In Arizona, Romney unveils his plan to cut tax rates by 20 percent across the board

CHANDLER, Arizona—Locked in a fierce battle with Rick Santorum in the Arizona and Michigan primaries, Mitt Romney unveiled his tax plan by promising all Americans a tax cut

--By Zeke Miller

While Mitt Romney might be giving Rick Santorum a bruising fight in the race for the Republican party's bid for the White House, there's one platform where Santorum is sure he tops his opponent: gaming.

By Chris Morris

With the Arizona primary one of the next two on the Republican calendar, immigration is certain to pop up again as an issue.  The two front runners, Governor Romney and Senator Santorum have been particularly hard line, coupling the usual rhetoric about an imaginary fence with threats to deport all illegal immigrants.

The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year’s elections.

The firm’s poll finds that one of the most important factors powering Obama’s gains against likely GOP nominee Mitt Romney has been the President’s improving numbers among unmarried women, a key pillar of the present and future Democratic coalition.

By Greg Sargent

Editor in Chief Asher Smith interviewed 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday before his speech at Glenn Memorial Church. Romney was at Emory promoting his recently released book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. He was invited by the College Republicans and the Emory Law Federalist Society.

WASHINGTON—Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he doesn't think a prominent breast cancer charity should continue giving grants to Planned Parenthood because it provides abortion services.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney likes to sing about America the beautiful, but he mainly seems interested in mining it.

by Jessica Goad

Republican presidential front runner Mitt Romney makes more money in one day than the average American makes in a year. With $20.9 million in income last year and a lower tax rate than most middle-class Americans, perhaps he’d be willing to join the thousands of homeowners around the country who are investing in solar?

by Zachary Rybarczyk

He ran the Olympics, he should know better

Andrew Kaczynski

Mitt Romney was projected the winner of Tuesday's presidential primary election in Florida by the Associated Press.

Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) called for a federal investigation into former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for filing an inaccurate personal financial disclosure form (PFD) with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

A new method tries to tell whether prejudice plays into voting choices

By Gary Stix

The gloves came off during the Republican Presidential debate last night in Jacksonville, Fla., as the two GOP frontrunners Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney squared off against each other in a heated exchange.

Presidential candidates undergo intense scrutiny, from the words they say, to the clothes they wear, to the hair (or lack thereof) they have on their shiny scalps. Reporters leave no stone unturned in seeking for clues to the inner psyches of these candidates, who could become leaders of the free world. It's all for the sake and safety of our fine nation.

By Ciara LaVelle

Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax return on Monday. His total income for the year was listed as $21.6 million, more than one-half of which came from capital gains.

By Dan Check

Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) renewed its call for a federal investigation into former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) for violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

Mitt Romney reiterated his pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act during Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate in South Carolina and promised to replace the law with three national provisions that, he claimed, could help small businesses and individuals find health care coverage. Unfortunately for Romney, all three ideas are already incorporated in full or in part in the health care reform law he seeks to repeal.

By Igor Volsky

In my column in the last couple weeks, I outlined the “10 questions to find our next president.” I stand by them wholeheartedly, but I have one last question that is almost as important as all of them combined. It is for all the GOP candidates.

Chuck Norris

Mitt Romney was on the campaign trail in South Carolina yesterday, and brought up the issue he expects to ride into the White House: the U.S. economy. Unfortunately for the former governor, the message isn’t quite the same as it was a few months ago.

By Steve Benen

Ron Paul is on track to end the GOP presidential race in second place. But his refusal to directly take on the man who's ahead of him — Mitt Romney — has Republicans wondering: What does Ron Paul want?

Josh Lederman

Steve Benen takes down Mitt better than Newt did, chronicling his lies from the past week.

• Romney told voters in New Hampshire, “I know what it’s like to worry whether you’re gonna get fired. There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip.”
  That’s not true.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow rehashed the Boston Globe‘s highly-disgusting, animal-cruelty-alleged anecdote of the time Mitt Romney strapped his Irish setter, Seamus, to the roof of his car during a family road trip.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who recently called Mitt Romney “a man without a core,” defended the GOP front-runner’s record as an executive at Bain Capital, calling the attacks against him “ignorant and dumb.”

