Topic: GOP Primary 2012

What Does Newt Gingrich Have to Do to Get a TV Deal?

MSNBC

Newt Gingrich will "debate" Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, his second big appearance on an NBC political show in less than a week.

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 23, 2012

GOP Wants to Cut and Run on Its Own Culture War

Even as Rick Santorum was defending himself at last night's Republican primary debate for saying birth control was bad -- "it's a license to do things in the sexual realm"-- he tried to look a little less strident, promising, "just because I'm talking about it doesn't mean I want a government program to fix it."

Comments | 4,445 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 22, 2012

Santorum Gets Smacked Around

It's the very last Republican primary debate, and this time, and if you read all the solicited and unsolicited advice to the candidates, the message is: be as aggro as possible.

Comments | 4,798 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 22, 2012

A Look Back at Our Most Treasured GOP Debate Memories

The 2012 Republican presidential candidates -- what's left of them -- will debate for the very last time Wednesday night and we're sure going to miss them.

Comments | 1,663 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 22, 2012

Poll Watch

Romney Behind in Michigan, But Ahead With Absentee Voters

With less than a week to go before the Michigan primary, Rick Santorum is polling just ahead of Mitt Romney, but Romney is crushing him with people who've already voted absentee. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? Here's our guide to today's polls and why they matter.

Comments | 1,218 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 22, 2012

Romney Goes Full Trump

Mitt Romney once treated Donald Trump like he was the girl he was too embarrassed to tell his friends he was hooking up with, but the candidate has finally upgraded their relationship status.

Comments | 983 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 21, 2012

Drudge Turns on Santorum

Rick Santorum was sitting at the center of the Drudge Report's homepage Tuesday afternoon looking like a religious nut.

Comments | 4,370 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 21, 2012

It's Costing Romney a Fortune to Buy the Election

It's not that Mitt Romney's money is no good in the Republican primary, it's just that his money buys a lot less than everyone else's.

Comments | 1,603 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 20, 2012

Romney Has a Small Lead Over Santorum in Arizona

Mitt Romney is polling just ahead of Rick Santorum in Arizona, with 36 percent to 33 percent, respectively, Public Policy Polling finds.

Comments | 3,621 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 20, 2012

Things Rick Santorum Has 'Clarified' in the Past Two Weeks

Rick Santorum got pretty feisty on the campaign trail this weekend, and now "our less-than erudite members of the national press corps," as he put it,  keep asking him if he really meant what he said

Comments | 7,141 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 20, 2012

Romney Super PAC's Ad War Cost $14 Million in January

The pro-Mitt Romney super PAC's ad war against his two main opponents cost it $14 million in January, The New York Times reports.

Comments | 515 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 20, 2012

Newt Gingrich: Crash Dieter

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are trying to prove their working-class roots as they campaign across the U.S., but the man who is truly one of us is Newt Gingrich, who, like so many Americans, is a crash dieter.

Comments | 2,908 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 20, 2012

Santorum Hopes Social Conservatives Will Like Him When He's Angry

Rick Santorum "gets pegged as a one-trick pony, but he’s not," his national political director said last month. Maybe that's true, but how can you ignore how candidate lights up when talks about his conservative Christian credentials? 

Comments | 1,123 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 20, 2012

Bain Capital Turned Down Chance to Invest in GM

Mitt Romney says that he opposed the government bailout of Detroit because the private market would have provided loans so GM and Chrysler could go through managed bankruptcy, but it turns out the firm Romney once led, Bain Capital, turned down the chance to do so.

Comments | 4,828 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 17, 2012

Romney Once Punched a Tree

No wonder Mitt Romney seemed like a data-driven robot when he praised Michigan for its trees Thursday -- "love this state. It seems right here. Trees are the right height." He didn't always feel that way.

Comments | 11,033 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 17, 2012

Without Debates, We'll Only Have Aspirin Jokes and Coal Mines

Rick Santorum got pretty mad Friday morning when CBS's Charlie Rose asked him about his No. 1 donor's comment about effective birth control being aspirin between the knees, but Santorum should get used to questions like it.

Comments | 2,150 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 16, 2012

Hoping You Won't Forget Him, Rick Perry Wants a Super PAC

Even though he dropped out of the presidential race to spend more time tweeting manly photos of himself and endorse Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry is making a bid for America's attention.

Comments | 1,158 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 16, 2012

Atlanta Debate Cancelled Due to Low Candidate Turnout

Mitt Romney is skipping the March 1 Republican primary debate in Georgia, which comes before Super Tuesday, due to "scheduling conflicts," National Journal reports.

