It's bad enough that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has to deal with an endless stream of compliments from President Obama for being the inspiration for Obamacare. But now Romney's getting praise from Al Gore, too? All poor Mitt needs is a nice word from Barbara Streisand and he'll have locked up endorsements from conservatives' three most prominent villains representing their three most hated parts of society: the federal government, environmentalists, and Hollywood.

At a New Hampshire town hall earlier this month, Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy when he said, "I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that. ... It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors." In response, Rush Limbaugh said Romney could kiss the Republican nomination goodbye.

"Good for Mitt Romney," Gore wrote on his blog, as The Hill's Jordan Fabian notes. "While other Republicans are running from the truth, he is sticking to his guns in the face of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party."

Given that he has to fight conservatives' anger that he signed into law a bill that mandates individuals buy health insurance--the part of Obama's health care overhaul that conservatives hate the most--it's interesting Romney would take such an unpopular position among his party's base (Limbaugh called climate change a "hoax."). But Romney has said global warming is real for years, and perhaps he's even more afraid of being accused of yet another flip flop.

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Elspeth Reeve