Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS -- I just wrote about "Evangelicals for Mitt," a group of evangelical supporters of Mitt Romney who are pressing people to support Romney at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll. Afterward, I spoke to a young female delegate who said she planned to vote for Romney in the poll. I asked her how she had ended up at the conference. She said "Evangelicals for Mitt" had contacted her and offered to pay for her to have a limited-access ticket -- so long as she agreed to vote for Romney in the straw poll. Asked how "Evangelicals for...

Mitt Romney had his chance, and he blew it. He was given the opportunity to establish himself as the Leader of the Republican Party on what has become the defining issue between the nation's two major political parties, and, in the process, solidify his position as the front-running candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination; but rather than showing the intelligence, cunning, and courage necessary to take ownership of the issue, he showed none, and blew it. All he had to do was say six simple words, words Americans love to hear: "I was wrong. I am sorry."

Ron Paul was the straw poll winner at the CPAC convention last weekend – but Sarah Palin is the early frontrunner in bluegrass country. Colorado-based GOP pollster Magellan Strategies threw a POTUS 2012 question into a statewide poll of 560 Kentucky Republican voters and found Palin leading the pack with 28 percent of the vote – with Mike Huckabee a close second with 24 percent. Mitt Romney was at 16 percent, undecided landed at 14, Newt Gingrich got 12, followed by Paul with 4 percent and Tim Pawlenty dead last at two percent. The takeaway: Huckabee’s going to be a...