Mitt Romney told a Latino crowd in Miami over the weekend that free trade (AP) in Latin America would eliminate the conditions that allowed Venezuela ’s Hugo Chavez to take power. He also said he would bolster the United States ’ relationship with Colombia and Mexico.

The Nation has a piece arguing that Fred Thompson may be “the most neoconnish” of the Republican candidates.

The Economist’s “Democracy in America ” blog examines Hillary Clinton’s statement in a January interview with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann that she would “absolutely” reach out to Iran’s Ahmadinejad regime upon taking office. “You’ve got to deal with your enemies, your opponents, people whose interests diverge from yours,” she said.

More recently, Clinton criticized Obama for saying in the recent CNN-YouTube debate that he would meet with rogue leaders like Ahmadinejad during his first year in office.