Mitt Romney

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's decision to suspend his campaign has left Howard County Republicans, like those across Maryland and the nation, with what may be a tough choice for some who don't consider Arizona Sen. John McCain conservative enough to lead their party in November. "I've said all along I'll support the party nominee -- obviously not with the same enthusiasm, but it will build. It's frustrating," said Louis M. Pope, Romney's Maryland campaign chairman and a former Howard County Republican party chairman who is now a Republican National Committeeman.

BOSTON -- Last spring, when the tender shoots of Sen. John Kerry's ambition were rising again like a hardy perennial, I uttered a shriek: "Stop Him Before He Kills (The Democrats' Chances) Again." Mr. Kerry is a good, honorable, thoughtful man but an awful presidential candidate. And so the one person who choked up at last week's announcement that he wasn't going to run again was, well, John Kerry. But no sooner do we celebrate the demise of one Massachusetts candidate when up pops the next one. The unlamented former Gov. Mitt Romney is becoming a true contender, harvesting endorsements and attention in pursuit of the Republican nomination for president.

Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, the Tea Party usurper who took down Sen. Richard Lugar in the Republican primary, created the biggest political buzz last week by uttering the following sentence in a televised debate: "I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, it is something that God intended to happen. " In an exercise that is becoming repetitive this year, slightly more sane Republicans like Mitt Romney and John McCain were forced to disassociate themselves from the comments of one of their political compatriots -- not that Mr. Romney put much distance between himself and Mr. Mourdock.

In the long lull before the Republican National Convention in Tampa in late August, party leaders and strategists for Mitt Romney are calculating how they can put their collective best foot forward. This year, it will not be easy. The usual centerpieces of the event are the selection of the presidential nominee and the choice of a running mate; however, the first piece is already clear, and the second may well be known before the delegates gather. In any event, Mitt Romney being certifiably cautious, there seems little chance he will drop a firecracker of the sort John McCain tossed in four years ago with his selection of the combustible Sarah Palin.

Could it be that President Barack Obama's best chance for re-election in November is ... Mitt Romney? The dismal state of the economy, and especially the stagnant high unemployment rate, clearly are red flags for Mr. Obama's hopes of retaining the White House. And the similar crisis in Europe is no help either. So it may be that the American public's continuing doubts about Mr. Romney will in the end give the president another four-year lease. That possibility helps explain why the Obama campaign and its super PAC allies have been hammering so hard on Mr. Romney's claim to be a Mr. Fix-It of the business world.

During the Republican presidential candidates' debate at Dartmouth College the other night, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was asked his choice for chairman of the Federal Reserve. Grinning, he replied: "I haven't chosen that person. I haven't even chosen a vice president. I'm not sure I'm the nominee yet. " But he clearly acted as though he were. A frequent target of the other hopefuls, the previously benign Mr. Romney dealt with them this time like the knowing adult in the roomful of snappish school kids.

As political theater, the Republican Party's Iowa caucuses came through: A photo finish with a mere 8 votes separating winner Mitt Romney from the runner-up, former Sen. Rick Santorum. Throw in a third-place for Rep. Ron Paul as well as a decent showing by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The rest of the field were poor also-rans with their viability at an end, Michele Bachmann being simply the first to recognize that reality. But as for the predictive value of the nation's first presidential voting?

Finally, Mitt Romney admitted publicly what too many Republican politicians - and plenty of Democrats, too - really think about we, the people. "Corporations are people," the former Massachusetts governor pronounced. And there you have it: Our inalienable rights, as Americans, or more broadly as humans, turn out to be neither special nor exclusive. The unavoidable implication of Mr. Romney's statement is that corporations should have the same rights as citizens. Corporations and people are similar in some ways, of course.

Mitt Romney, release those tax returns. In crisis management, most experienced campaign consultants will tell you, the best thing to do when the proverbial manure hits the rotating blades, is to come clean: Tell the public everything you know, sit down with reporters until they run out of questions, and put all details out on the table in some exhaustive way. Whether it's the Tylenol tampering incidents or Bill Clinton's Gennifer Flowers scandal,...

Update: Mirlande Wilson told WRC-TV  in Washington Thursday that she has lost her ticket . If you've been following the bizarre story about the Baltimore woman who claims she may have won a piece of the Mega Millions record-breaking $656 million jackpot, you may have noticed the peculiar hat Mirlande Wilson wore to her news conference this week -- the one with “Sweet Swine Pork Rinds” stitched across the front. After Wilson's picture was broadcast by The Baltimore Sun and news organizations across the country, a reader from Chicago wrote in to suggest that Wilson and her cap were part of a political stunt designed to smear Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner for president.