More registered voters say they would definitely vote for Mitt Romney or might consider doing so (62%) than say the same about his two main rivals in the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama (54%) and Republican Rick Perry (53%).

Though Romney currently receives the highest level of consideration among voters, more say they would "definitely vote for" Obama (33%) than say this about either Romney (21%) or Perry (20%). That may reflect the virtual certainty that Obama will be the Democratic candidate for president, while Republicans' loyalties are divided between their two leading contenders.

That dynamic is apparent in the higher percentage of Democratic registered voters who say they definitely would vote for Obama (70%) than of Republican registered voters who would definitely vote for either of the main Republican contenders (41% for Perry and 44% for Romney). Once the Republican nominee is decided, the percentage of Republicans who say they would

A new web video and harsh criticism emerged from the Mitt Romney camp today as President Barack Obama launched his three-day bus tour that will make stops in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.

Dubbing the president’s trip the “Magical Misery bus tour,” Romney said in a statement that “it is unlikely President Obama will speak with unemployed Americans, to near-bankrupt business owners, or to families struggling to survive in this economy.”

“He is more interested in campaigning in swing states than working to solve the economic crisis that is crushing the middle class,” said Romney. “Turning this economy around will require real leadership and the experience of someone who has actually worked in the private sector.”

And in the web video titled “Obama Isn’t Working: Minnesota,” the campaign interviews several Minnesotans ahead of the president’s visit today.

Barack Obama’s aides and advisers are preparing to center the president’s reelection campaign on a ferocious personal assault on Mitt Romney’s character and business background, a strategy grounded in the early-stage expectation that the former Massachusetts governor is the likely GOP nominee.

In a move that will make some Democrats shudder, Obama’s high command has even studied former President George W. Bush’s 2004 takedown of Sen. John Kerry, a senior campaign adviser told POLITICO, for clues on how a president with middling approval ratings can defeat a challenger.

“Unless things change and Obama can run on accomplishments, he will have to kill Romney,” said a prominent Democratic strategist aligned with the White House.

Republican Mitt Romney plans to report raising $18.25 million during the second quarter for his presidential campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor said in a statement today that he had raised that sum between April 1 and June 30, and still had $12.6 million on hand.

While he has yet to release the report due to the Federal Election Commission by mid-month, Romney’s statement said he had received donations from all 50 state and Washington, DC.

“Voters are responding to Mitt Romney’s message that President Obama’s policies have failed and that we need new leadership in Washington,” said Romney for President National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick. “Our fund-raising for the second quarter represents the strong support Mitt Romney has across the country.”

Obama himself is expected to report well over an informal $60 million goal set by his supporters.

Former Massachusetts Gov. and current GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney is refusing to sign a pledge penned by the pro-life group 'The Susan B. Anthony List.' The pledge calls for the nomination of judges "who are committed to restraint and applying the original meaning of the Constitution, not legislating from the bench."

It also demands the selection of pro-life appointees for cabinet positions and the advancement of "pro-life legislation to permanently end all taxpayer funding of abortion," as well as the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

"Mitt Romney pledged in the last campaign that he would be a pro-life president and of course he pledges it today," said Romney Campaign communications director Gail Gitcho. "However, this well-intentioned effort has some potentially unforeseen consequences and he does not feel he could in good conscience sign it."

It's a line that's sure to come back to haunt Mitt Romney.
At a campaign event in Florida today, the 2012 Republican frontrunner met with a group of unemployed workers who talked about their challenges looking for jobs in the struggling economy.
After they concluded, the former Massachusetts governor suggested he should tell his own "story," according to the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny.
"I'm also unemployed," Romney replied, with a smile.
The comment was clearly meant to hint jokingly at Romney's bid for the presidency, but it was also an odd statement coming from a candidate whose financial situation is so far removed from his audience's. A former head of Bain Capital, Romney is said to be worth at least $200 million--wealth that has enabled him to concentrate on running for president full time for the better part of the last five years.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to lead the race for the Republican nomination, but Michele Bachmann has surged into second place following her Monday night entry into the campaign.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters, taken following the candidates’ Monday night debate, shows Romney earning 33% support, with Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann a surprise second at 19%. Georgia businessman Herman Cain is in third place with 10% of the vote.

This isn’t the endorsement Mitt Romney needs right now.

Liberal Al Gore took to his blog Wednesday to applaud the former Massachusetts governor for his stance on climate change.

“Good for Mitt Romney,” Gore, the former Democratic vice president, wrote about the Republican seeking the White House in 2012.

He continued: “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.”

Gore went on to reference a Washington Post story that said Romney during a town hall meeting last week “stuck to the position he has held for many years — that he believes the world is getting warmer and that humans are contributing to it.”

Mitt Romney is opening his first formal day as a 2012 Republican presidential candidate by pitching himself as the one to heal the economy and issuing a direct challenge to the man he wants to replace: "Barack Obama has failed America," he says.
In excerpts released ahead of his formal kick-off speech Thursday, Romney homes in on the economic woes that are frustrating voters: a lack of jobs, persistent foreclosures and runaway spending in Washington.
It's a pitch tailored to the conservatives who hold great sway in picking the GOP's presidential nominee in Iowa and South Carolina — and the independents who are the largest politic bloc in New Hampshire. And it is as much a thesis on his viability as it is an indictment of Obama's leadership.

Mitt Romney wants his money to show his might.
The all-but-declared Republican presidential contender, who has kept his head low for much of the year as he collected cash, raised $10.25 million in a single day

Monday after bringing together his network of wealthy donors to dial for dollars in a city with no shortage of them. It's a hefty one-day total that Romney's team hopes will show his strength in the emerging GOP field.

Romney's phone bank fundraiser at the Las Vegas Convention Center, much like one during his first attempt at the Republican nomination, was the centerpiece of a series of fundraising events that included a conference call with volunteers who were asked to solicit their friends and neighbors for donations.

"This is a big kickoff for us, for our fundraising effort. It's kind of a celebration," Romney told the more than 400 supporters tuned in to watch him host a brief town hall-style broadcast on Facebook.

If there was any doubt that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was seriously concerned about the threat posed to them by Mike Huckabee in Iowa, Mr. Romney’s latest campaign swing through the state surely erased that. The shift in the dynamics of the