Republicans really like Paul Ryan. But Democrats like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Those are key findings of a new Gallup poll released Friday. It tested the public's view of five potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates: Ryan, the 2012 party vice presidential nominee; Christie; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

"The five Republican officeholders currently appear to meet two minimum factors for a successful presidential campaign: they are generally well-liked by the Republican rank-and-file, and are more liked than disliked by the larger general population," said an analysis by Gallup's Jeffrey Jones.

But, he said, Christie and Ryan offer "interesting contrasts."

His analysis: "Ryan's high favorability among Republicans but lower favorability among the general public would position him to do well in the Republican primaries, but perhaps make him a less formidable general election candidate.

"Christie, on the other hand, would appear to be a stronger general election than Republican primary candidate, given his lower favorability among Republicans but higher favorability among Democrats and Americans more generally."

Rep. Ed Markey, the Democratic candidate for a Massachusetts' U.S. Senate seat "is the favorite, but it does look like this could be another closer than expected Massachusetts Senate special election," according to a new analysis and poll from Public Policy Polling.

Its first survey found Markey leading Republican Gabriel Gomez, 44-40.

"Gomez is starting out as a pretty popular candidate, with 41% of voters rating him favorably to 27% with an unfavorable opinion," the poll analysis said.

Gomez does well with independents. But, the poll found, "To put Gomez's 16 point lead with independents in context though, our final poll in the 2010 special election found (Republican) Scott Brown winning them by a 64/32 margin. So he still has a long way to go to replicate the formula that let Brown pull off that upset."

Some other poll findings: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/05/markey-starts-general-with-4-point-lead.html

To read more:

Resurgent Republic, a center-right Republican group that includes a lot of big party names, found strong support for changing the nation's immigration laws in focus groups it conducted with party primary voters in Des Moines and Greenville, S.C.

“President Obama’s reelection victory, and Republicans’ shrinking support among non-white voters, has been a seminal moment for conservatives,” said Ed Gillespie, former Republican party chairman and now a Resurgent Republic Board Member.

Among the key fiindings, as described by the group in its own words:

"1.  These Republican base voters strongly support legal immigration. On this point, participants volunteer descriptors such as “freedom,” “opportunity,” “hard work,” and an ability “to make a better life for themselves.” Regardless of their individual positions on immigration reform, Republicans should open any discussion on this issue highlighting the benefits legal immigration brings to America.

2.   Immigration reform is not on the radar of the Republican base. They are following this issue from a distance, so Republicans seeking to pass broad based immigration policies need to make the case as to why this is necessary. They were aware that Republicans like former Governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio are leading figures on this issue and in regards to potential plans, one Des Moines woman noted: “I’d like to see what Marco Rubio comes up with. I trust him.” (The groups occurred prior to Senator Rand Paul’s immigration announcement on March 19, 2013).

To read other findings:

Veteran pollster and political analyst Andrew Kohut sees the Republican party leaning so far right it's handcuffing their ability to retake the White House.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Kohut, former Pew Research Center president, writes "In my decades of polling, I recall only one moment when a party had been driven as far from the center as the Republican Party has been today."

He sees little hope for change, seeing "little reason to believe that the staunch conservative bloc will wither away or splinter; it will remain a dominant force in the GOP and on the national stage.

But, he said, "at the same time, however, I see no indication that its ideas about policy, governance and social issues will gain new adherents. They are far beyond the mainstream."

As a result, the party faces a dilemma: "While staunch conservatives help keep GOP lawmakers in office, they also help keep the party out of the White House. Quite simply, the Republican Party has to appeal to a broader cross section of the electorate to succeed in presidential elections," Kohut said.

His research has found that "a bloc of doctrinaire, across-the-board conservatives has become a dominant force on the right. Indeed, it is their resolve and ultra-conservatism that have protected Republican lawmakers from the broader voter backlash that is so apparent in opinion polls."

The percentage of people self-identifying as Republicans has hit historic lows, Kohut said, "but that within that smaller base, the traditional divides between pro-business economic conservatives and social conservatives had narrowed. There was less diversity of values within the GOP than at any time in the past quarter-century."

And, he added, "According to our polling, three factors stand out in the emergence of the GOP’s staunch conservative bloc: ideological resistance to President Obama’s policies, discomfort with the changing face of America and the influence of conservative media."

While polarized news consumption is hardly new, Kohut found, "it’s been apparent in more than 20 years of data collected by the Pew Research Center. What is new is a bloc of voters who rely more on conservative media than on the general news media to comprehend."

To read more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-numbers-prove-it-the-republican-party-is-estranged-from-america/2013/03/22/3050734c-900a-11e2-9abd-e4c5c9dc5e90_story.html?hpid=z1

Mitt Romney came to the conservative political action conference Friday to remind them he'd stand with them, and to urge them to learn from successful governors.

