Recent polling from Magellan Strategies indicates that both Governor Mitt Romney and Meg Whitman , former CEO of eBay.com, are in early pole position for their relative offices, or potential office I should say in the case of Governor Romney. California has a closed primary, meaning only registered Republicans can vote in the primary. As such the Magellan poll only included those who are registered GOP.

California is rich with GOP delegates with approx. 170 that get to vote in the RNC convention. Of those McCain received 158 delegates in the 2008 primary, while Romney earned 12, with 42% of the vote and 35%, respectively.

The results for Magellan’s early 2012 Presidential preference poll:

31% Romney
18% Palin
13% Huckabee
12% Gingrich
08% Paul
03% Other
03% Pawlenty
12% Undecided

That is a very healthy margin for Romney, and there could very well be similar results in February 2012, bringing a vast majority of those 170 delegates into Romney’s camp. Interesting enough the results included cross-tabs which showed the results among social conservatives to be very similar to those of the state-wide poll: 30% Romney ; 20% Palin ; 17% Huckabee. This disputes claims that Romney can’t do well among SoCons, and being a strong SoCon myself I find great satisfaction in that.

Now for the 2010 GOP Gubernatorial nominee poll results:

63% Meg Whitman !!!
12% Steve Poizner
04% Other
21% Undecided

Much could happen before the June 8 primary elections, but I think Whitman is almost a definite winner with nearly 2/3 of the entire vote. Meg Whitman as Governor would be an extraordinary benefit to the State of California with her extensive economic expertise as a business leader, but I can’t overlook the fact that it will also be a huge boon to Romney with Whitman in the Governorship.

Good Luck Whitman 2010 and Go Mitt 2012!!

~Nate Gunderson

Results of the full survey found here. HT GOP12.com

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Governor Romney is at the top of his game in this interview that is well worth the time to listen. Romney interviews with the hosts of the show and takes several questions from callers. The interview is part of his No Apology Tour, more info at NoApology.com, and http://bit.ly/RomneyBook. A full transcript of his portion of the interview is available below the fold.

PART1:

PART2:

Full Transcript: From NPR.org
Read more…

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Romney continues the rounds with a number of media appearances today to promote his new book. Stops will include the Laura Ingraham radio show, Morning Joe on MSNBC, The Joe Scarborough Radio Show, and Your World with Neil Cavuto on FOX News. I was not aware of any of these yesterday so there may be more. If you know of any please let us know and we’ll post what we can.

Later today Governor Romney is doing a speech and book signing in Huntington, NY. Information here. Full schedule listed here.

Below is video from the segment on Morning Joe. (H/T Jacob at NYforMitt)

IN CASE you missed it: yesterday’s post has YouTube videos of Romney’s appearances at The Today Show, The View, Hannity, and the Late Show with David Letterman. Watch them all by clicking here.

~Nate Gunderson

Addendum: K-Lo of NRO’s The Corner opines on Romney, his book, and his appearance on Letterman:

If you had any doubts about who he is, you’re seeing the real thing now. Watching Mitt Romney on the No Apology tour thus far, he’s talking about what he wants to talk about, what moves him: being a Mr. Fix-It businessman — on the economy, on diplomacy, on health care. He wants to do this because he believes America is great and should and can continue to be. He appreciates — in a firsthand and in a practical, sociological way — that families are the building block of a great country, and he sees how good policies help them. And that’s what he wants to talk about.
…
And so, on Letterman last night, you didn’t see pizazz or stand-up. You heard dorky jokes — the rapper on the plane broke my hair — and a serious guy. That’s who he is. His CPAC speech this year and his book reflect that. He’s uncomfortable changing his emphases to fit Iowa or anywhere else, and he doesn’t pull it off convincingly when he tries it. If he runs again, don’t expect him to.

That, I believe, is the No Apology big picture: This is Mitt Romney.

Read the whole thing here. (H/T Evangelicals for Mitt)

Addendum 2: WSJ book report An interesting read. It’s mostly a review rather than analysis, but has some good summations.

