Top Romney adviser: Mitt will erase his conservative positions once he’s the nominee »

HOST: Is there a concern that Santorum and Gingrich might force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?
FEHRNSTROM: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.

..And Here We Go: Michigan Results Underway

kopoint:

Polls are closing and numbers are starting to come in, in  Michigan and we are officially off to the races.  There is a lot at stake and with rumors of low voter turn out and democrats voting against Mitt Romney, this could be anyone’s game.

Check out the results coming in live here at Google Politics. 

As Soup said earlier, Democrats may rue the day they voted for Santorum.

“

For the cynicism and lack of moral courage that have been so evident in the campaign wouldn’t suddenly vanish once Mr. Romney entered the Oval Office. If he doesn’t dare disagree with economic nonsense now, why imagine that he would become willing to challenge that nonsense later? And bear in mind that if elected, he would be watched like a hawk for signs of apostasy by the very people he’s trying so desperately to appease right now.

The truth is that Mr. Romney is so deeply committed to insincerity that neither side can trust him to do what it considers to be the right thing.

”

From today’s Krugman piece on Romney, economics and dishonesty.

Gingrich’s Main Backer Plays Two Angles

What would you do if you had billions? You’d play king-maker, too, right?

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, by far the biggest financial backer of Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid, is preparing to open his wallet again. But this time, the casino magnate appears to have more than one agenda.

In a bit of political chess, Mr. Adelson is ready to not only directly support the former House speaker in the Republican primary, but to use his cash to push Rick Santorum from his position atop the latest national polls, according to people who have discussed the matter with Mr. Adelson.

If Mr. Gingrich could afford to continue campaigning, one of those people said, he might be able to draw off conservative and evangelical voters from Mr. Santorum, improving the chances of Mitt Romney, who Mr. Adelson believes has a better chance to win November’s general election.

Read the rest here.

Out of Smith’s national political ambitions grew what would become known in Mormon circles as the “White Horse Prophecy” — a belief ingrained in Mormon culture and passed down through generations by church leaders that the day would come when the U.S. Constitution would “hang like a thread as fine as a silk fiber” and the Mormon priesthood would save it. »

Fascinating piece in Salon about the Mormon’s “White Horse” prophecy and the rise of one Mitt Romney.

With Romney Under Attack, Private Equity Fights Back »

The industry’s lobbying group has hatched plans to counter the intensifying criticism of private equity’s business practices. In the coming weeks, the group, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, will roll out an image campaign, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plans who requested anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss them publicly.

Initiatives include online advertising that will promote the industry as one that creates jobs and expands companies. The council plans to reach out to political reporters and columnists in an attempt to disabuse them of what it views as gross misconceptions about private equity. It will also hire more people in the coming months, adding to its lean 10-person operation.

Job creators.