Romney campaign works on anti-Gingrich strategy
Washington (CNN) – As Newt Gingrich continues his surge in the GOP primary race, Mitt Romney's campaign -rattled and concerned- clearly is moving into what one adviser calls "a fighting mode." Says another strategist close to the campaign: "Suffice it to say we know who we are running against, and we are ready."
From conversations with aides inside and close to the campaign, it's clear the Romney camp is in the process of devising a new attack strategy that goes beyond the former Massachusetts governor's declaration of Gingrich as a "career politician." The attack would take that label a step further and portray Gingrich as what one source describes as "an inside operator" who "has been selling access."
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Romney meets former President George H. W. Bush
Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney met with former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara Thursday at their Houston-area home. Romney aides say the get together was not about seeking an endorsement, and the two are friends.
Romney's quick trip to Texas came on the same day fellow candidate and the state's governor Rick Perry was in California. Perry became governor when Bush's son, George W. Bush, was elected president.
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Newt believes in Newt
(CNN) – Along with his poll numbers, Newt Gingrich's confidence seems to be growing by the day.
"I'm going to be the nominee," the former House Speaker said on Thursday. "It's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I'm going to be the nominee."
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Perry mocks stumble in new ad
(CNN) – Rick Perry's ad blitz continued Thursday with a new spot mocking his now infamous debate gaffe.
"You know we've all lost our train of thought before, but not many have done it on national TV," Perry says in the ad after video of the Republican presidential candidate failing to remember the name of the third government agency he would cut in a recent debate.
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BLITZER’S BLOG: Gingrich vs. Obama in 2012?
(CNN) – For the first time, some top Democratic Party insiders here in Washington are telling me they now are starting to gear up for a possible general election between President Obama and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
For months, these same insiders had assumed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney would be the Republican nominee.
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'Check here' to support the election on your IRS form? Maybe not for long
Washington (CNN) - Remember the little box you can check off on your federal tax return to donate three dollars to pay for presidential campaigns? House Republicans voted that in this era of e-mailing or texting campaign contributions, it's time to get rid of the federal program, and remove taxpayer money from presidential elections and political conventions.
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that eliminates the "Presidential Election Campaign Fund" and uses the over $600 million it's collected since the end of 2010 to pay for other programs. However, a similar bill in the Senate appears to be stalled. The White House has said it opposes the measure, but has not yet threatened a veto.
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Gingrich stands by anti-child labor law comments
Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich appeared to stand by his controversial stance against certain laws governing child labor Thursday saying his previous comments were "spun out of control" by "the left."
"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works," the former House speaker told an audience at the headquarters for Nationwide Insurance.
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Iowa governor says Gingrich has work to do
Orlando (CNN) - Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, the Hawkeye State's top political handicapper, said Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich still has some serious spadework to do if he hopes to win the GOP nomination.
Though Gingrich has vaulted to the top of state and national polls, Branstad told CNN Wednesday that the former House speaker has not built a strong enough organization to win the caucuses in January.
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Leading candidates even in Mass. Senate race
(CNN) – Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic frontrunner in the Massachusetts Senate race, is even with or ahead of incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown, according to a new poll.
The UMass Amherst Poll released Thursday showed Warren with a four percentage point advantage over Brown among registered voters. Warren received 43% to Brown's 39%, figures within the survey's 4.4% sampling error.
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Poll: Gingrich soaring in Sunshine State
(CNN) - Newt Gingrich's poll numbers in Florida are skyrocketing, according to a new survey of Sunshine state Republicans.
An American Research Group poll released Thursday indicates that 50% of likely Republican primary voters in Florida say that the former House speaker is their choice for their party's presidential nominee, with 19% supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Businessman and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain is at 10%, with all other candidates in single digits and one in ten surveyed undecided.
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