Despite the daily pounding he is getting from other candidates, by some conservative talk show hosts and his many gaffes, in the end former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney has emerged as the only candidate acceptable to GOP conservatives, moderates and liberals, a new Gallup Poll finds: Mitt Romney is now the only candidate that a majority of conservative and moderate/liberal Republicans nationwide see as an “acceptable” GOP nominee for president. Conservative Republicans are more likely...

Some good news for Mitt Romney: a new CBS News poll finds that the former Massachusetts Governor is the only GOPer in the race could beat President Barack Obama.

You’d think someone in politics as long as Mitt Romney (OOPS! He is just a businessman who has dabbled in politics off and on) would know better. But he doesn’t. He made a remark about enjoying firing an insurance company — but it’s the enjoying firing part of it that’s now be jumped on by his opponents. They seem (NOT!) to be forgetting other parts of the statement. This is somewhat akin to the Jimmy Carter “malaise” statement that was used against Carter,...

For years Democrats have complained that in national and even more local elections Republicans would “Swift Boat” Democrats. And even in the most aggressive Republican contests, many GOPers would at least pay lip service to Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment about making nice to other Republicans. No more (and why should that be surprising when many conservatives today reject some of the things Reagan did plus his willingness to reach across the aisle?) To wit: There is an informal...

A new Gallup Poll has bad news for both political parties and (relatively) good news for Democrats and bad news for Republicans: The percentage of Americans identifying as political independents increased in 2011, as is common in a non-election year, although the 40% who did so is the highest Gallup has measured, by one percentage point. More Americans continue to identify as Democrats than as Republicans, 31% to 27%. What does this mean? It means than more than ever before a party that wants to...

And yet another debate. But this time former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney is not getting off quite that easy: Mitt Romney found himself under fire early in a Sunday GOP debate, with conservative candidates piling on Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum went on the attack at the outset of Sunday’s NBC News-Facebook debate, broadcast on “Meet the Press.” The two of them went after Romney from his...

There will be events going on today (including a debate now being shown on NBC) that yours truly will not be able to write about. Today I pack and leave for a three month tour. I will be offline except for short instances where I may do some posts. If major events occur and no one on TMV covers them, they will be dealt with later. My drive today will be 10 hours.

Our political Quote of the Day comes from CNN independent analyst John Avlon who notes that New Hampshire is all about independents. Some quotes from his post that needs to be read in its entirety: New Hampshire is all about the independents. And that’s why it’s the best test of general election electability. While Iowa’s caucuses are disproportionately dominated by social conservatives, in New Hampshire’s open primary, independents can vote — and they make up more...

Don’t think former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will go way quietly. His PAC just got a $5 million donation: Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has given $5 million to an independent committee supporting GOP presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich, the first of what is expected to be many millions the Las Vegas billionaire plans to spend this election year. The check from Adelson is the latest in an avalanche of campaign cash flooding the presidential season to independent groups known as Super PACs The...

I’ve been offline most of the day but I will live blogging the remainder of the ABC News Republican Presidential debate. As usual, many of my comments should be taken as the impressions of an independent voter about how the candidates are coming across. END OF DEBATE: Sort of considered a blah debate. Mitt Romney came out unscathed. Look for the band wagon to begin. 6:48: There he goes again. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich attacks the press again. But many Republicans — and Americans...

Independent voters no longer need to watch TV, go to the movies, attend comedy clubs or listen to Donald Trump insist he is really considering a third party run for amusement. We can just watch the dance of the partisans. Many of us independent voters are not just turned off to political polemics but we have to turn off the increasingly predictable (and often execrable) ideological talk shows of the left and right. And we’ve become accustomed to not treating the mouthings of many politicians...

It’s clear more than ever that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is going to have to make a major effort as it successfully did with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to take apart former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorm. The latest big reason: a new South Carolina prim poll shows Santorum is quickly picking up steam there: What a difference a caucus makes. Rick Santorum who two months ago had one percent (1%) support among likely South Carolina Republican Primary voters now is running...