Comments | 3,331 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 16, 2012

Foster Friess Can't Be Serious About Using Asprin as Birth Control

Rick Santorum backer Foster Friess shocked MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell into silence when he told her, "Back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraceptives -- the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly."

Comments | 8,032 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 16, 2012

Santorum's Student Council President Campaign

Many have predicted Rick Santorum would have to deal with reporters digging up all kinds of dirt from his past after he beat Mitt Romney in three states last week, but the main thing the press has been finding is how his campaign is less presidential than student council. 

Comments | 2,242 Views

Santorum Made $1 Million a Year, Tax Returns Show

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s income rose each successive year that he was out of Congress until he was earning about $1 million a year, according to four years of tax returns he made public late on Wednesday.

Comments | 634 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 15, 2012

Anti-Santorum Ad Deluge Begins

Mitt Romney justified his coming attacks on Rick Santorum Wednesday morning by arguing, essentially, "He started it." By Wednesday afternoon, the ads arrived.

Comments | 939 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 15, 2012

Santorum Thrashing Obama in the Battle of the Band Endorsements

Rick Santorum was endorsed by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine Wednesday, the same day President Obama has the Foo Fighters fundraising for him in Los Angeles. 

Comments | 2,914 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 15, 2012

Poll Watch

Even Republicans Want Employers to Cover Birth Control

Rick Santorum got a lot of applause railing against the Obama administration over whether religious institutions should have to offer health insurance that covers birth control. But applause aside, even Republicans are on the president's side. Here's our guide to today's polls and which ones matter.

Comments | 4,536 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 15, 2012

Santorum Rallies His Base Against Snobs

After lying dormant while the economy cratered, the elites are back, laughing at you. “Don’t you see how they see you?" Rick Santorum beseeched a crowd in Idaho Tuesday. "How they look down their nose at the average Americans. These elite snobs!”

Comments | 4,754 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 15, 2012

Santorum Now Has to Slay Two Monsters

Rick Santorum now has to fight two Goliaths -- the well-financed Mitt Romney and the inconceivably loaded Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire backing Newt Gingrich who has decided to take Santorum out.

Comments | 2,159 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 14, 2012

Newt's Second Dream Team: The Christian All-Stars

Newt Gingrich's first Dream Team was so popular -- and by so popular we mean so perfect for jokes -- that he made a second, holier, one.

Comments | 1,872 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 14, 2012

Gingrich Predicted His Own Lucrative Consulting Career in 1991

Newt Gingrich practically glimpsed his own future in 1991, when he got mad at voters in a town hall and taunted, "If you want to fire me, I don't care," saying he'd make more money as a political consultant.

Comments | 2,243 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 14, 2012

Poll Watch

Rick Santorum's National Surge Continues

The emerging consensus is that Rick Santorum is the biggest threat yet to Mitt Romney. They have similar strengths, but Romney has many of Santorum's weaknesses, only weaker.

Comments | 3,531 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 14, 2012

The GOP Candidates' Valentine's Day Plans

Newt Gingrich, the most married candidate in the 2012 Republican primary, has the most explicit plans for Valentine's Day, but Ron Paul, the candidate with the most appeal to hormonal young people, is the candidate most happy to exploit the semi-fake holiday.

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 14, 2012

Does Romney Believe in a Debunked Evolutionary Theory?

As evidence he is not a cartoonish rich man, Mitt Romney has invoked a political form of the discarded theory of Lamarckism while talking about how his father grew up poor and worked with his hands.

Comments | 4,209 Views

A Sunnier Gingrich Brushes Off Calls to Quit the Race

Coming off several disappointing primary performances, Newt Gingrich on Monday said he’s not dropping out—but that he is retooling how he campaigns.

Comments | 1,265 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 13, 2012

Santorum Now Ties Romney Nationally

Mitt Romney's campaign tried to downplay the importance of the three state votes last week because no delegates were immediately awarded, but Republican voters don't appear to have bought the argument. Here's our guide to today's polls and which ones matter.

Comments | 1,833 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 13, 2012

Gingrich's New Facebook Timeline Is Missing Some Things

Techno-futurist Newt Gingrich has adopted Facebook's new Timeline feature with a detailed accounting of his life story, there are some things from Gingrich's past that did not make the cut, among them his first two marriages.

Comments | 1,837 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 13, 2012

Neiman Marcus Shop Girls Stab Callista Gingrich in the Back

The ladies who help Callista Gingrich spend thousands of dollars on her unfashionably conservative wardrobe are spilling on the 1-percenter shopping habits of the Gingriches.

