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Earlier this week, Harry Reid revealed why Mitt Romney is refusing to release more tax returns: He didn't pay taxes for an entire decade! It almost sounds too crazy to be true, and in fact, Reid is "not certain" that it isn't a total lie. However, he is sure of one thing: "I am not basing this on some figment of my imagination," Reid told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I have had a number of people tell me that." So we aren't talking about just one anonymous Bain investor, but several people who have seemingly only shared this story with...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, in strict legal terms, it may not be that Harry Reid committed the felony, but if somebody's calling him and telling him about Romney's tax returns, it would appear that person has committed a felony. Now, the way to get to the bottom of this, folks, very simple. The IRS and the FBI must question Harry Reid about his source. They have to do this in a formal investigation. And if he's found to be lying about this while being questioned by federal investigators, then we got a process crime; then we got lying under oath....

Thank you, SCOTUS. This Obamacare ruling fires up the troops as America’s eyes are opened! Thank God. This proves to be such an unsettling time in America as we undergo the fundamental transformation that Barack Obama promised he would do to us if elected. Obamacare was dealt in deception and confusion by flooding the public with an overwhelming amount of conflicting “rationale” via thousands of pages of unread legislative detail, which is the radical left’s M.O. Obama promised the American people this wasn’t a tax and that he’d never raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. We now see...

It's becoming clear that Romney has decided to focus on the economy at the expense of everything else, even issues that could play to his political benefit. He's avoided criticizing the administration's handling of the botched Fast and Furious operation, even as it threatens to become a serious vulnerability for the president. He's been silent in responding to Obama's immigration executive order, not wanting to offend receptive Hispanics or appear like a flip-flopper. He appears more likely to tap a safe, bland running mate like Ohio Sen. Rob Portman or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty who won't do him any...

July 3, 2012 Romney Campaign Declaring Cease Fire on Health Care Posted by Staff In the aftermath of the Supreme Court health care ruling, the early conventional wisdom was that an unfavorable health care ruling at the court would be good for Republicans politically, even as it was a serious policy setback for conservatives. But that's not shaping up to be the case. Mitt Romney, after giving a brief statement decrying the decision, has been virtually silent on criticizing the health care law. He's been on vacation and his campaign has been giving off clear signals that it doesn't want...

Prominent Dems including White House chief of staff Jack Lew and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have repeatedly argued in recent days that the fee for not buying insurance under the health care law is in fact a penalty and not a tax. They got support from an unexpected quarter on Monday: the Romney campaign. Mitt Romney's senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told Chuck Todd on MSNBC's Daily Rundown that he agrees - the fee is a penalty and not a tax, as the Supreme Court ruled last week. "The governor disagreed with the ruling of the court," Fehrnstrom said. "He...

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Republicans riding high from a string of breaks in their favor are increasingly optimistic about Mitt Romney's chances to claim the White House in November, even among conservatives who had qualms about making him the party's nominee. The bullish take is reflected in interviews with party strategists and activists, including people who supported Romney rivals during the primary season. Mood matters because it can fuel fundraising and volunteer hustle. But some of those GOP players stress that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has little room for error if he expects to topple an incumbent president. The...

In business there is something called “sunk costs” which refers to funds that have been spent and are unrecoverable. At any given point sunk costs are irrelevant to the decisions going forward. An example of this would be a company that has spent a billion dollars building a plant and now has to choose whether or not to spend another billion dollars hiring staff and actually operating the plant. At the point of the decision the only thing that should be relevant to the decision makers is what makes best sense for the firm going forward. Does the company...

The illusion of supposed conservatism, for scholars like Strauss and for politicians like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, is that the political spectrum in America has shifted so far to the Left that yesterday’s liberals are today’s conservatives says Author and Speaker Jeff Nyquist... Consider the state of America: marriage is no longer an enforceable contract in most states (i.e., no fault divorce); even more telling, homosexual marriage is increasingly acceptentage of the population attending religious services has been falling steadily for years, along with honesty and our nation’s work ethic.....It would seem that conservatives have nothing left to...

