Free Republic

Rick Santorum’s front-runner status in the GOP presidential race is predicated on the idea that he is the consistent conservative alternative in the field. And that image had some serious holes poked in it at Wednesday’s debate in Arizona. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul tag-teamed the former Pennsylvania senator much of the night, calling into question his conservatism on issues ranging from earmarks and fiscal policy to his endorsements and even what is often considered Santorum’s most solidly conservative credential — social issues.

Word from inside the Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign team is that Romney will abandon his 2008 strategy of seeking to win over social conservatives—evangelical or born-again Christians—for whom his Mormonism is a major deterrent. In 2008, the Romney campaign had hoped the candidate’s clean-cut, family-man profile would be enough to win over socially conservative Christians, many of whom harbor deep misgivings about Mormonism fed in large part by a thirty-year campaign of “spiritual warfare” against Mormonism begun in the 1980s at Fuller Theological Seminary under the auspices of its anti-“cult” ministries. Romney’s 2008 candidacy was consistently shadowed not only...

Facing an uphill battle in the November elections, Republicans need to nominate a presidential candidate who represents the best traditions of the Grand Old Party: fiscal responsibility, devotion to national security and honest conduct of the nation's business. Republican voters should consider themselves lucky. They have two candidates highly qualified to occupy the Oval Office: John McCain and Mitt Romney, two principled political figures who could chart a new course for our country and lead it forward with honor. In a close call, our endorsement goes to McCain, a war hero, experienced player in the U.S. Senate and Washington politics,...

In California, Republican Primary Voters are evenly divided between John McCain and Mitt Romney. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds McCain attracting 38% of the vote and Romney earning an identical 38%. Mike Huckabee is a distant third at 10%, Ron Paul picks up 6%, and 6% say they’ll vote for some other candidate. Earlier in the week, McCain had a small advantage over Romney. Since then, Giuliani dropped out of the race and endorsed McCain. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also endorsed the GOP frontrunner. While those events may have helped McCain, a conservative backlash for anybody-but-McCain appears to...

The Insanity that has taken over on this forum, when it comes to the potential GOP nominees, is bordering on Psychotic. 1. John McCain and Mitt Romney are both good and decent men. 2. Either one being the GOP nominee is a far cry better then the Surrender Monkeys on the other side. I only ask that we do not stray into that Liberal arena of Personal destruction. I have listened to Sean and Rush and I blame them for engaging this tactic in our party. We should never have to tear one candidates record down to promote the other....

A myth coming out of the Romney camp is that he is the ‘economy candidate’. The problem is, and we’ve seen this movie before, his rhetoric doesn’t match his record. His four-year record as Governor of Massachusetts shows a substantial increase in fees and taxes, low job growth, and a large exodus of residents from the state. As Michael Widmer, president of the independent Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told Reuters, "There's never been under his watch an economic turnaround to speak of," further saying, "We added a few jobs over the last three years of his tenure but very few....