Mitt Romney

By Alex Knepper Most of all, we like to compare people to Reagan, though, because Reagan knew how to win. But there was another politician who was remarkably Reaganesque who didn’t do a very good job of that. We — rightly, I believe — revere his name, but my goodness, was he a spectacular flop. That politician,...

By Matthew E. Miller I’m thinking of this because it concerns Tim Pawlenty.  Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin all have enemies.  Romney and Palin may not violate the rule of 10, but their time in the sun has made them lighting rods.  The spotlight and time make their own kind of gravity.  And what goes up…

By Mark B. Lowe Contrary to Mitt Romney who made a point of publicly NOT endorsing Scozzafava in the contentious NY-23 race (see my post Romney shows hand, but doesn’t play it ), Mike Huckabee is playing his cards close to his chest. This is causing some consternation amongst movement conservatives whom...

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By Mark B. Lowe Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom provided a few more details regarding Romney’s thinking: “Mitt Romney is a Republican and he tends to support the Republican candidate in races and when he can’t because there are too many differences on the issues, he stays out of the race altogether an...

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By Alex Knepper then, is a cultural one: if you’re “one of us,” if you’re not one of the “good old boys,” if you’re not one of the “Washington Elite,” then your actual policy prescriptions are conveniently forgotten. This is why Tim Pawlenty’s lukewarm support for capping carbon emissions has been attack...

By David Schmidt At the moment, Weber, the former Minnesota congressman and now consummate Washington insider, has stepped away from Mitt Romney and aligned himself with the governor, accepting the position of co-chair of Pawlenty’s Freedom First Political Action Committee.

By Tommy Oliver What a difference from 2007- when Governor Huckabee was barely scraping 1-2% in most of polls and might have had just enough campaign funds in order for he and Jim Gilmore to split the bill to rent a VW van so that he haul his formerly fat rear end from Arkansas to Iowa a month earl...

By Nate Gunderson Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) condemned the Obama Administration’s approach toward Iran, a republic he described as “unalloyed evil” and controlled by “ruthless and fanatical” leaders in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee today in San Diego.

By Adam Graham Against trial heat after trial heat that fails to show a Romney edge against Obama, Romney supporters offer as evidence, their own unbiased evaluations of the American electorate. On the bright side, New Hampshire could put him on the map as a national figure to be reckoned with provided ...

By Aron Goldman Suppose the Republican nomination came down to a choice between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, for whom would you vote? Mike Huckabee 44%Mitt Romney 39% Suppose the Republican nomination came down to a choice between Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, for whom would you vote? Mitt Romney

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By Aron Goldman Despite the increasingly negative views of Palin overall, she is still seen as a possible contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Indeed, when Gallup tested a field of possible GOP candidates, Palin was competitive with Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee for the lead.

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By Kavon W. Nikrad Rasmussen 2012 Republican National Primary Poll Tim Pawlenty 28% (15%)Sarah Palin 21% (21%)Newt Gingrich 20% (15%)Mitt Romney 9% (9%)Mike Huckabee 8% (10%) In the 2012 election, how likely is it that a Republican candidate will defeat Barack Obama?

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By Adam Brickley As it turns out, there is a GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2009 who thinks Gov. Palin is an asset. Not in Virginia, not New Jersey – but let’s not forget that the Northern Mariana Islands are also electing a Governor this year. And guess who’s picture is front and center on the website of GOP nomine...

By Alex Knepper From Mitt, per Toomey’s e-mail: It’s pretty clear that one-party rule in Washington is taking this great country down the path of expensive and extreme policies that hurt our economy and endanger American jobs. We need balance in the Senate; I’m confident that Pat is the man for the job.

By Matthew E. Miller A couple of Republican mandarins, Mike Murphy and David Brooks, went on Meet the Press this weekend.  Sarah Palin came up, as she often does.  Brooks promised to “eat his hat” if she won the Republican nomination and, in the following clip, Mike Murphy agreed:

By Justin Williams Mandates for certain types of coverage are not new, but mandates requiring citizens to buy health care insurance are. Many states have already passed plans, containing some sort of mandates, including Massachusetts under former Republican Presidential Candidate and Governor Mitt R...