Addendum 3 -- by Ross: Mitt on NPR’s Face the Nation Mitt was on 2:20 today, but if you missed it, listen to the podcast

Listen to Mitt Romney on Laura Ingraham’s radio show by clicking here.

Watch part 1 and 2 of Mitt on Your World with Neil Cavuto here and Ann Romney on ‘Your World’ in the video below:

Fresh Video from Mitt’s Stop in Huntington, NY:

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Chat has been moved back to the side bar, or the full which can be found in the chat room.

Update 14: Video of Mitt Romney on David Letterman

Update 13: NO APOLOGY makes it to the #1 Political book on Amazon.com today(11:00 PM) According to Mitt Romney’s official Facebook account.

Update 12: Romney’s Appearance on FOX News with Hannity (10:20 PM): HT to Kris Lorelli at RightOSphere.com for both of the these last two videos.

Update 11: Preview Video of Mitt on Letterman’s show (10:15 PM):
SNIP: see the full video above

Update 10: Preview/overview of Mitt on Letterman’s show (8:00 PM): The show is recorded in late afternoon. CBS gives the spoilers here. Quick highlight quote: Romney warns Letterman that “Palin has a rifle, you know.”

Update 9: Video: The Today Show with Matt Lauer (6:30 PM)

Update 8: We’ve finally got video! The View (5:40 PM)

Update 7: Allahpundit weighs in (5:10 PM) HotAir.com’s summation: “This ain’t your daddy’s Mitt Romney. (Or, rather, your slightly older brother’s.) Still not convinced? Well, when he was asked today on “The View” who he thought might be a formidable candidate in 2012, he singled out Bob McDonnell, who won the governor’s seat in Virginia last year by running a sort of proto-Romney campaign — socially conservative, yes, but verrry quiet about it compared to his meat-and-potatoes rhetoric about jobs. That’ll be the upshot of Mitt ‘12 too, the “non-ideological conservative” versus whoever emerges as the ideological darling. It’s Palin’s slot if she wants it…” HotAir.com is a great site, but I somewhat tire of how the whole world revolves around Palin when what I mostly want is conservative news. Still I check it daily.

Update 6: More ‘No Apology’ news and reviews (2:50 PM)

• NYforMitt: tracking ‘No Apology’s ranking on Amazon -- looking better than I thought
• Human Events: a thorough and thoughtful review of No Apology by Ms. Jedediah Bila -- “Romney’s No Apology: The Case for American Greatness is a sound expression of his approach to some of our nation’s greatest present challenges.”
• Newsmax.com: text of the entire first chapter of the book. READ IT if you are considering buying the book!
• ABC News: Lengthy analysis and review of ‘No Apology’
• Hannity: promo for Romney’s appearance later today states “Romney will be in studio tonight to discuss his explosive new book ‘No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.’”

Update 5: ‘No Apology’ in the news (2:00 PM) -

• Boston.com In book, Romney styles himself wonk, not warrior: “[Romney is] a politician who is speaking out against the ‘temptations of populism.’”
• MSNBC: More Romney vs. Populism “The populism I’m referring to is, if you will, demonizing certain members of society: going after businesspeople, going after Wall Street, going after people who are highly educated, people who are CEOs. That kind of ‘All of our problems are due to that group’ is something that is unproductive.”
• Not related to the book: Did Leno steal Romney’s joke?
• Boston.com ‘No Apology’ -- and no mincing words: Three excepts from Romney’s new book re: regulation, healthcare and Obama
• Zidane makes no apology: French legend will never be sorry for headbutt

Update 4: Liberal Reaction to No Apology (11:44 AM) -- Will be posting the video from the Today show soon. In the mean time check out the comments to see some of the liberal love from our mail bag. I clearly state on the contact page that this is not an official site and that emails are not forwarded to Romney, but some get through all the same.

Update 3: Video: Mitt Romney on the Today Show (by Ross 10:34 AM) -- Video of Mitt’s appearance on the Today Show can be watched at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/35659123#35659123

Update 2: Mitt Romney on the Today Show (8:55 AM) -- Stay tuned for videos of Mitt Romney’s video appearances. He has already done the Today show and the report is that he was excellent on the show. Here is a picture of Romney with the Partridge family after the doing the today show: http://twitpic.com/166zd1 Click here for list of his media appearances today.

Update 1: Launch of No Apology (by Nate 8:40 AM) -- New website launched: NOAPOLOGY.COM. Follow Mitt over the next few months as he progresses through his book tour. Watch videos, see photos, etc. Is this going to be the new Mitt Romney logo if he runs in 2012?

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In honor of the release of Mitt Romney’s new book, and his upcoming birthday, we here at MittRomneyCentral.com are doing a special drive to get more folks on board (and informed) with promoting Romney for President in 2012! And since bombs are all the rage….

BOOM!!

GOAL: (You may notice a pattern here) Starting today we will do a 12-day push to get 2012 new fans of our Facebook page by Mitt Romney’s Birthday!! (That would be March 12th) We started March off with 12321 fans. Add 2012 to that and our target by the end of March 12th is 14333 fans!

How to help with the fan bomb:

• Join Facebook.com if you haven’t already
• Become a Fan of our page at Facebook.com/MittRomneyCentral
• Recommend to all your friends (most of them at least) by clicking the little button on the top left of our page that says ‘Suggest to Friends’
• Post on your wall a link to this post or to the Facebook page and ask people to become a fan
• Suggest to your friends, that they suggest to their friends
• Repeat

I think you get the idea If only a handful of you commit to get a few people (say 12?) to join we will more than surpass our goal! Of course some of you will bring in many more than that. How many can you get?

Thanks for helping everyone. Together we will help get the word out that Mitt Romney is the man for the job in 2012 and that we need him to help turn this country around!

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Tomorrow is the big day! The much awaited public release of Romney’s new book is here and Mitt will be in the Big Apple doing interviews and media appearances to promote his book. The one day media blitz will include appearances on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX News. A 3-month book tour will initiate the following day. Check this list (click here) to see if he’s coming to a city near you.

SHOW TIMES:

The Today Show on NBC: Begins at 7AM ET and runs for 4 hours. I don’t what segment Romney is on. I’ll update this if anyone can verify what time his appearance is.

The View on ABC: Times vary. Typically late morning. Click here for show times in your area.

Hannity on FOX News: 9PM ET

The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS: Typically at 11:35 PM in all time zones.

For a little added drama, Sarah Palin will be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on the same evening. Ted Jones of Variety.com has some interesting remarks on the “matchup”.

Not reading too much into this, Palin probably wouldn’t be caught dead doing Letterman at this point, and Romney is embarking on a book tour, meaning he’d probably be just as happy doing Leno.

What’s gratifying is the extent to which late night is seeking out politicians not just as novel guests, but as actual draws. We’re long past the point of lamenting the fusion of politics and entertainment in the talk show arena to a recognition that these appearances, whether on Leno or Letterman or Colbert or Stewart, often make news, sometime even of substance. It sure beats another star tubthumping their latest project, even if these politicos have their own tomes and agendas to promote.

It’s probably just a matter of time and Romney will be on Leno’s show as well. I remember he was on Jay’s show right before a primary debate in 2008. Has he done it more recently than that?

~Nate Gunderson

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I’m a little perturbed that FOX News released the results of the poll before it was announced before at CPAC. It came up on twitter almost a full 10 minutes before the actual announcement.

CPAC attendees have spoken and have chosen RON PAUL for their preference for the GOP nomination in 2012? Romney had won the contest in 2009, 2008, and 2007 (click here for results for all three years). The straw poll was open all Thursday and closed at 1:00 on Friday. This year is said to be different from previous years as there has not been much push or buzz to win the poll, though it’s obvious the Campaign for Liberty had their eye on the prize. Congratulations to Ron Paul and all of his supporters! We’ll see ya’ll again next year!

Here are the results:
Ron Paul 31%
Romney 22%
Palin 7%
Pawlenty 6%
Pence 5%
Gingrich 4%

This is the order of the candidates as it appeared on the CPAC 2010 ballot:
Haley Barbour
Mitch Daniels
Newt Gingrich
Mike Huckabee
Sarah Palin
Ron Paul
Tim Pawlenty
Mike Pence
Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum
John Thune
Other (write in)
Undecided

~Nate Gunderson

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Now that I’ve recovered somewhat from sleep deprivation and finally feel comfortable with the overwhelming environment of CPAC – with its multiple events and appearances by conservative leaders – I’m feeling I can relax, sit down, and focus on some blogging. Unfortunately, I’ve got a whole day’s worth to catch up, while juggling all of today’s events.

For a newcomer, having various politicians constantly present throughout the day is exhilarating. The day began with Jim DeMint introducing Marco Rubio. After Rubio’s speech, DeMint also gave follow-up comments. I was greatly anticipating hearing Rubio but was detained in the long line to obtain credentials. I’ve heard that his speech was great. I certainly enjoyed Demint’s follow-up comments. DeMint clarified his controversial statement (which he took a lot of fire for): “I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don’t have a set of beliefs.” DeMint stated that he would rather have 30 Marco Rubios than 60 Arlen Specters.

A short while later, I recognized Mike Lee (from my home county) who is running against Bob Bennett (R-Utah) for his senate seat. I was eager to see someone from my home state, so I introduced myself and chatted for a bit with Lee and two of his staff. While I was still pondering the oddity of seeing someone from back home, I walked into the hall and saw Utah Rep. Rob Bishop (1st) being interviewed by Moe Lane of RedState. I waited. After his interview, I introduced myself and we talked as he and a staffer found their way back to the main floor. Bishop mentioned that Utah should be getting a 4th seat in the House soon. I asked him about the process of drawing the boundary lines for the districts and about what we might do to win the 2nd back for the Republicans. He seemed optimistic that Utah might soon have four GOP Reps.

Doug Hoffman, from the narrowly lost NY-23 race, was also in the hall (he was to speak later in the evening during the dinner ball). He will be running again for the seat in November (the special election was only to finish out the term). He will be running on the Conservative party ticket, but is very likely to earn the backing of much of the Republican party as well. He’s a very genuine and ’smiley’ guy. Hoffman seemed quite pleased that I recognized him.

In the afternoon, we were enlightened with Leader Boehner (who I thought did quite well), and Wayne LaPierre from the NRA. LaPierre had an extremely well prepared presentation which included lots of video showing liberal attacks against gun owners and their rights.

I took some time later to walk through the co-sponsors’ Exhibition Hall, walked by ‘Radio Row’, and generally strolled the grounds. This hotel is HUGE and has numerous conference room, ballrooms, halls, etc. Spread over several floors, it’s quite a maze!

Later in the evening, I went to the XPAC lounge for the free food (insert smiley face!) and stayed to see Stephen Baldwin moderate a little Q&A with Andrea Tantaros and Sarah Huckabee, daughter of, and campaign manager for, Governor Mike Huckabee. The prepared questions for them were very odd: How has sexism affected your career? What effect would a potential Sarah Palin race vs. Hillary Clinton in 2012 have on women’s role in politics? I think the second question wasn’t a very fair question to ask Sarah H. given the possibility of her Dad running in 2012. One funny thing – I was standing near a small table, finishing my food (before the Q&A), when Sarah H. walked up, set down her bag, and joined me at the table – while she was prepping. Surprised to suddenly see her and recognize her, I congratulated her on her upcoming wedding in the Virgin Islands. Surprise lit up her face as she replied, “Wow, news spreads fast.”

Besides Governor Romney’s speech, the clear highlight of the day was the surprise appearance of Vice-President Dick Cheney. While typing away, I was vaguely listening to Liz Cheney’s speech when suddenly the lounge BURST into cheers. Some folks got up and ran out of the lounge onto the balcony of the main ballroom. Cheney entered to thunderous applause, to which he warmly responded, “A welcome like that almost makes me feel like running for office again… But I’m notta gonna do it.”

But Nate, what about Romney’s speech? It was awesome. So awesome that I’m going to write more about it in a separate post (hopefully later tonight). Just a pre-cap: It was second best speech I’ve ever heard him give; second only to his Faith in America speech. They are very different speeches -given under different circumstances – and comparing them is akin to analyzing remarks given in a class reunion setting as opposed to a court room setting.

Now, with multiple interruptions, I’ve finally finished my rough draft and I’m just going to publish. I will re-read and add photos as I’m able. Otherwise, I’ll never get this post off. So much for being able to focus!

~Nate G.

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I was not aware that Senator Scott Brown was going to be at the ‘Bowling w/ Mitt’ event, so that was a pleasant surprise. When I arrived (about 30 minutes late), even though Governor Romney was speaking passionately and had raised the volume of his voice so the crowd could hear him, I was boxed out of the crowd and could not hear what he was saying. A few minutes later, he introduced Senator Brown who also took a few minutes to speak. Approx 110 in attendance -- a lot of people to fit in the small area that was reserved. I believe they expected a couple dozen less than that.

The bowling alley was dark, so it was a challenge to get good pictures with the slow shutter speed. Still, we have a few interesting shots.

Click here to see all 14 pictures on our Facebook page!

~Nate G.

Addendum: Before the fundraiser Romney also stopped by the grounds at CPAC and said hi to the volunteers. Twitpic here. Story from Ambinder here.

UPDATE from Rebel Ross ~

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Twitter is an interesting animal. Buzz comes and goes. Important things like Romney’s new book, often take back seat to the stuff of tabloids such as the ‘airplane incident’. Twitter has been all a-quiver with remarks about Romney the incident. Some of them funny, some thought-provoking, some rants. And some who should look into facts before they spew their ignorance onto the interweb. Below are some of the most interesting from the past day. Actual tweets are in bold, my remarks in plain un-bolded text.

@bjflanagan: Unruly passenger took a swing at Romney; folk hero status imminent – Oh, the stories that will be told!

@thenote: @KevinMaddenDC tells us (on good authority) that Mitt Romney’s hair stayed in place during plane kerfuffle – Of course it did, but what’s a kerfuffle?

@PoliticalMath: Does anyone else smile to think of Mitt Romney flying coach to the Olympics? –

@DESUDESIGN #mitt romney was seated in economy? really? – Yes, really. I even read once that when he sold his home in Utah last year and moved his things to California he rented and drove the U-haul himself.

FauxNewz GOP calling 4 Peace-monger Romney’s termination from…whatever it is, precisely he does at this moment in time. – What, precisely, Mitt Romney is doing at the time is slowly and methodically helping conservatives take back the country a la McDonnell, Christie and Brown.

@bostonist: Romney Induces Rage Even at 30,000 Feet – Can’t Boston news get anything right? They weren’t at 30,000 feet. The flight hadn’t taken off yet.

@geeksthenewcool Does anyone else think that Mitt Romney looks like a 50-something version of Jack Shephard from Lost? He could be his dad. It’s eerie. – Mitt Romney must look good for being nearly 63 YO to be considered a 50-something. And what does this have to do with the airplane? Oops, my bad.

@Hakuh Guy Totally Tries to Punch Mitt Romney, on a Plane Like, totally. Dude.

@hambypcnn Envisioning Mitt’s airplane scrape reminded me of this classic moment from the campaign: Romney vs. AP’s Glen Johnson http://bit.ly/dfbU4u Lucky Glen Johnson. He was in a lot more danger than the “unruly passenger” on the plane was.

@UsaNationNews: Mitt Romney assaulted on airplane; Carefully disheveled hair rushed to Mitchell/Sassoon Clinic for tests. – My favorite tweet.

