GOP isn't sold on Romney, seeking other options (AP)

WASHINGTON – If polls show one thing with certainty, it's that Republicans aren't sold on Mitt Romney and they've been looking for other presidential candidates.

At least eight other Republicans have seen their standings soar in GOP primary surveys since the beginning of the year.

Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani didn't run. Nor did Donald Trump. And among those who actually got in the race, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and now, Herman Cain all have sat near_ or at — the top of national polls, at least briefly.

The indecisiveness is a reflection on Romney, who hasn't been able to lock up the GOP's support even though he's essentially been running for president since losing his 2008 bid.

Many Republicans know him. They just don't love him.

A recent Associated Press-GfK poll found that 64 percent of conservative Republicans viewed Romney favorably but only 20 percent had deeply positive opinions about him.

"The GOP is in a rebellious and ultraconservative mood," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. "And," he added, "Mitt Romney is not rebellious."

Or, for that matter, ultraconservative.

Consider that in a Tuesday debate, Romney defended the 2008-2009 Wall Street bailout that irks the tea party and declared that he could work with "good" Democrats. He also gave one of his most spirited defenses of his health care initiative when he was Massachusetts governor, legislation that President Barack Obama has called a partial blueprint for his own national overhaul.

While those positions may make him appealing to a wider swath of Americans in next fall's election, they greatly disturb conservatives who dominate the GOP primary electorate.

And that helps explain why some Republicans have been itching for someone else.

Generally, Republicans say that Romney has more experience and a better chance to beat Obama next fall than anyone else in the field. But those on the party's right flank doubt whether he — more so than other candidates — shares their values.

Conservatives in the potential Republican electorate were deeply divided on that question in a CBS News/New York Times poll early this month. Only 12 percent chose Romney, while nearly half picked Cain (20 percent), Bachmann (18 percent) or Perry (11 percent).

Such divisions have been the most defining factor of the race so far.

It's not just Romney who has failed to solidify his support with the Republican primary electorate. None of the other candidates who have risen in polls has been able to, either.

Until now, Republicans have been bouncing from candidate to candidate — and even some noncandidates — in search of the perfect nominee.

But with the GOP field set and no more people flirting with bids, it's entirely possible that Republicans will rally behind one candidate — perhaps even Romney — between now and January when the first votes are cast.

Indeed, a host of Republicans — 76 percent in a recent CBS-New York Times poll — said it was too early to say who they would support when voting begins in January. Just 19 percent said they had firmly chosen a candidate.

The volatile race is taking place in a dramatically different Republican Party than the one that nominated John McCain — and for much of the 2008 race strongly favored the thrice-married Giuliani.

The GOP fell out of public favor following McCain's loss to Obama. It then rebounded with the growth of the tea party movement, which helped Republicans win control of the House and boost its ranks in the Senate last year.

Today's Republican Party is more conservative.

"The most visible shift in the political landscape since ... 2005 is the emergence of a single bloc of across-the-board conservatives," the Pew Center said earlier this year.

And those conservatives — at least at this point — seem reluctant to continue a trend that's been the hallmark of Republican presidential primaries in recent decades.

The Republican Party usually has chosen a nominee who has been the perceived next in line.

Ronald Reagan lost once before winning the 1980 nomination. George H.W. Bush got beat that year, became Reagan's vice president and won the GOP nod in 1988. Bob Dole lost twice before becoming the party favorite in 1996. And McCain made a strong run at the nomination in 2000 before clinching it eight years later.

This year, it's Romney who is making his second bid.

And, if history is a guide, he's the most likely to end up winning the nomination — even if the all-over-the-map polls don't show it.

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Agiesta is deputy polling director for The Associated Press. Follow her at http://twitter.com/JennAgiesta

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Libya sends envoy to Niger, seeking Gaddafi (Reuters)

BENGHAZI, Libya/AGADEZ, Niger (Reuters) – Libya's new leaders sent envoys to neighboring Niger on Wednesday to try to prevent Muammar Gaddafi and his entourage evading justice by fleeing across a desert frontier toward friendly African states.

"The NTC has sent a delegation to Niger to discuss the possible arrival of Gaddafi," Fathi Baja, the head of political affairs for the National Transitional Council, told Reuters in Benghazi, saying the ousted strongman may be close to the Niger or Algerian borders, waiting for an opportunity to slip across.

"I think he's near one of these borders ... and he's looking for a chance to leave. We're asking every country not to accept him. We want these people for justice," Baja said.

Reports on Gaddafi's whereabouts remain decidedly sketchy. Another senior NTC official said Gaddafi had been tracked this week to an area in the empty Sahara of Libya's south.

Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament any country where he was found should hand him over to be tried, remarks that were echoed by U.S. ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz.

With his overthrow, however, have come revelations of the extent to which U.S. and British officials were until recently cooperating with Gaddafi -- once a pariah in the West but rehabilitated by Washington and London in the past decade.

Papers found by Reuters in Tripoli showed a British arm of U.S.-based General Dynamics was modernizing tanks and troop carriers for a feared brigade led by Gaddafi's son Khamis, as recently as January, after "Arab Spring" protests began in neighboring Tunisia.

The firm said the equipment might have been part of a $135 million May 2008 contract with its British subsidiary, part of what it termed at the time "the United Kingdom's initiatives to improve economic, educational and defense links with Libya."

