Free Republic

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — As he watched last week's Republican debate from his apartment in University of Michigan's married student housing, Derek Osborne could hardly contain his disgust every time Rick Santorum came on TV. "He represents a part of the Republican party that drives me absolutely crazy," he seethed. Osborne, a Ph.D candidate, is a Mitt Romney supporter. He's also a moderate Republican who is alarmed at what he sees as the anti-intellectual fervor—and undeniable political power—of the Tea Party movement. As the latest candidate to emerge as the main populist rival to Romney, Santorum has become the primary...

About 1,500 people were turned away from pooled Benton County caucuses in Kennewick by event organizers after rooms at the Three Rivers Convention Center reached capacity this morning. Some potential caucus voters said they arrived at 9 a.m. to find the large hallways at the convention center packed to the rafters and were told no more people could enter the caucus rooms. Ray Swenson, a Richland lawyer, criticized local GOP officials for poor organization and said the results today should be invalidated. "I think it's illegal," Swenson shouted to a gathered crowd, many of whom were filming him with cell...

The King County Republican Party says it has received multiple reports of robo calls to voters falsely claiming the Saturday caucuses have been delayed a week. Lisa Shin, executive director of the King County GOP, said the calls came in Friday evening bearing the caller-identification number of the county party headquarters in Bellevue.

The blunders and delays in declaring the winner and allocation of delegates are looking more than coincidental - the more frequently occur. They all benefit Mitt Romney. video)

This is a side comment about something Rush said the other day: Santorum won 57 out of 83 counties. That's an incredible percentage, and it reminds me of the map of the United States, red and blue by county, when you look at that after a presidential race. The whole country is red (signifying Republican) except LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago and Detroit. The Republicans win 80% of America's counties and lose the White House. Santorum won 57 out of 83 counties. And, as of now, Santorum, while losing the popular vote, has won seven...

...Washington— After locking up much of the Republican establishment's heavyweight fundraisers, Mitt Romney is going after the little guy. "Donate $3 today to be automatically entered to be Mitt's special guest for Election Night on Super Tuesday," reads an email appeal from the Romney campaign to supporters. A dramatic new Web video asks for $20 contributions to fight the "Obama Attack Machine." The GOP presidential candidate made a similar solicitation after clinching the Michigan primary Tuesday, with a rare personal plea for people to visit his website and "pledge your support — in every way possible." The pitch reflects a...

The Michigan Republican Party voted to break a delegate tie Wednesday night, awarding 16 delegates to Mitt Romney and 14 to Rick Santorum. The decision, which broke a 15-15 tie that would have resulted under the pre-primary interpretation of the rules, caused disbelief at Rick Santorum’s campaign. A spokesman rejected the decision. Even Romney supporters in the Michigan GOP said the decision was unfair to Santorum. “I have this crazy idea that you follow the rules,” said former Attorney General Mike Cox said after a 4-2 vote by a Michigan GOP credentialing committee, according to the AP. “I’d love to...

....When CNN returned to the Santorum speech, the candidate was gracious in defeat, humble and inspiring. He had a large crowd gathered along with his wife and members of his family. They were all clearly enthused and not overtly disappointed or discouraged. After thanking all who made his surprising showing possible, he returned to overriding theme of his campaign, Freedom. Next Tuesday is called "Super Tuesday" for a lot of reasons. Rick Santorum may just add one more reason by again surprising the political establishment. The political "left" knows that Rick Santorum is a formidable candidate from a working class...

Here's a great way to visualize former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's inability to inspire Republican primary voters: Imagine the candidate delivering a major speech at a pro football stadium. Now picture that instead of 65,000 cheering supporters, his actual audience is about 1,200 people seated quietly on the field directly in front of him. Unfortunately for Mr. Romney, no one needs to imagine that scenario. It's what actually happened today at Detroit's Ford Field. Instead of the major economic address promised by his campaign; the small audience was subjected to the same old policy ideas, quips and nervous laughter we've...

In Michigan, Santorum supporters planted hundreds of campaign signs in Shelby Township prior to Mitt Romney’s appearance today. Some of these signs were planted alongside sidewalks and roadways across from and surrounding the Romney campaign stop. Approximately two hours before the scheduled event, Romney campaign staffers, including Dennis Lennox of Topinabee, MI, began planting Romney signs in front of the location. Around the same time, several other people, who refused to identify themselves, began uprooting hundreds of Santorum signs along the roadway leading to the event. Signs placed at a commercial intersection were also removed. When asked to explain his...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is drawing a disproportionately high amount of campaign funds from people who have given him the legal maximum, weakening his ability to raise money from such proven donors as the GOP nomination fight drags on. Far more than his three rivals, Mr. Romney has tapped these large donors to build his campaign fund. To date, about two-thirds of his money has come from donors who have given him $2,500, the legal limit for a primary campaign, according to the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. By contrast, about 18% of Rick Santorum's money has...