Those who believe the former Massachusetts governor would become a moderate once in office are wrong. ...conservatives aren't thrilled with Romney, even as they prepare to support him. But they aren't objecting to a marriage of convenience. Grover Norquist, founder of the anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform, explained Romney's acceptability in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. "We just need a president who can sign the legislation that the Republican House and Senate pass," he said. Romney's agenda mirrors that of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the Ayn Rand acolyte and anti-tax crusader from Wisconsin...

Conservatives shouldn’t fret about the politics of their nearly-presumptive nominee. Mitt Romney will most certainly govern as one of them. He’s guaranteed to — for the exact reason they think he won’t. If Romney really is the political animal his detractors on the right suspect him to be, he’ll shape his presidency with a single goal: Winning a second term. To do that, he will need to make sure there is no running room on his right for someone to launch a primary challenge.

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.

In Florida, Romney Takes Aim At Resurgent Gingrich By Philip Rucker and Amy Gardner January 22 ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney unleashed his harshest personal attack of the campaign on Newt Gingrich here Sunday, saying “it was proven that he was a failed leader” as the former governor pivoted sharply to regain his footing in the wake of Gingrich’s stunning resurgence over the weekend. As the dramatically altered presidential campaign moved to Florida, Republican leaders braced for a long and potentially bitter nominating contest. After upending the campaign in South Carolina with a commanding victory, Gingrich moved quickly to...

"I am someone who believes in free enterprise, I think Adam Smith was right, and we're going to get hit hard by Barack Obama, but we're going to stuff it down his throat that it is capitalism and freedom that makes us strong." Mitt Romney said.

Talk with Tea Party leaders here in South Carolina and you quickly realize that the toughest job in the Mitt Romney campaign would be the assignment of doing outreach to these activists. Maybe not a mission impossible, but close. They really want no part of Romney. And there appears to be little he could say or do between now and Jan. 21, the date of the South Carolina primary, to change that. The Massachusetts health law Romney enacted as governor with its individual mandate called Romneycare by critics is just one of several reasons they give for their animus. There...

As Matthew Boyle noted, the ad wars for New Hampshire are about to heat up. Here is the full-page Union Leader ad that Mitt Romney can look forward to seeing when he arrives New Hampshire tomorrow…

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a conservative. At least, that is the point the former Massachusetts governor is trying to make with a new TV ad airing in Iowa. The new ad, titled “Conservative Agenda,” shows Romney speaking on the stump and meeting with voters, as he makes a series of commitments. “I am going to do something to government. I’m going to make it ‘Simpler, and Smaller, and Smarter,’” Romney says. “Getting rid of programs, turning programs back to states, and finally making government itself more efficient.” Romney pledges to repeal President Obama’s health care overhaul and balance...

<p>O’Reilly: Is he a socialist?</p> <p>Romney: You know, I prefer to use the term that he’s just over his head.</p> <p>O’Reilly: Yeah, but you got to look at his economic plan. An economic plan that’s top down, federal leadership, getting us out of the recession--- he spent trillions of dollars on that. And people say, Listen, the guy’s a socialist — it’s class warfare that’s what he’s gonna wage against you if you get the nomination: You’re a rich guy, you’re out of touch. Is he a socialist?</p>

Charleston, S.C. — Newt Gingrich wowed hundreds of conservative voters in this sleepy coastal town on Monday, all of whom braved the rain to attend a town-hall meeting with the latest Republican frontrunner. “We will be back, we will rebuild the country we love,” Gingrich said near the end of his hour-long presentation. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Gingrich’s visit to Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston kicked off the former House speaker’s three-day campaign swing through the Palmetto State, a key GOP battleground. It was also his first public appearance since the Manchester Union-Leader, a leading Granite State...