By Kristofer Lorelli Did you know that Mitt Romney opposed the Contract with America / the conservative revolution of 1994?  In fact, he continued to speak out against the movement and his party in the days leading up to the historic elections.  DaveG may be correct in his analysis on Governor Romney.  We ma...

By Alex Knepper Former Governor of Arkansas and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said in an interview…that libertarianism is “not an American message,” adding that he considers it to be a “soulless type of economic conservatism” as well as a threat to Republicanism. And:

By Matthew E. Miller The moves underscore, and will lend credence to, the emerging belief among many establishment Republicans that Pawlenty is becoming the sole viable alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential Republican primary rival. The Minnesota governor has even gone so fa...

By Adam Brickley 4. New Hampshire, Baby!: Everybody assumes that Sarah will be making her stand in Iowa and Iowa alone. I think that’s ridiculous. Palin will start with strong numbers in Iowa, but New Hampshire is her state. Alaska has a strongly libertarian electorate, has a lot of registered independents,...

By Mark B. Lowe When I was attending BYU, Gerald Ford came to campus and spoke to the students. After it was over, he opened the floor to questions. One student asked him what his stand on abortion was. Remember, this was BYU, a very pro-life place. President Ford replied without hesitation, “I believe a woman...

By Mark B. Lowe Mitt has a habit of doing this. He is a firm believer in gun rights for the sportsman and for self-defense, but he draws the line at assault weapons. So when Governor he first disappointed the gun lobby by strengthening laws against assault weapons. He later disappointed the gun control crowd...

By Mark B. Lowe Mitt Romney spoke at the biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island, Michigan last Saturday. He didn’t mince words. “America has always been a ardent supporter of democratic efforts and protecting and defending American values and western values,” Romney...

By Kristofer Lorelli Mitt Romney - Possesses the most private sector business experience of any of the 2012 candidates.  Similar to Gingrich and Pawlenty, former Governor Romney is a ’solutions’ candidate that has at least some appeal to all philosophical wings of the party.  Although conservative on most...

By DaveG But what threats exist to Romney’s nomination? It’s really, really hard to derail the Establishment Candidate in a contest for the GOP nomination, and it’s arguably only been done once, or perhaps twice, depending on how you view 1980. In 1964, though, it took Nelson Rockefeller as Estab...

By Matthew E. Miller So it hasn’t been quite 24 hours, but I’m going to post the results of our little “political scenarios” poll.  Here was the scenario: Scenario 1:  You’re Mitt Romney and it’s August of 2011, 5 months before the Iowa caucus.  Obama’s approval ratings have hovered in the mid-40’s for most of t...

By Mark B. Lowe Our differences on this critical issue are fundamental: Republicans believe health care can be best guided by consumers, physicians and markets; Democrats believe government can do better. Quite an indictment against the Democrats in Washington, wouldn’t you say?

By Matthew E. Miller Scenario 1:  You’re Mitt Romney and it’s August of 2011, 5 months before the Iowa caucus.  Obama’s approval ratings have hovered in the mid-40’s for most of the year, but recently he made an apparent foreign policy coup when Iran pledged to officially end its nuclear weapons program in ex...

By Alex Knepper Nobody’s perfect. Palin created a sub-cabinet department while governor to deal with ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’ or whatever it is we’re calling it this week. Bad. Her support for the Federal Marriage Amendment is annoying, although nothing of consequence (her record in govern...

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By Mark B. Lowe The news is out that Mitt Romney will be in Salt Lake City next Tuesday to host a fundraiser for his Free and Strong America PAC. As I suspected, gone are the days when you could meet and greet Mitt Romney for an affordable $50 a plate. Prices for this dinner are pegged [...]

By Mark B. Lowe The Washington State Republican Party has just announced that Mitt Romney will be their keynote speaker at their convention next June. The headliner for their Friday dinner will be Michele Malkin. On a personal note, I lived in Seattle area during the 2008 Presidential cycle. Romney was sc...

By Mark B. Lowe Remember how Mitt Romney has been hosting quite a few fundraisers for a number of Republicans around the country? Well guess who is holding a fundraiser for Mitt next Wednesday? I guess it is true what I have been hearing about these two becoming much closer since the primaries ended. On a si...

By Alex Knepper She’s obviously taking the neoconservatives on board. A brief perusal of her Hong Kong speech — now available to read on her Facebook — shows that she is prepared to take a Giuliani-style approach to foreign policy and economic affairs. Free trade, tax cuts, American energy, stronger ties...

