Matt Lewis breaks it down:
Today, the perfunctory, “next in line” theory suggests that the most likely GOP nominee will be former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. While Romney dropped-out of the 2008 campaign earlier than Mike Huckabee, most conservatives concede that Romney finished in second place – and that is certainly the view held by the [...]

Public Policy Polling pitted the top Republicans (including Jeb Bush) against Obama in a hypothetical matchup and found that the former Arkansas Governor’s folksy ways puts him at the top of the pack. And this makes sense. Huckabee is amiable, has some ideas that at least sound new (get rid of the IRS, FAIR tax) [...]

At TMV Jazz Shaw talks about Mitt Romney’s upcoming book (’No Apologies’) and a possible run for the presidency in 2012:
I never thought Romney stood a chance in 2008, mostly because of a combination of his “Mormon problem” and his rather abrupt conversion to hard core conservatism, which left many Republicans wondering how sincere he [...]

A new NBC/WSJ poll has some sobering news for both of the 2012 hopefuls.
From MSNBC:
Palin stepped down from office on Sunday, and could be eyeing a presidential bid in 2012. But according to the poll, a whopping 67 percent of Americans — and 43 percent of Republicans — say they would not like to see [...]

Honestly, I’ve been less and less inclined to believe Rasmussen’s number over the past few months since they’ve shown extremely high negatives for Obama when no other polls were showing the same.
And now we have Obama tied with Romney for 2012 after the President has made virtually no big missteps?
Hmmm…
Not only that, Obama only bests [...]

But Palin is still close behind???

Not only that, Palin has the most favorable numbers among Republicans and Republican leaning Independents…

Genuinely, I don’t get Republican’s fascination with Palin. Especially after her implosion a couple weeks ago, which was before this poll was conducted.
Long story short, the GOP better hope she doesn’t run. Because if she does [...]

Yes, he apparently is the gift that keeps on giving. (His words, not mine.)
Here’s what Steele said today in answer to a caller on Bill Bennett’s show:
Yeah, but let me ask you. Ok, Jay, I’m there with you. But remember, it was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life, from pro-choice [...]

Hmmm, wonder why he’d be interested in doing that…
From National Journal:
Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who is writing a book on the direction of the country and has signed on to be one of the national spokesmen for the upstart National Council for a New America, which aims to revive the GOP, appears to [...]

(NOTE: I misread the poll results. The poll is among ALL voters. I’ll strike what isn’t relevant anymore, but most of my comments weren’t about the Republican nature of this poll anyway. Sorry for the confusion and thanks to Simon for pointing this out.)
This was a bit of a surprise, especially considering that only Republican [...]

Since he’s not holding an elected office right now, he’s the most well positioned of any of the 2012 hopefuls to be THE voice of opposition. Because he can present ideas galore and none of them have to pass any test or go before any vote.
And now, well, there’s this:
The former Massachusetts governor and 2008 [...]

With Jindal’s epic fail already in the rear view and Palin’s relevancy quickly fading, the GOP will be looking for the standard bearer for 2012. And guess who’s at the front of the pack?
From Politico:
While others may be indecisive or distracted, he’s already, quietly, clearly focused on solidifying his position inside the party, backing House [...]

As if this were any surprise, but does Mitt really want to be known as the perennial presidential candidate? And especially in 2012, when it’s extremely likely that the economy will have picked back up, more jobs will be created and the GOP’s message will still be out of touch.
Wouldn’t he rather let Huckabee and [...]

That’s what he apparently claimed a couple weeks ago.
From the Post-Gazette via Politico:
“I think it’s quite unlikely that I would run for office again,” he said. “I gave this my best effort. My experience in politics is that the window opens rarely. It opened for me. I stepped through it, got on the stage and [...]

Sure, Mitt has his sights set on 2012, but he still manages to lay out some ideas that Obama should take to heart.
On governing…
Any management advice for the next president? How does he rally a depressed nation to meet the challenges we face?
He should forget entirely about reelection and focus solely on helping the nation [...]

Yeah, yeah, I know it sucks, but this is politics and the speculation is bound to beginning immediately.
In any event, NBC and the Wall Street Journal did a poll and guess who topped their list?
That’s right: Mitt Romney.
I wrote yesterday about how he was already starting his bid during the campaign itself and it actually [...]

Yes, Palin’s on the list, but she ranks third behind Romney and Huckabee. And with a field like that, does she really think she can overcome the perceptions that have formed about her during this election cycle?
From Newsweek:
If John McCain is not elected president, which one of the following three possible candidates would you be [...]

In this podcast we offer a preview of the third and final presidential debate between Obama and McCain as well as an overview of the state of the campaign. We also discuss our most recent election projection and the polling trends during the last week.
Additionally, we criticize both campaigns on their respective weaknesses and [...]

Listen to him explain the bailout terms in a very easy, straightforward manner.

Does that sound like a bad deal to you?
Also, concerning Palin, I bet Romney wants “Sarah Palin to be Sarah Palin.” Because if she does that, McCain will lose handily and it’ll set up Romney perfectly for a 2012 run when the economy [...]

I’m getting the sense that John McCain wasn’t really joking when he said he doesn’t know much about the economy.
In the last few days, as bad financial news has piled up, McCain has seemed more than just unfocused, he’s seemed clueless. I’ll let the Wall Street Journal lay out the problem:
Flip-flopping between assertions that [...]

In addition to Tim Pawlenty essentially taking his own name off the list this morning, Fox News is reporting that Mitt Romney, who may or may not be in Dayton today, is not John McCain’s choice for a running mate:
Sources told FOX News that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will not be McCain’s choice, even [...]