Pardon me for laughing at the so-called GOP establishment whispering to us their fear of Rick Santorum’s religious authenticity. Oh, they say, if he wins Michigan we must find another candidate. Huh? Sorry folks but this is what you get after years building a coalition based on a block of voters who only get your [...]

I’m puzzled by this contradiction: The President’s campaign team boasts about his Latino support while his Administration brags about its record deportations, including parents separated from nearly 6,000 children a year.

Obama officials say they’ve doubled annual deportations to nearly 400,000 last year. Critics say those numbers are inflated. If so, why [...]

While Super Pacs get all the attention there’s another much quieter but equally insidious new thing in 2012 politics – campaign organizations spying on your computer to figure out what sort of ads and messages will get you riled up.

Borrowed from the world of business marketing, microtargeting is not something campaigns or the companies [...]

As Mitt Romney desperately seeks to win the Michigan primary invoking the memory of his father with glossy TV ads it is relevant to consider the bolder and more progressive man George Romney was. As a businessman his success rested on the pursuit of more fuel-efficient cars. He was a Republican governor who dared to [...]

The President’s polling uptick makes Mitt Romney’s case to resistant GOP voters better than he can. When Obama looked beatable right wingers felt smug enough to go pure. But now they must rethink.

Perhaps a Republican former blue-state governor who can triangulate, obfuscate and, yes, even sacrifice red-state [...]

My notes on today’s campaign news …

LOL of the day: Mitt aides spinning reporters that they’re not panicking Romney chose not to flip on opposing auto bailout. So weird this is where he finally decides to be consistent Worth remembering from last FEC report: Pro-Romney SuperPac raised $25 [...]

Rarely in TV news do we see a genuine effort by opposing forces to at least listen to each other. Current TV’s Cenk Uygur, a devoted progressive, manages just that in this interview with Rick Santorum’s benefactor Foster Friess. Their friendly and respectful disagreements offer some hope that ideological debate doesn’t always have to become [...]

When I can find them, from time to time I’ll feature positive ads by presidential candidates, starting with this 5 min. web video from the Obama campaign. It’s well done. My criticism would be that, just like the rest of the President’s reelection effort, it seems more about the past than the future. There’s plenty [...]

It has become quite clear that Sarah Palin wants to derail Mitt Romney. Why? She might be thinking a brokered (or broken) convention will turn to her. Whatever the reason, she has increasingly become an advocate for not letting the GOP establishment (aka Romney) end the nomination race anytime soon.
“People who start screaming [...]

Chatting here with CBS News Radio correspondent Dan Raviv about Mitt Romney, who won CPAC’s straw ballot and Maine’s caucuses on Saturday, and the rise of Rick Santorum, who has eclipsed Newt Gingrich as the last traditional conservative standing.

From my Conservative Political Action Conference notebook …
• Romney [...]