In my print column this week, which can be found here if you’re a TIME subscriber, I write about Rick Santorum, a complicated man who has actually lived his faith.
Santorum was never popular among his congressional colleagues. He was considered brash, intemperate, intense and puerile — and more, the sort of guy you made fun of. The …
A few weeks back, the higher powers here at TIME put presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on the cover with a flattering photo and an unflattering headline that captured the moment: “Why Don’t They Like Me?” After months of see saw …
It is fast becoming a 2012 campaign tradition: When Mitt Romney has a good news cycle or two, the Obama campaign calls together reporters covering the race to poke holes in his potential. On Wednesday, the day after Romney won the Iowa caucuses, the campaign responded with a conference call starring senior strategist David Axelrod and …
An eight-vote, 25% victory may look weak, but Mitt Romney’s narrow win in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday has his campaign charting a plan for ultimate victory by the time Florida Republicans hold their primary on Jan. 31. The …
I’m with Ezra Klein: Rick Santorum doesn’t owe his Iowa success to old-fashioned retail politicking. If pressing the flesh at hundreds of events across 99 counties is the path to victory in Iowa, why was Santorum such a nonfactor until the race’s closing days? Do Iowans keep their stirring love for grassroots heroes a secret until the …
120,000.
In 2008, with conservatives embarrassed and demoralized by 8 years of George W. Bush as President, about 120,000 Iowans attended the Republican caucus (compared to 230,000, almost twice as many, Democrats in a state where the parties have roughly equal numbers registered). In 2012, with a party mobilized and seething over the …
Johnston, Iowa
For most of the 2012 campaign, Rick Santorum struggled to be heard. He groused about his share of time in the debates, was hard to find on television chat shows and couldn’t afford advertising. But his …
After finishing second-to-last in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, Michele Bachmann announced Wednesday morning that she will suspend her race for the White House. Five months ago, the three-term Minnesota Congresswoman led the GOP …
When the bean counters finished tabulating the results from the 1,774 precincts that decide the Iowa caucuses, eight votes separated the victor, Mitt Romney (30,015) from the runner-up, Rick Santorum (30,007). Marvel at that for …
Des Moines, Iowa
Three candidates and one candidate’s band of sons attended Valley High this morning to make one final appeal to young voters before this evening’s caucuses. Their brief speeches, given in a gym draped with …
Mitt Romney has been the front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination practically since November 4, 2008. He’s well-moneyed, well-connected, well-known. He’s poised for a strong finish tonight in Iowa. And though …
Start with the numbers: Seven candidates. Eight months of competition. Thirteen debates. Thirteen million dollars in mostly vicious and anonymous TV attack ads. A final day with 23 events in a state of 3 million people. The …
As the GOP presidential primary campaign winds down its Iowa chapter, the candidates have taken to their buses and prop planes to sniff out undecided voters in the farthest reaches of the state before Tuesday’s caucuses. But to the nonfanatical participants, those who haven’t crowded into coffee shops or diners to catch a glimpse of the …
