Republican 2016 Hopefuls Take Stage Without Christie

Republicans harboring presidential ambitions face their first major casting call today on a stage where they must try to balance wooing the party’s base while not alienating independent voters.

It isn’t easy to do. Just ask 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who a year ago declared at the Conservative Political Action Conference that he was “severely conservative.” President Barack Obama’s successful re-election campaign used the phrase against the former Massachusetts governor repeatedly as it painted him as outside the mainstream.