By Jonathan Easley

Last October, Morality In Media (MIM), the “leading national organization opposing pornography and indecency through public education and the application of the law,” launched an effort to get presidential candidates in both major parties to commit to strict enforcement of obscenity laws. In both face-to-face meetings and written statements, three candidates made this pledge: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

By Zaid Jilani

Republican presidential front runner Mitt Romney is catching a lot of flak for his comment in New Hampshire yesterday that he “likes to fire people” who provide him services he doesn’t think adequate.

Stephen Lacey

The 2012 Republican race has largely been shaped by the Republicans who declined to run. Mitt Romney has run a very smart and competent campaign, but he has also been unusually fortunate in that his competition over the last year has been almost comically inept. Here are the people conservatives can blame if Romney ends up winning.

by Ryan Lizza

Mitt Romney's political foes are stepping up attacks based on his time running investment firm Bain Capital, tagging him with making a fortune from the rougher side of American capitalism—even as Mr. Romney says his Bain tenure shows he knows how to build businesses.

By Mark Maremont

 Mitt Romney’s detractors in both parties are eager to point out one of the more glaring problems with the former governor’s background: he’s put thousands of Americans out of work.

By Steve Benen

The Tax Policy Center yesterday released an analysis showing that 2012 GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney’s tax plan is heavily weighted towards the richest Americans, giving 50 percent of its benefit to those making $1 million or more. While millionaires would receive an annual tax cut of nearly $150,000, many middle class and low income families would see their taxes go up.

By Pat Garofalo

• Teenage Romney takes unpopular stance in favour of south-east Asian war

• But his status as 'Mormon missionary' exempted him from the draft

• Future GOP presidential candidate dressed in smart, preppy clothes

• Romney's father George was the Governor of Michigan at the time

Graham Smith

(Photo: The Mail Online)

Mitt Romney’s been hitting New Hampshire and South Carolina lately with his former rival, Senator John McCain. The idea is to have the grand old man of Republican politics help coalesce support around the current GOP frontrunner. But the moment that caught the attention of the cable networks was when McCain got things, well, a little bit mixed up…

Michael Lester

Another day, another calculated attack from Mitt Romney ... and this time he is trying to sound just like Michele Bachmann:

Mitt Romney on Thursday labeled President Barack Obama as a "crony capitalist," invoking a theme that Rep. Michele Bachmann used before she left the presidential race.

"This president is a crony capitalist. He's a job killer," the former Massachusetts governor said during a morning town hall meeting here. "This president has engaged and is engaging in crony capitalism."

Bachmann used similar language before she dropped out of the race Wednesday after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.

Jed Lewison

Mitt Romney’s tax plan is more complex than those of his current and erstwhile primary competitors. But in broad effect it accomplishes the conservative goal of dramatically lowering taxes on the wealthy at the expense of the lower and middle classes.

Brian Beutler

“And I'm very happy in my former life; we helped create over 100,000 new jobs. By the way, we created more jobs in Massachusetts than this president’s created in the entire country. So if the president wants to talk about jobs, and I hope he does, we’ll be comparing my record with his record and he comes up very, very short.”

— Mitt Romney, Jan. 3, 2012

 by Glenn Kessler

"Newt Skywalker" nudges out Romney and Paul based on the former congressman's engagement in issues related to energy, the Internet and military weapons

By Christopher Mims

A few months ago the nation was buzzing about Rick Perry as the frontrunner for the GOP Candidacy, but for whatever reason they totally lost interest and now  it’s another Texas politician that’s started to make waves.

By Evan J. Kessler

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for Virginia's March 6, 2012 Republican presidential primary, claims the state Board of Elections and its Republican Party are unconstitutionally keeping him off the ballot.

Gary Johnson will quit the Republican primaries and seek the Libertarian Party nomination instead, POLITICO has learned.

The former two-term New Mexico governor, whose campaign for the GOP nomination never caught fire, will make the announcement at a press conference in Santa Fe on Dec. 28. Johnson state directors will be informed of his plans on a campaign conference call Tuesday night, a Johnson campaign source told POLITICO.

(BOSTON) -- Just a few hours after Politico reported that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is scrambling to get enough signatures to get his name on Virginia’s primary ballot, Mitt Romney posted an informal Web video of him and his wife Ann at their kitchen counter, flipping through his own election paperwork.

Newt Gingrich: “I balanced the budget for four straight years, paid off $405 billion in debt — pretty conservative. The first entitlement reform of your lifetime — in fact, the only major entitlement reform to now is welfare.”

BOSTON—Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasted rival Newt Gingrich Tuesday as an “extremely unreliable leader in the conservative world” who has taken positions in this campaign that should give GOP voters pause as they consider their choices for the party’s nomination.

