Evans Liberal Politics, February 22, 2012, compiled and with summaries by Paul Evans, photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore via The Raw Story:

Mitt Romney is either tied or very slightly ahead in the Michigan polls, and about tied with Rick Santorum in Arizona. Santorum continues to hammer at the Obama administration in what to mainstream America appears to be a radical way, yet about half of Republicans think he should be the nominee. It’s not hard for Santorum to repeatedly point to changed Romney positions from a few years ago, and then to question his credentials as a conservative. What a comedown for the once “inevitable” candidacy of Romney! To make matters worse, although Romney took in a good deal of money during the previous primaries in January, he spent almost three times as much, even though he still has a positive balance sheet. Romeny is fighting back hard though: to hold his own in the conservative state of Arizona, he must be doing something right. Here, then, is a compilation of news relating to Mitt Romney: ~ Paul Evans

Mitt Romney: Obama Administration
Has ‘Fought Against Religion’

In this Huffington Post article, we see that in order to compete with Santorum among conservative Christian voters, Romney is resorting to the traditional Republican tactic of demagoguery. Obama’s campaign characterized the Romney comment as “disgraceful.”

Romney says spending cuts
will slow economic growth

The Raw Story broke this headline yesterday, and this is a huge break with Republican orthodoxy on the face of it. The devil is in the details, though:

“If you just cut, if all you’re thinking about doing is cutting spending, as you cut spending you’ll slow down the economy,” he said in Michigan. “So you have to, at the same time, create pro-growth tax policies.”

So Romney is not actually calling for not cutting spending, or if there are cuts, he just wants to “balance” these cuts by economically “positive” tax cuts for the rich. That sounds very typical for fiscally conservative Republicans, does it not?

In January, Romney spends
nearly three times his haul

According to CNN, during the four primaries in the month of January, Romney spent a whopping $18.7 million. However he only took in $6.5 million, still somehow leaving his camp with resources of $7.7 million on hand. He came out of the month with wins in two of the four primaries.

Sarah Palin’s 8 best pokes at Mitt Romney

Politico’s video and written summary of Ms. Palin’s surprisingly sarcastic and occasionally witty remarks. The woman appears to be learning. About Romney’s candidacy she said:

“I am not convinced and I don’t think the majority of GOP and independent voters are convinced. He’s still in the 30th percentile… He hasn’t risen above that yet because we are not convinced.”

Mitt Romney talks vice president,
bailout at town hall

Politico: SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Mitt Romney today abandoned his efforts to maintain strict control over his campaign’s message, taking questions for nearly 30 minutes at a town hall here.

Fiddling while Rome burns, Romney insists he is keeping an “upbeat” outlook, and steadfastly attends only one event a day, while Santorum maintains a blistering pace of three or four events a day. He characterized the Santorum candidacy as “untested,” and pointedly noted that:

“We had Donald Trump for a while and we had Herman Cain and we had Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich. They’ve all been vetted very carefully. Rick Santorum is now just being seen for the first time.”

CNN/Time poll: Romney
holds narrow lead in Arizona

Politico: Mitt Romney is still in the lead in Arizona — but just barely, according to a CNN/Time poll out this afternoon.

Romney gets the support of 36 percent of likely voters in the state, compared with 32 percent for Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich comes in third with 18 percent, followed by Ron Paul with 6 percent.

These results are fairly similar to the Arizona Public Policy Polling survey out yesterday, which found Romney with 36 percent and Santorum with 33 percent.

Oddly enough, in its headline, CNN itself took the same data and characterized the contest as “all tied up.” Would this be any sort of indicator of which news organization favors which candidate?

Romney Facing Unexpected Hurdles in Michigan

NY Times: NOVI, Mich. — This was supposed to be a state, at last, where Mitt Romney could coast. After all, he grew up here. His father, an automobile executive, had been the governor. And the last time there was a Republican presidential primary in Michigan, Mr. Romney won handily.

Yet, with less than a week until Michigan Republicans vote and with polling suggesting that Rick Santorum is mounting a serious challenge, Mr. Romney finds himself urgently pouring resources into his home state — unveiling gauzy television ads aimed at reminding residents of his family roots and rolling out endorsements from a virtual who’s who in Lansing: the governor, a former Senate majority leader, the attorney general, a former attorney general, and on and on.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum expected
to be focus of GOP debate in Arizona

Mass.com: The Republican presidential debate in Arizona Wednesday could prove to be a key moment in the 2012 race. The CNN-sponsored debate is the last one before voters head to the polls in 18 states. Debates scheduled for March 1 and March 5 have been canceled, and the next Republican debate is scheduled for March 19 in Oregon.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is tied with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in Michigan and a loss in that state next week could be disastrous to Romney’s campaign. The Arizona debate is expected to be focused on Romney and Michigan and could prove to be a showdown between Romney and Santorum.

Romney reverses course, praises
‘important role’ of labor unions

Just last week, the Romney campaign blasted labor unions, saying that “they too often stand as obstacles to growth and fight against the workers they are supposed to serve.”

On the face of it, this is a revolutionary, new position for a major Republican to take. Ah, but he is campaigning in Michigan, now, so all of a sudden the leopard changes his spots and is pro-union. Still, Romney can be reasonable at times, unlike Santorum.

Also See In Republican Race, a New Breed of Superdonor, The NY Times, February 21, 2012, by Nicholas Confessori, Michael Luo and Mike McIntire:

NY Times Summary: An exclusive club in presidential politics includes individuals, couples or corporations that have given $1 million or more to “super PACs.”

UPDATE: See Rick Santorum Mocks Mitt Romney, AP on Huffington Post, February 22, 2012, by Charles Babington:

TUCSON, Ariz. — Rick Santorum is mocking Mitt Romney as a “Johnny come lately to the conservative cause.”

Ahead of Wednesday night’s GOP presidential debate in Arizona, Santorum told a tea party gathering in Tucson that Romney proposed a lower corporate tax rate only after Santorum had done so.

The crowd of 400 laughed and clapped when Santorum said America doesn’t need a leader who has been “a well-oiled weather vane.”

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