By Alex Knepper Romney as envisioned by DaveG — who I think is correct about how he will run — is a modern-day Richard Nixon: an endlessly pragmatic, adaptive politician who’s willing to take the middle course in order to enact government that “does well” rather than gets out of the way. Both Romney 3.0 and Ni...

By Adam Graham Dave Weigel at the Washington Independent thinks he has Mitt Romney in another flip flop at the Values Voter Summit: When government is trying to take over health care, buying car companies, bailing out banks, and giving half the White House staff the title of czar – we have every good rea...

By Matthew E. Miller I was interested to read DaveG’s tenative, semi, almost endorsement of Mitt Romney.  No doubt many of the party’s moderates will drift in the same direction over the next few years but, it seems like a fantastic case of projection in the face of increasingly bleak prospects for their “mov...

By DaveG The result of replacing our current obsolete federal policies on these issues with sleek, shiny, modern policies will be a foundation for economic growth, reduced government debt, and continued security. Of course a Republican president has to tend to the sacred cows of the GOP, such as...

By Race 4 2012 They asked which candidate would you support: Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Bobby Jindal (pronounced jin-dell!), someone else, or not sure. I answered Huckabee (of course) and they said thank you for taking the poll.

By David Schmidt Romney still struggles with favorability ratings among conservatives as a recent poll put it at just under 50%. While many people at the Values Voter Summit will be glad that Romney is making the effort to be there, to get excited about him as a candidate, they will want to know what he has bee...

By Michael Doerr It is with good reason that the American people are focused on the economy and domestic issues—we continue to lose jobs, amass record-breaking deficits, and the President is promoting a plan to add a trillion dollar health burden. But foreign policy actions by the Obama administration d...

By DaveG In sum, if Republicans were willing to play ball with Democrats like Baucus, we might actually get a sensible health care reform bill signed into law. But Republicans are betting that Democrats won’t be able to pass anything without their help, and are content to wait for President Romney...

By DaveG What better way to spend a lazy Sunday than to take a gander into DaveG’s crystal ball to determine the state of all things political. Q: It’s been awhile since you’ve used this format. A: It seemed fitting. Q: Huh. So what do you think of President Obama? Is he on the verge of becoming the [...]

By Alex Knepper “Well, alright, then. I want Congress to hear this: No TARP, no bailout, no cap-and-trade, no socialist health care, no health care paying for abortions, no czars!” Hmm… “Well, we’re a Christian nation founded on Christian principles, and we need to get back to those,” the man says.

By Alex Knepper Did the President of the United States really just convene a joint session of Congress to announce that the time for bickering is over, that the health care issue is very, very important, that we need to take Real Action, that tort reform is (maybe) on the table (once Kathleen Sebelius look...

By Alex Knepper The establishment is no alternative. Mitt Romney is hopelessly political, if not hopelessly untrustworthy, and while he’s made a lot of friends in the RNC, the grassroots hates the RNC for its lack of spine. 2010 and 2012 will not be good years to be part of the status quo. If 2008 was the Change...

By Michael Doerr But for many Republicans, a fresh face who conveys a dramatic departure from the familiar is exactly what the party needs. Of course, New Hampshire may be Speaker Gingrich’s main early state target. However, victory in New Hampshire only comes with an enormous investment of sweat equity,...

By Anthony Dalke He doesn’t excite Republican passions like Sarah Palin, or bring the intellectual range of Newt Gingrich, the down-home humor of Mike Huckabee or the resources of Mitt Romney. He also brings none of their baggage, has a consistently conservative record, presents his views in a less-con...

By Matthew E. Miller People who asked Romney what he would do once his presidential campaign was over say the former businessman and one-term Massachusetts governor did not flinch: He wanted to keep his hand in politics. For more than a year, Romney has done so with the same competitiveness and discipline tha...

By Mark B. Lowe The 2009 Values Voters Summit will be held September 18th through the 20th. They have quite the impressive speakers list. They include such people as: Roy Blunt John Boehner Eric Cantor Mike Huckabee Tim Pawlenty Mike Pence Mitt Romney Phyllis Schlafly …and many, many more. In addition to t...