By Dan Balz and Philip Rucker

Ames, Iowa (CNN) – A day after a debate that saw much of the GOP field gang up on front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry largely avoided the debate's big issues while continuing his Iowa push Sunday afternoon at Café Diem in Ames.

Adam Aigner-Treworgy

WASHINGTON -- Nearly half a year into his second run for the White House, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has yet to clear his primary electoral hurdle. His support for health care reform legislation in Massachusetts that included an individual mandate remains a sticking point for Republican voters.

Sam Stein

Part of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R) plan to boost economic growth, he says, is a tax cut that comes in the form of repealing certain taxes on investments for the middle class.

Mitt Romney has consistently been the candidate of the 1%

Intrade prediction markets puts Romney’s chances of being the GOP Presidential nominee at 69.5% as the rest of the field implodes and unelectable Newt Gingrich (!) is the latest to surge.

Joe Romm

Electronic records of Romney’s reign as Massachusetts governor are gone according to Mark Reilly, chief of staff for current governor Deval Patrick.

When given a choice, Republican voters would much rather eliminate tax loopholes or foreign wars rather than cut Social Security or Medicare, according to an AARP poll.

By Marc Caputo

With Mississippi on the verge of the uncharted legal waters of defining an embryo as a person in its constitution, Democrats see a wedge in a measure that could in theory outlaw not just all abortions, but also some common birth control measures.

-Ben Smith

Rick Perry’s camp denies they’re behind allegations of harassment against Herman Cain.

By sounding a note of skepticism about climate science, Mitt Romney has prompted a fresh wave of attacks from opponents who branded the change in tone as the latest in a long string of policy shifts by the former Massachusetts governor.

Alex Altman

Former Massachusetts Governor and presidential front-runner Mitt Romney — once a candidate who stood up to coal and supported clean energy — is now calling green jobs fake.

Stephen Lacey

According to the new CBS News/New York Times poll, Herman Cain remains on top of the GOP field, capturing 25 percent of Republican primary voters, with Mitt Romney winning 21 percent.

The timeline to get out of Iraq, announced today by President Obama, is the same timeline initiated by George W. Bush, yet Mitt Romney and other Republicans are bashing Obama because of it.

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney doesn't yet know if he'll win the Republican bid for president, but he's already thinking of the type of running mate he'd choose: someone like Dick Cheney.

--Amanda Terkel

You can't stop President Obama from reaching out to Republicans; it's what he does. In Thursday night's speech, he tried two separate maneuvers—reminding them of their support for stimulus measures in the past and accepting the good faith of their opposition.

By Jacob Weisberg

Not only have Republican front-runners Mitt Romney and Rick Perry both been governors, but both could be cast in a middle-aged male kayaker with prostate problems ad.

Following the results of the Ames straw poll, the Republican primary has become a three-person race between Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, and Rick Perry.

WASHINGTON - Hours after two nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdogs filed complaints yesterday with federal election officials and the US attorney general, a mysterious $1 million donor to a political action committee supporting presidential candidate Mitt Romney came forward and identified himself.

By Donovan Slack

Romney, Bachmann most often mentioned by those with a preference

PRINCETON, NJ -- More than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 58%, do not express a preference when asked in an open-ended format -- with no candidates' names read -- whom they are most likely to support for the party's 2012 presidential nomination. Those who do have a preference most often mention Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann.

by Jeffrey M. Jones

In an interview with Newsweek this weekend, Sarah Palin defiantly declared that she can beat President Barack Obama in 2012 and become President of the United States.

--By Thomas Costello 

(Photo: REUTERS)

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told a national television audience Sunday that 2012 presidential rival Michele Bachmann has a "nonexistent" record of accomplishment in Congress.

Kevin Diaz

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are allergic to facts. How else explain their recent gaffe-fests? Keith dives deeper into the truth -- and the mangling thereof -- with help from Mother Jones' Andy Kroll.

-by Keith Olbermann

The Glenn Beck rally in Jerusalem for Israel, or at least for everything that’s lousy about Israel, is taking shape. According to Wednesday’s Yediot Aharonot, the rally has a name – “Restoring Courage.” Also a date – August 24.

By LARRY DERFNER 

Republican presidential hopefuls debated in New Hampshire Monday evening. Some of the highlights:

By Stephen Stromberg

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the winner of the first major presidential debate tonight according to a survey of Republican and Democratic political operatives, campaign consultants, and party strategists, in a special National Journal Political Insiders Poll conducted tonight. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann also had a good evening. 