Comments | 9,654 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 13, 2012

Newt Love-Hates New York Like a Real New Yorker

Newt Gingrich basks in the sun as he stares longingly at the Statue of Liberty in a new ad asking for donations, only a week after taking shots at "elitists" who "ride the subway" like the filthy degenerates they are.

Comments | 875 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 13, 2012

Santorum Blames Wife for Anti-Working Woman Book Passage

Rick Santorum says women shouldn't serve in combat, but he's happy to have his wife jump on a grenade for him.

Comments | 10,454 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 10, 2012

It Gets Harder and Harder to Figure Out Romney's Take on Health Care

In 2008, Mitt Romney campaigned with a health care plan that sounded an awful lot like it included the dreaded individual mandate, the thing conservatives hate most about his Massachusetts health care law, not to mention Obamacare.

Comments | 3,793 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 10, 2012

Even Callista's Bad Jokes Play Into Newt's Delusions of Grandeur

Poor Callista Gingrich was forced to tell terrible jokes as she introduced her husband at CPAC Friday, and even her punchlines played to her husband's extremely high regard for his own intelligence.

Comments | 3,959 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 10, 2012

Romney: Out and Proud as a Retired Executive

Republicans have long denounced the liberal fixation with victimhood while embracing all its tropes, arguing, as Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich have, that it's those in the Christian majority who are really being persecuted in America. Mitt Romney bested his opponents by going one step further, saying he would stand up for the fabulously wealthy.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 10, 2012

Is Mitt Romney's Campaign the Death Star?

To turn down an invite to meet the guy most still expect to the the Republican Party's presidential nominee is a pretty sick burn, but that's what many conservatives did to Romney at CPAC Thursday, The New York Times' Michael D. Shear and Erick Eckholm report.

Comments | 1,591 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 9, 2012

'S--- Mitt Says' Video is Surprisingly Amusing

While the everlasting "Shit Somebody Says" meme has grown a bit tiring, we have to concede that latest installment featuring Mitt Romney is pretty funny, in part because it breaks the rules of the genre.

Comments | 3,565 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 9, 2012

Growing Concern That Romney's a Wimp

Rick Santorum has a solid chance to follow up his three victories this week by beating Mitt Romney in his own home state of Michigan, and the situation has conservatives worrying again that Romney might be a bit of a wimp.

Comments | 2,051 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 8, 2012

Poll Watch

Republican Voters Not Thrilled About Voting

Tuesday night's elections offer concrete evidence for polls showing Republican voters are comparatively less enthusiastic about doing their Democratic duty this year.

Comments | 4,546 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 8, 2012

It's Hard to Be the Inevitable Winner When You're Not Winning

 There have been eight state votes in the Republican presidential primary, and Mitt Romney has won three of them. Rick Santorum has won four.

Comments | 3,003 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 7, 2012

The Huffington Post Says We're Too Distracted

Huffington Post media reporter Michael Calderone is bemoaning the state of our political coverage -- now more than ever, he says, politics is trivialized by Twitter. Can we mourn, too, the state of Michael Calderone's media criticism?

Comments | 801 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 7, 2012

GOP Establishment Tries Playing Nice with Gingrich

Newt Gingrich hasn't quit running for president even though he's been shut out of Republican fundraising circles and attacked as a socialist egomaniac by conservative pundits, so the Republican establishment is trying a new trick: flattery. 

Comments | 800 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 7, 2012

What Happens If Santorum Beats Romney in the Midwest?

Rick Santorum is polling way ahead of Mitt Romney in Missouri, and even though no delegates will be awarded Tuesday, it will show what Santorum can do when Newt Gingrich isn't on the ballot.

Comments | 2,904 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 6, 2012

Poll Watch

Polls Give Santorum Reason to Look Forward to Tomorrow

Rick Santorum's poll numbers in the three states that vote Tuesday look so good they've got Mitt Romney attacking and Newt Gingrich pre-conceding. Here's our guide to today's polls and why they matter.

Comments | 2,007 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 6, 2012

Mitt Romney Prefers to Give Mitt Romney All the Credit

There is accumulating evidence that Mitt Romney's not much of a team player: He mocked advisers for thinking their work is "very, very important"; he delegated the task of thanking staff and volunteers to his wife; and his campaign fired his debate coach last week because he was getting too much credit for doing a good job. 

Comments | 10,268 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 3, 2012

Sarah Palin Elegantly Parodies Herself

The most skillful and witty parody of Sarah Palin's faux-modesty, clumsy and cliched language, and outsider-turned-insider punditry Friday was written by Palin herself.

Comments | 21,271 Views

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