Like some other analysts, I have gotten the distinct impression that President Barack Obama would just loooooove the Republicans to make a big fuss over his decision to install Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here is a significant sign: Here’s a pretty clear sign of which way the politics are moving in the fight over Obama’s decision to employ a recess appointment to install Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Senator Scott...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from First Read that says former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney better be prepared for the attacks coming his way from other Republicans who want to squelch his front-runner status for the 2012 nomination: *** Here come the attacks on Romney: Unlike past presidential-primary front-runners, Mitt Romney has enjoyed this advantage over the past year: His GOP rivals have largely attacked each other, and have left him alone. Just last week in the lead up to Iowa, Rick...

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Keith Olbermann is most famous for his hundreds of not-so-special “Special Comments” those melodramatic commentaries more often than not delivered in an indignant tone. He split with MSNBC after clashing with his employers there and then went over to Al Gore’s Current Television.” And now he is showing the second thing for which he has been famous for: clashing with management: Mr. Olbermann, who was hired last year to be the...

RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch I’ve often noted that the more people see, listen to and think about Newt Gingrich and his career and ideas, the more they really don’t like him. He makes more sense when he isn’t high in the polls. And once he’s high in the polls, he blows it. Yes, indeed, in Iowa he was obliterated by the mass of attack ads Mitt Romney — and let’s not play the stupid political ballet here — unleashed against him in Iowa. It was one...

I will be haunted for a long time by this. On the other hand, it gave lots of hope. FOOTNOTE: My father had an experience like this about three years before he died.

Warning to the GOP: The way rhetoric is being used in the Republican primary campaign, there may come a point where moderates may simply decide they cannot vote for a Republican candidate. No, this isn’t just a personal reaction. You can bank on this being a problem if trending continues. Why would moderates vote for a political party that has increasingly used the word “moderate” as a filthy political word? We’ve now seen a parade of candidates use it. And the phrase “going...

Conservatives on talk radio and on the web have noted that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is starting to be more accessible to thne mainstream news media and liberal infooutlets. The Daily Caller reports: Mitt Romney is running for president as a Republican, but his recent media strategy includes granting exclusive interviews to news outlets that cater to a liberal audience. Romney last week granted one-on-one interviews in Iowa to both MSNBC and the Huffington Post, among the best-known sources...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com CNN independent analyst John Avlon gives us our political Quote of the Day on the myths versus reality of tomorrow’s Iowa caucus. This must-read-in-full article gives us this chunk at the end: One of the real questions in this caucus is whether retail politics matters as much as it used to. Mitt Romney basically dissed the state for the first 10 months of 2011, still stinging from his expensive rejection in 2008. But his well-funded campaign was able to buy aspects of...

So what should we make of the most recent Iowa poll as the political world gets ready for tomorrow’s big event? Here are five ways to look at it.

Rep. Ron Paul continues to zoom in the polls in Iowa, although the latest news is that as he undergoes more scrutiny former Sen. Rick Santorum is picking up steam and he is stalling. But the bottom line is this: Paul has a solid organization in Iowa so the polls could be misleading. On the other hand, an allegation that continues to dog him are accusations that in the newsletters under his name that he claims to not have written or even approved, he suggested 9/11 was an inside job. Today he tried...

Here’s a collection of the best political cartoons of the week.

Has America’s political system now become so broken with two major political parties that indulge in politics, polemics and legislate almost by rote that the country desperately needs a new centrist party? The idea has come up over the years and analysts — speaking from the conventional wisdom — have usually labeled it a pipe dream. But the idea is becoming more popular than ever as many Americans see two parties dominated by partisans who seem to view every debate and action as...

Is Rick Santorum about to pull of yet another surprise in the battle for the 2002 Republican nomination? A? A new poll finds him surging — which could be bad news for Rep. Ron Paul and perhaps even former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: The Des Moines Register’s latest Iowa Poll shows a surprise three-way match-up in contention to win the Iowa Republican caucuses: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Santorum, who has been largely invisible in the polls throughout the campaign season,...