Romney wins primaries in Nebraska, Oregon
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters
after speaking at a campaign stop, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa.
(Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
By Lucy Madison Updated: 12:40 p.m. ET
(CBS News) Mitt Romney on Tuesday won GOP presidential primaries in Oregon and Nebraska, putting the former Massachusetts governor
ever closer toward officially clinching the Republican presidential nomination.
By Stephanie Condon
(CBS News) Former President George W. Bush voiced his support for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign for the first time today, ABC News reports.
"I certainly don’t believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual," Romney said of the fellow prep school student. "That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s, so that was not the case."
Mr. Santorum wrote that Mr. Romney would be the party's nominee, "and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime."
Today in the Huffington Post by Andrea Stone
Mitt Romney Homeland Security Record In Massachusetts: Domestic Spying, Wiretapping
 But this looks like a good thing...
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds up an educational pamphlet during a news conference to announce the new "Transit Watch" program, Tuesday, May 4, 2004, at South Station in Boston. The security awareness campaign encourages passengers to report suspicious activity or packages to transit employees. At right is Chief Joseph Carter of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Police.
(AP Photo/Angela Rowlings)
Mitt Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts as the man who saved the 2002 winter Olympics.
While much of his focus had been on righting the games in Salt Lake City after its
organizing committee became mired in a U.S. bribery scandal, security was also a top
priority. These were the first U.S. Olympic games since the bombing at the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics and, taking place just five months after the 9/11 attacks, they presented an
enticing and high-profile target for terrorists.
Dealing with those threats in Salt Lake City led Romney not only to overhaul homeland
security in the Bay State, but to shape policy on the national level. When he was sworn in
as governor on Jan. 2, 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was less than six
weeks old, and President George W. Bush's administration was still looking for people who
could help it make sense of the new post-9/11 world. Romney stood out.
OK- so Romney will keep us safe...
Romney Blasts Obama Administration's
Handling of Chinese Dissident Case
UPDATED 9:48 p.m. ET
(CBS News) PORTSMOUTH, Va. -- The State Department's handling of the situation involving
blind Chinese dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng is "a day of shame for the Obama
administration," GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney charged on Thursday.
Chen drew worldwide attention with his daring escape from his home last month. He reportedly
had embraced a plan to remain in China, and left the U.S. Embassy there after American and
Chinese authorities worked out a potential deal. But in recent days he has told reporters
that he and his family feel insecure in the hands of Chinese authorities, and that he would
like to go to the United States.
The incident has threatened to overwhelm a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who had hoped to focus on economic issues
instead of thorny human rights concerns with the Chinese. It also threatens to undermine the
confident image on foreign policy that Obama has sought to project with the one-year
annivesary of the death of Osama bin Laden.
Romney, in a speech in Portsmouth, accused the administration of seeking to hasten Chen's
departure from the embassy placing economic concerns above Chen's freedom.
"The reports are, if they are accurate, that our administration, willingly or unwittingly
communicated to Chen an implicit threat to his family, and also probably sped up, or may have
sped up the process of his decision to leave the embassy because they wanted to move on to a
series of discussions that Mr. Geithner and our secretary of state are planning to have with
China," Romney said.
"It's also apparent according to these reports, if they are accurate, that our embassy failed
to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would ensure the safety of Mr. Chen and
his family," Romney added. "If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom. And
it's a day of shame for the Obama administration. We are a place of freedom here and around
the world, and we should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack."
During the White House briefing on Thursday, press secretary Jay Carney defended the
administration's handling of the dissident's situation based on his originally stated desire
to remain in China.
"Acting on his desires, State Department officials had conversations with Chinese officials to
try to achieve that," Carney said. "U.S. officials and State Department officials made clear
to the Chinese that we would, in the implementation of this agreement, continue to monitor Mr.
Chen's case."
Carney avoided commenting on new desires expressed by Chen to seek asylum in the United States,
referring most questions from reporters to the State Department.
Obama reelection campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement, "Mitt Romney's attacks on
America's policies abroad ring hollow ... He has no coherent foreign policy vision, no concrete
plans to enhance our security and strengthen our alliances, and he has taken conflicting
positions on every major foreign policy issue facing our nation."
Rebecca Kaplan contributed.
Sarah Huisenga
You Have To Add Mitt
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