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With the Republican presidential primary appearing to have narrowed into a two-man contest, Human Events and Red State moved quickly to lock down a date for a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. The two organizations went so far this past Monday as to firm up the Annenberg Theater at the Newseum in Washington as the venue on Dec. 19 after another debate originally scheduled that day was canceled. For its part, the Newseum was excited to host the pre-primary forum. There was just one problem. While Gingrich was ready to take his place on the stage, the...

<p>WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's approval ratings have sunk to the lowest level of his presidency, so low that he'd lose the White House to Republican Mitt Romney if the election were held today, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.</p>

The Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips has sent a letter to former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin asking her to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee. "In order for the Tea Party/Conservative movement to be successful, we have to have someone conservative running the GOP," Phillips told POLITICO. "She is the perfect candidate. If she does not try, I am afraid we will end up with just another establishment flunky running the party and the [Republicans in name only] will control the party again."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is supporting his 85-year-old mother in her apparent feud with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, while also praising the former GOP vice presidential candidate for having “fantastic political instincts.” In an exclusive interview Monday, Bush told Newsmax.TV: “If it’s between my mom and Gov. Palin, I’ve got to go with my mom, just in general, because she’s my mother." He added with a smile, "So you’re not going to get me in trouble with disagreeing with my beloved mother of 85 years, who occasionally from time to time says things that give us all great...

When people asked for this newly minted celebrity's autograph, Brown signed his name, followed by the number "41," signifying the critical vote the GOP needed to shoot down the president's signature legislation (healthcare reform). "Sometimes he'll be the 41st vote, other times he'll be the 60th," says Eric Fehrnstrom, a Massachusetts political consultant who has done some work for Brown's reelection in 2012, On Democrats' financial-reform package,Brown surprised even his own party when he decided to vote yes, giving his would-be opponents exactly 60 votes.

Should the RNC fire Michael Steele and hire Sarah Palin? The latest round of debate got kicked off Saturday by Kevin Williamson over at National Review. Palin, he points out, would "raise tons of money and help recruit good candidates," while not having "to get herself entangled in the minutiae of policy-development, which has not been her forte." While she's polarizing, "so is Barack Obama," he says, and having a polarizing person for chairman might be better than having one as a candidate. Reaction on the right is mixed. •Stop Trying to Keep Palin Out of 2012 Conservative blogger Gary...

Why Vote For Romney: Supports Mandatory Health Insurance Why Vote For Romney: Supports Mandatory Health Insurance Many Americans want mandatory health insurance. Mitt Romney was the leader, being the first in the nation to introduce mandatory health care. Thanks to Mitt Romneys generosity. 80% of Massachussetts residents are now insured, and the other 20% are receiving health insurance while serving there jail terms for failure to buy insurance.

In his new book, Mitt makes himself over as a muscular defender of America. Few things are more predictable than a GOP presidential candidate posturing as a he-man protector of America, and depicting his Democratic counterpart as an effete, appeasing girlie-man on the dangerous world stage. Mitt Romney — who himself has no personal military or foreign-policy experience of any kind — may not seem well-suited to the Republican role, but hey, if draft-dodgers like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney could use the formula against a genuine war hero, anything is possible. Romney, presumably warming up for 2012, flexes...

Get out the long lenses in South Dakota: Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is making one of his first high-profile fundraising stops of the 2010 midterm cycle later this month for none other than Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Romney will join Thune for a fundraiser to benefit the senator's re-election bid at the Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls, SD, on Feb. 19, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by National Journal. The suggested contribution is just $100. Romney and Thune met several years ago in the Capitol and have...

The dem campaign tried to portray Brown as a right wing Neanderthal. As far as I can tell from a distance, he in reality is a centrist mildly leaning to the left. For that particular state in 2010 this may be their idea of a conservative, but it's difficult to imagine anybody like an actual across the board conservative winning this election. Even against Coakley. The only big political name from outside the state he brought in to campaign was bogeyman Rudy Giuliani. He seems tight with Mitt Romney and Romney policies. In his victory speech he prominently and unreservedly...