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By Mark B. Lowe A spokesman for Mitt Romney has told Politico that the former Massachusetts governor has no interest in running for Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat and will not be pursuing it. I never thought he would. First and foremost, you can bet that the Massachusetts Governor and Legislature have reali...

By Max Twain Sen. Ted Kennedy’s final political act was not dissimilar to the rest of his career; full of partisan hackery of the first order.  Kennedy’s letter to beleaguered Governor Deval Patrick, urging a changing of state law to allow the Governor to appoint a Senate successor upon a vacancy, is di...

By Kristofer Lorelli An interesting editorial by Adam Reilly on the evolving relationship between Mitt Romney and the right-wing media.  H/T: Aron An interesting editorial by Adam Reilly on the evolving relationship between Mitt Romney and the right-wing media.

By Anthony Dalke If he did, Romney would then have a platform to actually introduce legislation modeled on the proposals he put forward as a presidential candidate in 2008 and planned to put forward in 2012. No guesswork. No empty rhetoric. Real ideas, on the Senate floor, that could be evaluated, debated, a...

By Mark B. Lowe Barack Obama 47%Mitt Romney 38% Barack Obama 48%Mike Huckabee 38% Barack Obama 52%Newt Gingrich 34% Barack Obama 53%Sarah Palin 34% Of the following possible candidates for the next Republican Presidential nomination, which one would you now most likely favor?

By Adam Graham So thus the purpose of primary reform seems to be to stop Mike Huckabee and save the GOP. POD 3: Kentucky, Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona, Minnesota, Maryland, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Washington, Indiana, Massachusetts.

By DaveG During the recent Mitt/T-Paw feud over health care reform, I noticed something interesting: both men seemed to be taking the exact same position. Gov. Romney wrote an excellent piece for USA Today on the successes and failures of the Massachusetts model. In the piece, Romney maintains tha...

By Aron Goldman Fox News/Opinion Dynamics 2012 GOP Nomination (UPDATED) Among Republicans Mitt Romney 22% (18%) Mike Huckabee 21% (20%) Sarah Palin 17% (13%) Rudy Giuliani 13% (12%) Newt Gingrich 9% (14%) Bobby Jindal 3% (3%) Jeb Bush 1% (3%) Tim Pawlenty 1% Mark Sanford 0% (4%) Too soon to say 10% (7%) A...

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By Aron Goldman Vice-President of the United States 27%Homemaker 18%Television Talk Show Host 14%President of the United States 12%College Professor 7% Survey of 900 registered voters, including 303 registered Republicans, was conducted July 21-22. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points;...

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By Doug Forrester During an interview with Pawlenty the issue of Obama’s healthcare  plan came up and Pawlenty used that opportunity to warn against going down the route of the Massachusetts healthcare plan. Pawlenty characterized the Massachusetts healthcare reform of Mitt Romney as an “incomplete r...

By Adam Graham Discussing disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a fellow Republican, said governors and other national leaders are expected “to live by a higher standard because … the culture of the nation can be hurt by their failings.

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By Aron Goldman Pew Research Republican Favorability Ratings Favorable / Unfavorable (Net) Mitt Romney 40% / 28% (+12%) Michael Steele 23% / 14% (+9%) Sarah Palin 45% / 44% (+1%) Newt Gingrich 35% / 38% (-3%) Among Republicans Sarah Palin 73% / 17% (+56%) Mitt Romney 57% / 18% (+39%) Newt Gingrich 55% / 22...

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By Max Twain 1) Mitt Romney - Gov. Romney remains in the best position to win the GOP nomination in 2012. He continues to do everything right; good interviews, smart policy critiques of Obama without the red meat attacks, joining the he National Council for a New America, etc. He gave a wide ranging spe...

By Alex Knepper Mitt Romney - 99% Mike Huckabee- 92% Potential VPs: Giuliani, Romney, Sanford, Perry, Ridge (Her dream VP would be Petraeus, but keep dreaming, Sarah) 75% John Thune - 45% I expect Jeb to endorse Mitt Romney fairly early on. Rudy Giuliani - 5%

By Kristofer Lorelli “Well, I think Romney has run a national campaign, so people are more comfortable seeing him as a Republican presidential candidate,” said Tod Weiler, vice chair of the Utah Republican Party. Against President Obama, 67 percent of Utahns would pick Romney to Obama’s 27 percent.

