

For the men (and one rather polarizing woman) who might run for president as Republicans in 2012, now is the wilderness campaign. After the midterms, the struggle for the nomination will move out into open country. But for the moment, it's all guerrilla warfare and tactical maneuvering - in the form of Web videos and op-eds, speeches and endorsements, and the occasional public dig at a potential rival. By definition, in a wilderness campaign it's hard to tell who's winning. Are all of the endorsements Sarah Palin has made building an army of "Mama Grizzly" Republicans who will rise up...

The political axiom is familiar today. Republicans nominate the next in line. So it's been from Richard Nixon to John McCain. The next presidential cycle could prove otherwise. The GOP establishment no longer rides herd over today's elephants. Conservative activists are both exceptionally galvanized and autonomous. It's a unique mix unseen in decades. And critically, the establishment's early favorite has an Achilles heel. This conservative milieu begs the question: is 2012 the year of the Republican dark horse? Mitt Romney should be the next Republican nominee. No less than 81 percent of Republican "insiders" say that Romney is the "most...

Mitt Romney, along with some other Republicans likely to run for president in 2012, is raising money this year for congressional candidates who want to repeal President Barack Obama's sweeping health-care law. But as Mr. Romney tours to promote his new book, some people have been posing an uncomfortable question: If he opposes Mr. Obama's health-care policy, why did Mr. Romney shepherd a near-universal health-insurance system into law as governor of Massachusetts?

Our first national look at who Republicans would prefer as their 2012 Presidential nominee confirms the wide open nature of the field. The leading candidates are all within the margin of error of each other, with Mitt Romney leading at 28% followed by Mike Huckabee at 24% and Sarah Palin at 23%. Ron Paul pulls 11%, 9% say they're undecided, and 6% say their preference would be someone else. Romney's lead speaks to the fact that moderates could actually pick the GOP nominee in 2012. That's because there's gridlock among conservatives about who their preferred candidate is. Huckabee leads with...

WEST VALLEY CITY — The head of the Republican National Committee said Friday he believes voters may have moved beyond the bias against Mormonism that hurt Mitt Romney in last year's presidential election. Speaking to reporters after a town hall meeting at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Michael Steele said comments he made earlier this year about Romney being rejected by the GOP base because of his faith were "old news." "I was speaking to an attitude or a mindset at the time that I thought was unfortunate and I said that I think (Romney) proved just how unfortunate it...

Cape Cod, Mass.My husband retired from IBM about a decade ago, and as we aren't old enough for Medicare we still buy our health insurance through the company. But IBM, with its typical courtesy, informed us recently that we will be fined by the state. Why? Because Massachusetts requires every resident to have health insurance, and this year, without informing us directly, the state had changed the rules in a way that made our bare-bones policy no longer acceptable. Unless we ponied up for a pricier policy we neither need nor want—or enrolled in a government-sponsored insurance plan—we would have...

Utahns continue to open their wallets for Mitt Romney. The former leader of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City raised about $125,000 at a Tuesday dinner held at the Little America Hotel, according to his spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. Fehrnstrom said 150 people attended the event, which cost contributors $1,000 a plate or $5,000 for special access to a VIP reception before the dinner. "Mitt Romney appreciates the support, and the money raised will allow him to stay active politically and help the Republican Party come back strong in the 2010 elections," Fehrnstrom said.