Romney, once regarded as a center-right governor of Massachusetts, told the conservatives, "you were there from the very start and made a difference for me. Your campaign gave me that early boost.  You worked on the front lines promoting my campaign.  You made calls.  I owe to each of you and appreciate your support and help through that campaign."

 He was somewhat reflective.

"We've lost races before in the past.  But those setbacks prepared us for larger victories.  It's up to us to make sure that we learn from our mistakes and my mistakes and that we take advantage of that learning to make sure that we take back the nation, take back the White House, get the Senate and put in place conservative principles," Romney said.

He offered this advice:

"Now, as someone who just lost the last election, I'm probably not in the best position to chart the course for the next one," Romney said.

"But that being said, let me offer this advice.  And perhaps because I'm a former governor, I would urge us all to learn lessons that come from some of our greatest success stories.  And that's 30 Republican governors across the country.

"They're winning elections, but more importantly, they're solving problems, big problems, important problems."

Here's more of Romney's remarks:

The Boston Globe's Michael Kranish has a detailed look at how and why Mitt Romney lost the November election: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/2012/12/23/the-story-behind-mitt-romney-loss-the-presidential-campaign-president-obama/2QWkUB9pJgVIi1mAcIhQjL/story.html

What stands out is Romney's reluctance to engage with others at times, including his son Tagg saying his father was not eager to run for president.

Here's some of the piece:

"Romney’s inner circle of family and friends understood the candidate’s weakness all too well: He was a deeply private person, with an aversion to reveal­ing too much of himself to the public. They worried that unless the candidate opened up, he would too easily be ­reduced to caricature, as a calculating man of astounding wealth, a man unable to relate to average folks, a man whose Mormon faith put him outside the mainstream.

B

Republicans will be looking inward, trying to figure out what went right and wrong in last month's election.

The Republican National Committee Monday announced the Growth and Opportunity Project, chaired by five GOP officials.

Chairman Reince Priebus said it would "initially reviewing past practices and (make) recommendations for the future in these eight key areas: 1) campaign mechanics and ground game; 2) messaging; 3) fundraising; 4) demographic partners and allies; 5) third party groups; 6) campaign finance issues; 7) presidential primaries; and 8) lessons learned from Democratic campaign tactics."

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost the Nov. 6 election, and the party had a net loss of two Senate and seven House of Representatives seats.

The chairs include Henry Barbour, National Committeeman from Mississippi; Zori Fonalledas, National Committeewoman from Puerto Rico; Glenn McCall, National Committeeman from South Carolina; Sally Bradshaw, veteran senior strategist in Florida and national politics and Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary.

They will recommend what Priebus called "a plan to further ensure Republicans are victorious in 2013, 2014, 2016 and beyond."

Kentucky is turning into on of the most interesting states for the 2014 mid-term election, with Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leaader in the Senate, facing potential challenges from the right and the left.

The new one is a potential challenge from actress Ashley Judd, who is weighing a run in her home state. She's talked in recent days to key Democrats, including a pollster, to measure her strengths and weaknesses.

She's also said she might wait until 2016, when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is up for re-election and might also be waging a run for the Republican presidential nomination, according to Politico.

This comes ater McClatchy and the Lexington Herald-Leader reported last week that McConnell also could face a tea party challenge from the right in a Republican primary, one reason for his need to forcefully oppose President Barack Obama in budget negotiations.

From the White House (on today's private lunch between President Obama and his former Republican challenger)

"This afternoon, President Obama and Governor Romney visited for an hour over lunch in the Private Dining Room adjacent to the Oval Office. Governor Romney congratulated the President for the success of his campaign and wished him well over the coming four years. The focus of their discussion was on America's leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that leadership position in the future. They pledged to stay in touch, particularly if opportunities to work together on shared interests arise in the future. Their lunch menu included white turkey chili and Southwestern grilled chicken salad."

Here's the official WH picture of the two in the Oval Office:

Mitt Romney's remarks to donors that President Obama won the election because he provided "gifts" to his supporters is rankling Republicans -- and the White House.

Several Republicans -- including those with 2016 aspirations -- have sought to distance themselves from Romney's remarks.

"If you want voters to like you,' tweeted Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal,"You've got to like them first. It's certainly not helpful to tell them you think their votes were bought."

Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that "that view of the American people, of the electorate and of the election is at odds with the truth of what happened last week."

The Los Angeles Times, which reported the call, noted that Obama "won several key states without ... minority populations. And he did so in part by asserting that it was Romney who was planning to disburse gifts — by virtue of a budget plan that included tax breaks heavily skewed toward the wealthy."