Conservative group seeks to derail Mitt Romney’s run

Mitt Romney may be closer than ever to the Republican nomination—and that has one independent conservative group determined to slow him down.

Its mission, as plain as it can put it, is to “stop Mitt Romney.”

The group is borne of the same forces behind the Tea Party Express, a conservative advocacy group, but the anti-Mitt blitz comes courtesy of a political action committee called the Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama.

Now the name appears to come with an asterisk.

According to CNN, the group seeks to run TV and radio ads in Iowa. And a new fundraising mailer sent Wednesday asks for donations to carry the effort to early primary states such as New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

“We have very little time to educate Republican primary voters on Mitt Romney’s real record—as a liberal who has fought against conservatives on just about every important issue facing America,” the fundraising appeal said.

The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama recently waded into a special election in New York’s 9^th Congressional District that saw Republican Robert Turner elected.

The spots highlight Romney’s shifting positions over the years on a host of hot-button issues, including abortion, climate change and gun control. They also squarely link him to the healthcare plan passed while he was governor of Massachusetts and his past support for the requirement to purchase health insurance.

And though the independent group doesn’t appear to be bankrolled by a large number of contributions, the effort serves as another reminder of the high level of discomfort some conservatives have with Romney, who, at the moment, has regained his front-runner status in the GOP race.

Here’s a spot: