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Thomas Beaumont

Primary stumbles warnings for Romney versus Obama

Last updated Saturday, April 21, 2012 - 8:03am

The pregame warm-up is over.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's urgent task now: Learn the lessons of a primary season peppered with tactical and communications errors that cost time and money while reinforcing doubts about him.

It's a must, even allies say, given that he now faces Democratic President Barack Obama's well-oiled machine, battle-tested and prepared to face the eventual Republican nominee.

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In this Feb. 1, 2012, file photo Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks to reporters on his campaign plane en route from Tampa, Fla. to Minnesota and Nevada. Romney faces a daunting to-do list as he transitions into the role of likely Republican presidential nominee: raise more money, hire more people to work states critical in the fall race, hone his message for broad-spectrum appeal, while fending off GOP challengers who refuse to quit, thinking about a running mate, and refining a strategy to win the 270 electoral votes needed for the White House. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Romney faces lengthy to-do list as likely GOP pick

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, April 9, 2012 - 11:02am

DES MOINES, Iowa — Mitt Romney faces a daunting to-do list as he transitions into the role of likely Republican presidential nominee.

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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, seen on screen, speaks before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), via satellite in Washington, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Chaffetz says Super Tuesday time for GOP to rally around Romney

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - 11:49am

ATLANTA — Mitt Romney is angling to solidify his front-runner status and Rick Santorum to keep it a two-man race as voters in 10 states put Super Tuesday’s imprint on the Republican presidential race. Newt Gingrich just hopes to keep his struggling campaign alive with a strong showing in Georgia.

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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks to supporters at his election watch party after winning the Michigan primary in Novi, Mich., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Romney wins in Michigan by sinking a surging rival

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 10:52am

DETROIT -- Republican Mitt Romney staved off calamity in his presidential bid by returning to a familiar plan: Attack the surging rival.

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Romney-Santorum showdown could be in Ohio

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, February 27, 2012 - 2:49pm

FLINT, Mich. -- Regardless of the outcome of Republican presidential primaries in Michigan and Arizona on Tuesday, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum appear headed for a showdown next week in Ohio.

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It would be nightmare for Romney if he loses Michigan

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 10:53am

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Losing the Michigan primary would strip the last of the varnish off the image of Mitt Romney as the inevitable GOP presidential nominee and commit him to the long march he says he's in shape for.

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(MATT ROURKE/The Associated Press) Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary.

Gingrich wins South Carolina primary

David Espo, Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, January 21, 2012 - 10:10pm

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset win in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

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South Carolina GOP primary races to dramatic close

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, January 21, 2012 - 9:23am

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are not ceding one inch of South Carolina as the unpredictable campaign for the South's first presidential primary concludes -- and certainly not Tommy's Ham House.

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Romney says he'll 'post up well' against Obama

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, January 20, 2012 - 12:39pm

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Mitt Romney entered the final full day of campaigning in South Carolina's GOP primary contest Friday scrambling to fend off challenges from more conservative rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and insisting he's the one that Republicans can trust to "post up well" against President Barack Obama in the fall.

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Romney goes after Santorum on felons voting

Kasie Hunt, Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 2:25pm

FLORENCE, S.C. -- Seeking to protect his standing here, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney on Tuesday assailed challenger Rick Santorum's record on voting rights for felons, an issue that resonates strongly with conservatives. Santorum accused the former Massachusetts governor of promoting lies about him as the two intensified their dispute from the previous night's GOP debate.

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Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum campaigns at Tommy’s Ham House adjacent to a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Santorum backed by social conservative leaders

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, January 14, 2012 - 5:17pm

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Rick Santorum’s quest to emerge as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney received a boost Saturday from a group of evangelicals and others who voted to back his candidacy in a last-ditch effort to stop the front-runner’s march to the nomination.

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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns with former United Nations ambassador John Bolton in Hilton Head, S.C., Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Romney rivals seek SC theme, champion to stop him

Charles Babington, Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, January 14, 2012 - 4:56pm

CHARLESTON, S.C. — With a week left to halt Mitt Romney from sweeping to a third straight victory, his GOP rivals are struggling in South Carolina for a theme, momentum and most crucially, one strong challenger to consolidate conservatives’ misgivings about the front-runner.

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Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign event in Conway, S.C., Friday, Jan. 6, 2012. From left are, Romney, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Romney's wife Ann, Cindy McCain, and her husband, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Romney keeps focus on Obama in Southern outings

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, January 6, 2012 - 11:11am

CONWAY, S.C. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is keeping his focus on President Barack Obama as he works South Carolina, leaving the Republican intraparty attacks to his new public ally, Sen. John McCain.

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(Charlie Neibergall/The Associated Press) Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is hugged by his wife, Ann, during a Romney for President Iowa Caucus night rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday.

Romney wins by a whisker in Iowa

David Espo, Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - 9:46am

DES MOINES, Iowa — Mitt Romney eked out a minuscule 8-vote victory over Rick Santorum in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses, the state party chairman said early Wednesday, ringing down the curtain on an improbable first act in the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in the fall.

Appearing hours after the caucuses had ended, Matt Strawn said Romney had 30,015 votes, to 30,007 for Santorum, whose late surge carried him to a near win.

Even before his victory was announced, Romney looked past his GOP rivals and took aim at Obama. "The gap between his promises four years ago and his performance is as great as anything I've ever seen in my life," he told supporters in Iowa's capital city.

Election 2012, Federal Government, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Elections, National Read more Comments

Romney in position of strength in Iowa

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, January 1, 2012 - 10:35am

LE MARS, Iowa -- Mitt Romney is the clear Republican front-runner in Iowa in the final days before the first voting in the 2012 presidential election. But that's where the clarity ends in this unpredictable nomination race.

Five others are fighting, as they have all year, to emerge as the Romney alternative.

The ascendant Rick Santorum and Rick Perry are battling to win over social conservatives. Libertarian-leaning Ron Paul is working to preserve support that's starting to slip. Newt Gingrich is struggling to end his sharp slide.

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