By James A. Barnes

LADY LAKE, Fla. — Ralph Reed turns 50 this month, but as he roused a crowd of retirees here with talk of restoring Christian values and bringing down President Obama, he still looked like the boy wonder who appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1995, named “The Right Hand of God” for building the Christian Coalition into an electoral juggernaut

It's a good thing Rick Perry says he's not running for president — only 4 percent of Texas Republicans say they'd vote for the governor, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

by Ross Ramsey

With Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump on the sidelines and Newt Gingrich struggling mightily, the Republican race for President is threatening to be devoid of interesting candidates.  Michele Bachmann holds out the most potential for enlivening the race.  And Joan Walsh thinks she should run.

Mitt Romney isn’t alone in having to defend his past positions on healthcare. Taegan Goddard explains Newt’s previous positions on healthcare that will not sit well with Republicans

The Big Oil companies last week announced their first quarter profits — which topped $32 billion for the five biggest companies combined, and were nearly $11 billion for Exxon alone — prompting Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration to, once again, call for ending the nearly $4 billion in subsidies that these companies receive every year.

(CNN) -- Various potential 2012 GOP presidentials candidates issue statements about bin Laden's death.

Today President Obama gave a speech to the White House press corps to remind them that he was born in the United States. The White House today even released the long-form version of his birth certificate.

BELMONT, MA—Though Mitt Romney is considered to be a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the national spotlight has forced him to repeatedly confront a major skeleton in his political closet: that as governor of Massachusetts he once tried to help poor, uninsured sick people

Former Massachusetts' governor Mitt Romney announced his official intention to run for the presidency this week.

His candidacy has one potentially insurmountable problem: America has same-sex marriage because of Mitt Romney.

By Bryan Fischer

Bill O'Reilly opened his show tonight eager to debunk many myths about President Obama.

Washington (CNN) - Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the most aggressive fundraisers on Capitol Hill, collected $1.7 million for her re-election campaign during the first three months of the year, a Bachmann adviser told CNN Friday.

Five potential Republican presidential candidates addressed the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition on Monday night in suburban Des Moines. All five were trying to convey that they can best be trusted to follow the conservative path.

--Don Gonyea

Birtherism is alive and well within the GOP ranks, and their 2012 nominee preferences tell a story about the difficulty Mitt Romney faces in trying to appeal to an electorate that's a whole lot further out there than he is.

--by Tom Jensen

Why are so many long-shot or no-shot Republicans making noises about running for president? Howard Kurtz on the would-be candidates—and the upside of getting yourself mentioned.

You may be unaware that Mike Pence is on the verge of deciding whether to run for president.

Death and taxes, it is said, are life's only two certainties. But in the wake of President Obama's tax compromise with congressional Republicans, only death retains the status of certainty: The future for taxes has been left up in the air. And uncertainty is not a friend of investment, growth and job creation.

--By Mitt Romney

PPP's final six state level 2012 GOP primary surveys, conducted right before this month's election, find Mitt Romney strong in another key early state, Sarah Palin weak at home, and Newt Gingrich's only first place finish out of the 18 states we polled.

by Tom Jensen

After the 2008 election, I was sure that Mitt Romney would be the Republican nominee in 2012. He wants it so bad and the competition is weak I figured. And Repubicans have a habit of nominating the "next in line" for President (all nominees since Goldwater fall in this category). But once health care reform passed, I changed my mind. Politico supplies the evidence that HCR will destroy Romney.

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But someday soon, political and fiscal forces will conspire to make tax hikes very hard for Republicans to resist.

Lies, distortions, jingoism, xenophobia -- another day, another campaign issue that Republicans can use to bash President Obama and the Democrats. First it was illegal immigration. Now it's the so-called Ground Zero mosque, which is not at all what its opponents claim.

-- By Eugene Robinson

The former chief executive of Wal-Mart is joining a Lexington private-equity firm co-founded by Mitt Romney's son and others with ties to the former Bay State governor.

Lee Scott, who stepped down as Wal-Mart's chief earlier this year, will serve as an "operating partner" at Solamere Capital, which has already raised about $200 million for future investments.

A spokesman said Scott, who headed the giant Arkansas-based retailer for nine years, will bring his experience and contacts to the firm, which plans to cater to rich individuals and families.