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director with Human Rights Watch, said: "I think the lesson is that if you are going to sell weapons to dictators, at some point down the line you're going to be deeply embarrassed."

Niger has officially denied receiving a convoy of scores of Libyan army vehicles. French and Niger military sources told Reuters the convoy had arrived near the northern city of Agadez late on Monday via Algeria, which last week welcomed Gaddafi's wife, daughter and two of his sons.

A French military source said Gaddafi might be preparing to meet up with the convoy and seek refuge in Burkina Faso, another nearby African state. Burkina Faso denied any such plan.

U.S. Ambassador Cretz said the 69-year-old fugitive Gaddafi remained a threat while at large: "A Gaddafi free in Libya could pose a continuing danger to the success of the new government to make sure its writ is spread throughout the country."

NATO powers which helped topple Gaddafi have spy satellites and other intelligence resources that could help track fugitives. But Cretz, briefing reporting online, said: "We will participate to the extent that we are asked to, but as of right now it's a question for the Libyan authorities to find Gaddafi."

Among other discoveries in the wake of the Gaddafis' flight, a home video showing the former leader playing with one of his grand-daughters reveals a mix of playfulness and, possibly, paranoia: "Do you not love me?" he asks, repeatedly.

ENVOYS

NTC official Baja said envoys from Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim prime minister, would meet Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou to discuss "any infiltration of Gaddafi groups to Niger." He added: "I don't think Niger will accept Gaddafi."

NTC officials said some vehicles that arrived in Niger were laden with looted Libyan gold and banknotes. The United States said on Tuesday the convoy included senior aides to Gaddafi, and urged authorities in Niger to hold any war crimes suspects.

The French military source said Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam may have planned to meet the convoy in Niger, a poor and landlocked former French colony, before heading to Burkina Faso.

Hisham Buhagiar, who coordinates efforts by the NTC to find the ousted strongman, said he had evidence Gaddafi may have been near Libya's southern village of Ghwat, some 300 km (200 miles) north of the border with Niger, three days ago.

"The last tracks, he was in the Ghwat area. People saw the cars going in that direction," Buhagiar said in an interview late on Tuesday. "We have it from many sources that he's trying to go further south, toward Chad or Niger."

WANTED MEN

Burkina President Blaise Compaore denied discussing giving Gaddafi sanctuary. "We have no information regarding the presence of Libyans on our soil since these events, and we have had no contacts with anyone in Libya about a request for political asylum," he told reporters in the capital Ouagadougou.

Compaore has ruled for 24 years after taking power, like Gaddafi, in a military coup. Like many other African states, Burkina Faso benefited from oil-funded Libyan aid under Gaddafi.

Niger has also tried to distance itself. Officials have confirmed that Gaddafi's security chief Mansour Dhao has been let in, in what they called a humanitarian gesture. Its interior minister denied the arrival of hundreds of Libyan vehicles.

Government sources in Chad, another poor African neighbor, said it had asked France to send drones to monitor the border area and believed this would deter Gaddafi from trying to enter.

As with all efforts so far to find Gaddafi, two full weeks after rebels overran his Tripoli headquarters, the trail is hazy, in a region where people are few and far between.

U.S. officials have said Gaddafi was still in Libya, but Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he was not sure: "I think he's been taking a lot of steps to make sure that in the end he could try to get out if he had to, but as to where, when, and how that'll take place, we just don't know."

Gaddafi's fugitive spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, insisted in a call to Reuters on Tuesday that he had not left. "He is in Libya. He is safe, he is very healthy, in high morale."

NTC commanders said last week they thought Gaddafi, 69, was in the besieged tribal bastion of Bani Walid, 150 km (100 miles) south of Tripoli, planning a counter-strike with heir apparent Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. But it appears the senior figures are not there now, NTC officials say.

A standoff with NTC fighters outside the town has lasted for days. Outside Bani Walid on Wednesday, residents leaving through a sun-scorched NTC checkpoint at the nearby settlement of Wishtata painted an increasingly desperate picture.

"People are terrorized," said Salah Ali, 39. "But many still support Gaddafi because they were paid by the regime, because many have committed crimes and are afraid of arrest."

Aid agencies have also raised concerns about conditions for civilians in the coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace and another redoubt of tribal leaders still loyal to him. Libya's southern desert is also not under the control of the NTC.

Nearby, Niger's desert north is now an escape route for many Gaddafi supporters, including Africans he hired as mercenaries to bolster his forces this year. The vast area, the size of France, is awash with bandits, rebellious nomads and a growing number of al Qaeda-linked gunmen blamed for deadly kidnappings.

Gaddafi is no stranger to the area, having used his oil wealth to fund development projects and dabble in politics by backing and seeking to mediate an end to various rebellions.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas, Christian Lowe and Alex Dziadosz in Tripoli, Sherine El Madany in Ras Lanuf, Maria Golovnina in Wishtata, Barry Malone, Sylvia Westall and Alastair Macdonald in Tunis, Sami Aboudi, Amena Bakr and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Nathalie Prevost in Niamey, Abdoulaye Massalatchi in Agadez, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Mathieu Bonkoungou in Ouagadougou and Richard Valdmanis and Mark John in Dakar; Editing by Peter Graff; Writing by Alastair Macdonald)

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