@johnlmyers44 http://bit.ly/bsFLPx No matter what you might think of Romney, Who hasn’t had issues with people who think that airline seats are recliners?

@goybear Ex-prez GOP candid. Romney had a man take a swing at him while flying “economy” in AirCan. 1st class & business also wanted a piece of him. – LOL

@calzone The best part of that news story though is that Mitt Romney wasn’t attacked by a passenger for being Mitt Romney. It’s all incidental. – Yes it could happen to you too. Anyone of us could be attacked at anytime by and ‘unruly passenger’.

@robenfarzad someone apparently decked Mitt Romney yesterday on a Vancouver-LAX flight – “Apparently” you don’t look too much into the details. No one was “decked”.

@10thousandhangs If Mitt Romney tells you to put your seat in an upright position, you DO NOT get mouthy I foresee a new grassroots group: Flight Attendants for Romney.

@Caprice2009 Someone hit Mitt Romney on a air liner. Nothing makes sense. But, it is clear we are fed up with our politician. They have become thieves. – Obviously this person thinks the ‘unruly passenger’ was mad that Romney was a politician. And how is Romney a thief? He took no salary for Olympics, no salary for Governor, all profits from his book will be donated to charity, and is taking no speaking fees for his upcoming book tour speeches.

@JFD8 (This one is a poem so I’m going to format it differently)

When Romney asked him 2 adjust
His seatback a passenger fussed
But Mitt, ever coolly
Can tame the unruly
By moussing so hes never mussed

@fracmeister Romney “attacked’ on airplane… turns out it was some jerk. I hope they throw all jerks off planes who dont sit up during takeoff! – Your right! We should petition Reid and Pelosi to make a law against jerks on planes. They’re not doing anything better at the moment.

@kathrynlopez when i heard about the romney plane incident, i had flashbacks to the florida primary. – I still have nightmares about that every so often.

@ronmwangaguhung @thenote: Mitt Romney’s sober, even-temperament in the face of a possible assualt proves he cannot possibly win the GOP nomination – How do you figure?

@twin66: Note Romney was in row 15….earned his own wealth…Pelosi, Reid, Biden chartered planes on my dime… – More like ‘chartered planes on my life-savings.’

@RomBot That fool was lucky Romney didn’t Judo Chop his head: http://bit.ly/dwLfr8 – I was not aware that Romney was a Judo expert, but if the RomBot says so, I must believe.

@HercGigancock Someone tried to punch Mitt Romney, and was this close to living the American dream. – Have we digressed so much that the American Dream has evolved from ‘wanting to be independently wealthy’ to ‘wanting to punch a wealthy person’? (If I can’t have it….)

@LiberalLaugh #Romney didn’t hit the guy back?! WEAK ON TERROR! – Yeah, I want a real hot-head when dealing with terrorists.

@Shady_Milkman: So I was on a plane in Canada when Mitt Romney goes all flight attendant on me asking me to lift my seat, so I took a swing at him – So it was the milkman….

@MFXD Did not feel well this morning. Being unemployed is a struggle. But then I woke up to discover that someone punched Mitt Romney in the face. – Go back to bed – Romney was not punched in the face. Don’t worry the Government will come find you and give you a job, somehow.

@Gwindybrown Wonder if attacker reads HuffPo? – You’d have to be drunk to read HuffPo. So yes, it’s very possible he was.

@thenote Well Romney even has better plane sense than Schumer. – Yes he does. Here’s the story regarding Schumer.

@LessThis Less returning your seat to its upright position. More Mitt Romney fisticuffs.

@reverendadam Sounds like Romney wisely kept his Mitts to himself. – The ‘unruly passenger’ would have surely been sMITTen to the ground.

@Zaloomination Bush dodged a shoe & #Romney dodged a punch…is #Palin next? – Palin dodges bullets everyday from the media.

@jcbouvier Mitt Romney gets some gruff over reclining seats in First Class out of Vancouver…nearly has to adjust hair – ‘Nearly’ is correct. ‘First Class’ not so correct.

~Nate Gunderson

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