What’s the prescription for a famously brilliant venture capitalist who has trouble connecting with blue-collar voters in his native state? How about bringing in a far more controversial venture capitalist who’s claim to recent fame is in firing people on national television? What could go wrong?With just over a week to go before Michigan voters head to the polls, Mitt Romney is enlisting the help of one of his highest-wattage surrogates: Donald Trump. The real estate mogul is preparing to spread his pro-Romney, anti-Rick Santorum message in a series of radio interviews this week on local stations from Traverse City...

[Big SNIP] ....If Romney can't win, he'll be certain that the person who beat him is so damaged, so beaten up by his negative campaign ads that they will have no chance against Obama. Unfortunately for Republicans, it creates a lose-lose situation. Mitt Romney cannot defeat Obama. His flipping and flopping is well documented and will be highlighted by the Obama campaign as the signature of one with a lack of character. He is such a poor speaker in interviews that he attempted to appeal to the middle class by trying to bet Rick Perry $10,000 and later saying that,...

A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race. “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win...

Last Saturday, the Maine Republican Party declared Mitt Romney the winner of the Maine caucuses. The non-binding caucuses were a low turnout affair, but Romney's victory over Ron Paul - who he beat by less than 200 votes - was a chance for Romney to reclaim some momentum in the wake of Rick Santorum's three-state sweep four days earlier. Now, however, it looks like Romney could ultimately be stripped of that victory. If that happens, it will be the second time this cycle Romney has been stripped of a caucus victory. The first came in Iowa, where Santorum was declared...

The Democrat-leaning Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is trying to revive the so-called "scandal" that the Democrats trumpeted during their successful campaign to unseat Rick Santorum in 2006. Other news outlets are starting to pick up the Post-Gazette's claims. For example, in an article published on February 14 and linked to by the Drudge Report ("Santorum's Electability Pitch Undermined by 2006 Senate Reelection Loss"), Bloomberg reports: Santorum's 2006 loss came after he was accused by Democrats of being hypocritical for moving his family to suburban Virginia, yet still claiming a property tax deduction and tuition reimbursement in Pennsylvania. The school district where his...

Republican Mitt Romney is faltering with white working-class voters crucial to his party's drive to capture the White House, even as he tries to fend off a rising GOP challenger, Rick Santorum, who wields strong blue-collar appeal. The wealthy former Bain Capital chief has led his rivals by comfortable margins among white college graduates, according to combined polls of voters in the first five states that held presidential nominating contests. But the exit and entry surveys showed only a modest Romney advantage among whites who lack college degrees, the yardstick analysts typically use to define the working class.

As I’ve been noting here, one key metric to determine whether the prolonged GOP nomination process is damaging Mitt Romney’s general election prospects is his standing among independents, many of whom remain sour on Obama’s economic performance. Today’s new Pew poll offers another installment. The topline is striking enough — it finds that Rick Santorum is surging among Tea Partyers and conservatives, again suggesting that they just can’t come to terms with Romney as the nominee.

(CNN) - A trio of Missouri surrogates for Mitt Romney took aim at Rick Santorum on Tuesday, saying the former Pennsylvania senator has misled voters on his fiscal conservative record. "He certainly has been outspoken on social issues, and we honor his record in that regard. But when you get outside those issues…his record shows he's been in the liberal wing of the Republican Party," former Sen. Jim Talent said on a call with reporters. -snip- Also on the call was Rep. Billy Long of Missouri and State Auditor Tom Schweich, both of whom praised Romney's credentials in the private...

Via BuzzFeed. As expected, they’re going hard after his fiscal heresies. I’m giving you Santorum’s new ad here too, which is noteworthy first because he touts his tea-party cred (ironic) and second because he’s now making electability a core component of his pitch. No other Not Romney has been in that position before — but the numbers do back him up, for now: One thing that has remained constant in the ever changing GOP Presidential race is that Mitt Romney is the strongest candidate against Barack Obama…at least until now. PPP’s newest national poll finds Romney trailing Obama by 7...