By Adam Graham The Public Policy Polling pollcame out indicating that Mike Huckabee would fare best against Barack Obama (Trailing by only 7) when compared to double digits for Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich. One poll doesn’t tell you a lot, three polls, even if there are flaws in them can in...

By Alex Knepper I’m not pleased with the implication that we should abandon all hope of building our own mega-fundraising machine centered around an exciting candidate and dynamic set of ideas. Why can’t we do that? 2008 was the first year that the Democrats bested the GOP, and it wasn’t exactly an accide...

By Adam Graham Huckabee has received some criticism in Utah for comments he has made about fellow former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and about some of the church’s religious beliefs.

By Kristofer Lorelli 5. The young couple moved to Boston so Mitt could attend Harvard Law School. He was also accepted into a joint M.B.A. program at Harvard Business School. Their second son, Matthew, was born and in 1975 he graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and in the top 5 percent of his class at HBS.

By Alex Knepper 1. Mitt Romney would turn Michigan red! First of all: would you Rombots make up your minds? Are Mormons reliable, patriotic citizens that routinely bloc-vote for Republicans en masse, or do we have to bribe them with a Mormon in order to secure their votes?

By Tommy Oliver Mitt Romney would also balance the ticket quite well. While he still seems to invoke the passions of many of those who didn’t support him during the primary, I think he would bring the ability to raise money that McCain has been lacking. Romney is not without his weaknesses, and there are a lot...

By Jason Bonham Like many of those deeply involved in the Romney For President effort, my involvement was driven entirely by my belief that Mitt Romney would make an exceptional leader for America. I’d worked with Governor Romney in the private sector nearly 25 years ago, and had tracked his career close...

By Aron Goldman Mitt Romney Gov. Romney On Cutting Wasteful EarmarksGov. Romney Reacts To The State Of The Union AddressMitt Romney, the anti-Kennedy Romney Says He Won’t Be a McCain VP Romney comments on Hinckley’s deathRomney on Death of Mormon Church PresidentFormer Rep. McIntosh endorses RomneyRo...

By Matt C “Nevada Republicans on Saturday should examine their choices through precisely such a filter. Each GOP candidate can make — and has made — a reasonable case that he’s best suited to ensure the party again embraces the ideas and concepts that made this nation a beacon of freedom and economi...

By Matthew E. Miller In other words, relatively speaking, Romney does better among evangelicals then McCain. After Huckabee, only Fred Thompson does relatively better among evangelicals (he’s received 4.1% of the vote, but 6.5% of the evangelical vote). But, as we’ve established, a poor showing in South Car...

By Brett Passmore Romney: This is Barney Frank’s legislation? Interview with Senate Candidate Mitt Romney, Bay Windows, 8/25/94] Romney’s characterization of those laws — which as he says, he saw up-close in Massachusetts — is entirely accurate.

By Aron Goldman Hillary Clinton Clinton: We Don’t Vote for AdvisersThe Clintons, Messages and IowaHillary Clinton Embraces Her Husband’s LegacyHillary Clinton courts female voteHillary Clinton’s Gift to the MediaClinton Lands Seasoned Operative for S.C. Effort

By Tommy Oliver The only time one I was personally angry about was Paul Weyrich’s endorsement of Romney. I was not mad at his decision to endorse Romney, but of some comments he later made of accusing the NRLC of endorsing Thompson because of money. I wrote a 5 page article about his comments, but in the end, ne...

By Justin Hart National Review Online has a new article up by Mark Hemingway digging deeper into the notion of whether or not the Romney campaign itself conducted the recent surveys with apparently anti-Mormon messages. (I’m proud to say that he links to MMM quite a bit for his information).

By Aron Goldman John McCain McCain Campaign May Borrow Money For Primary PushSeeing Progress in Iraq, McCain Hopes for Credit McCain Takes Aim at Kerik - and GiulianiMcCain Irony WatchMcCain Feingold Fallout McCain gets outside help as polls riseMcCain doing everything he canWhat A Bizarre Day For J...

By Kavon W. Nikrad Kavon W. Nikrad: Perhaps the signature accomplishment of your time as Governor of Massachusetts was enacting Massachusetts health care reform. However, while campaigning for President you have stressed that the solution that was right for Massachusetts would not necessarily be the c...