Hotline on Call has a new poll that provides good news for former Massachuetts Gov. Mitt Romney and bad news for Mitt Romney. And it has bad news for former Gov. Sarah Palin and good news for Sarah Palin. The news: GOP insiders think Romney is way in front for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination while Palin has an awful lot of catching up to do. Literally: Voters were asked to rank 5 candidates in the order of likeliness to capture the GOP nod. The results: Likely To Win WH’12 Nomination (First place votes) Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney 81 points...

Here is video of former John McCain Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt on "60 Minutes" trying to hurt Gov. Sarah Palin by saying she was repeatedly "inaccurate" in statements she made during the campaign, which forced the McCain campaign to have to correct her statements. Schmidt is reportedly pushing a new book coming out about the campaign. Listening to this pathetic jerk makes it very clear why the McCain Campaign had no chance for victory. Schmidt was the wrong person to run McCain's campaign, and knows he is finished as a Campaign Manager for GOP candidates. He's trying now to cash...

Besides the occasional Republican either voting for socialized medicine or preventing a filibuster of it, the guilt of the association with the proposal that passed the Senate and the GOP is very deep. In fact the recent bill, without the public option (but will force people into public care) looks increasingly like the failed experiment of Massachusetts.

For Democrats who see their political prospects this year as a tossup between catastrophic and merely horrible, there is hope on the horizon from a most unlikely source. No, not Rush Limbaugh, who recently praised his medical experience in the government-mandated, heavily unionized health care system of Hawaii. Mahalo to him. One of the most prominent supporters of the main ideas behind the health care plan passed by the Democratic Senate is a top Republican prospect for president in 2012 — Mitt Romney.-SNIP-Asked recently about the Democratic bill, Romney dismissed it as something “which no one understands.” Au contraire, to...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Tuesday that he'll decide whether to run for president in 2012 sometime after this fall's midterm elections. Romney, a 2008 Republican candidate for president and rumored 2012 contender, told Fox News in an interview to air Wednesday that he and his wife would give thought to a second presidential bid in a few years. "It's always a possibility, and you keep the options open, but, you concentrate on the task ahead, for me that's trying to get some good people elected in 2010," said Romney during a "Fox and Friends" appearance. "And, I...

Oh, that’s quite good. Promoted from diaries. - Moe Lane If he doesn’t pull out a win in Massachusetts I’m gonna pull out all the stops to get him to move to Arizona. VIDEO His website is here… You can contribute here… even if John Cornyn won’t. Or especially since John Cornyn won’t. And finally, you can volunteer - EVEN if you don’t live in Massachusetts, you can make calls for Scott - here.

There is Scott Brown the Senate candidate in Massachusetts, and there is Scott Brown, the musician in New Zealand. They each have Twitter accounts, but the Scott Brown from Down Under laid claim to @ScottBrown first, and the Senate candidate had to resort to @ScottBrownMA. As the Boston Globe reports, in the past few days, as @ScottBrownMA has gained momentum through bloggers and twitterers and other social media, @ScottBrown has been inundated with people seeking @ScottBrownMA. Here is one of the tweets by @ScottBrown about the flood of contacts: Despite, or maybe because of, Martha Coakley's high profile as Massachusetts...

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld during their long-shot bids for U.S. Senate. The snub has outraged local Republicans who say national conservatives should be jumping at the chance to nab the first open Senate seat in decades despite Brown’s tough odds in the Jan. 19 special election. ...In 1994, NRSC’s leader, then-Sen. Phil Gramm, vowed an “all out effort,” during Romney’s underdog battle against Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The national party boosted...

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld during their long-shot bids for U.S. Senate. The snub has outraged local Republicans who say national conservatives should be jumping at the chance to nab the first open Senate seat in decades despite Brown’s tough odds in the Jan. 19 special election.