Some GOP presidential prospects are eying Rubio as a possible running mate. | Reuters

By SCOTT WONG

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — It might look like tea party hero Marco Rubio waded into enemy territory with stops in San Francisco and Beverly Hills this week. But rubbing shoulders with a different crowd is the point of the freshman senator’s three-day swing through the Golden State.

The Florida Republican is out to prove he can appeal beyond the activist base, introducing himself to the state’s political and corporate elite, raising cash for his party from some of George W. Bush’s top donors and paying homage to one of Republicans’ most venerable icons — Ronald Reagan.

It’s the second act of a well-orchestrated national rollout that began this spring for Rubio, who insists he has no immediate national ambitions. But if the tea party favorite makes a strong debut and can win over establishment Republicans outside his home state, he could emerge an irresistible choice for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket in 2012.

“Two words: vice president,” Jack Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College political science professor, said of Rubio’s visit. “On the one hand, he wants to remain a favorite of the tea party faction. On the other hand, he wants to reassure the party establishment that he isn’t the warm-weather version of Sarah Palin.”

Since his stunning victory last fall, Rubio’s stuck close to the script: He says he’s focusing on his job as U.S. senator and isn’t interested in making a run for the White House.

But his Tuesday night address here at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library — his first major speech outside of Washington or his home state — was rife with symbolism. It cast him as a serious policymaker and fueled already rampant speculation that the young, charismatic senator is the hands-down favorite to win the vice presidential nod.

“Americans here in the 20th century built the richest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world,” Rubio told an enthusiastic crowd of 1,000. “And yet today we have built for ourselves a government that not even the richest and most prosperous nation in the face of the earth can fund or afford to pay for — an extraordinarily tragic accomplishment.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61931.html#ixzz1VzfsoJQn

Paul Egan/ Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing — Support in Michigan for native son Mitt Romney is far ahead of the backing for any other GOP presidential hopefuls, according to a new statewide poll.

The poll was taken after Romney’s June 9 visit to Detroit and the June 13 GOP debate in which he made clear his opposition to the federal bailouts of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which many credit with saving the automakers and their suppliers.

In the poll of 600 likely voters, 28.7 percent said they would vote for Romney in an open Michigan primary.

Of the five other names offered to voters, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was second with 5.8 percent support, Michele Bachmann was third at 4.5 percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was fourth at 2.8 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was fifth at 1.8 percent.

U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, whose name was offered in the poll after he said in May he is mulling a presidential bid, polled last at 1.7 percent.

Another 26 percent were undecided, 18 percent said they wouldn’t vote in the primary, and 8 percent said they didn’t like any names mentioned.

Attorney General Bill Schuette, Romney’s statewide chairman in Michigan, said he’s “very pleased” by the numbers, but it’s early and “the most important poll is the one in 2012.”

The poll was commissioned by the bipartisan Lansing public relations firm Lambert, Edwards & Associates and The Perricone Group and conducted June 16-17 by Denno Research. Chuck Perricone is a former GOP House Speaker. Dennis Denno is a former Democratic communications expert.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110623/POLITICS02/106230408/Romney-ahead-in-Michigan-poll#ixzz1Q5eTFcQP

Less than a month after she appeared poised to shake up the Republican presidential campaign, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has once again receded from the 2012 limelight.

When Palin launched her “One Nation” bus tour on Memorial Day amid a swirl of media attention and excitement from her fervent fan base, many political observers who had once dismissed her were reminded of the jolt that her candidacy could provide to what has thus far been a relatively sleepy GOP nominating fight.

As Palin toured historical sites along the East Coast, she was clearly reveling in the tangible excitement she’d ginned up: She even eagerly answered questions — from the denizens of the “lamestream” media — ranging from matters of political process to an array of issues facing the nation.

In an apparent repudiation to those who dismissed her trip as a mere publicity stunt, Palin’s openness with reporters about her intentions to visit Iowa and South Carolina — in addition to her highly scrutinized stop in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire — lent credence to her repeated assertions that she was indeed seriously considering a White House bid.

Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month.

But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned, as Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska, where the skies are currently alight for over 19 hours a day and the Bristol Bay salmon fishing season is nearing its peak.

As Palin enjoys her sojourn to the 49th state, she has not reconnected with key early-state figures like Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and she may have jeopardized whatever political momentum she gained from her recent reemergence in the 2012 discussion. Her political action committee’s website still greets visitors with a stale banner, announcing the nationwide bus tour beginning “[t]his Sunday, May 29th.”

More than a few of Palin’s core supporters have grown impatient and confused about her strategy, venting their frustration on Internet fan sites.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/06/22/palin_bus_tour_

takes_extended_pit_stop__110313.html

By: Lisa Fritsch

Sarah Palin, the woman who put enough sizzle in McCain’s 2008 presidential bid to make Republicans think they were finally cooking, now finds herself a few matches short of stoking her own political fire. Palin has managed to maintain the conservative and national spotlight for three years since that failed White House bid. She has won over the Fox News Channel, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, and Glenn Beck. Yet a coveted demographic in her camp continues to elude her: the conservative woman.

Sarah Palin is smart, pretty, and adventurous — a strong red-white-and-blue conservative. Truth be told, conservative women do like and indeed love Sarah Palin; ask several genres of conservative women, from the stay-at-home mom to the working mom to the conservative youth leader at your local college campus, about Sarah Palin, and you’ll find that the common sentiment goes something like this: “I love Sarah Palin and I think the world of her. I wish her success in bolstering the conservative cause, but I don’t think she should run.” There are many other votes conservative women would cast for her if possible — U.S. senator, RNC committee chair, NOW president — but president of the United States is just not one of them.

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By ALEXANDER BURNS

When tested against a group of nine other candidates, Romney takes 30 percent of registered GOP primary voters. His closest competitor is Sarah Palin, at 14 percent, followed by Herman Cain at 12 percent, Rick Perry at 8 percent, Ron Paul at 7 percent and Newt Gingrich at 6 percent. Four other candidates – Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman – are below 5 percent.

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