Well, we are down to it now–down to the most intense month in any presidential campaign, the month before the Iowa and New Hampshire contests. Some would argue the month before the general election is equally intense–sometimes yes, often no: by the time October rolls around, the nominees are familiar characters and the voters usually …
2012 Election
All Eyes on Des Moines as GOP Candidates Head Into Crucial Debate
All year, debates have been the fulcrum of the GOP presidential primary race. But the pair of Iowa debates over the coming week, beginning with Saturday night’s in Des Moines, will be the most pivotal yet, as the candidates gear …
Mitt Romney’s Return to Negativeland
Romney campaign strategist Stuart Stevens wrote a fine book about his work for George W. Bush on the 2000 presidential campaign, and he aptly describes the moment in just about every big-ticket campaign when the candidate opts to go negative. “You resolve to endure pain to inflict pain. It’s Serb vs. Muslim, Hatfield vs. McCoy, Spy vs. …
Gingrich and Paul: A History of Bad Blood
This is Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s third presidential bid, but never before has he gone negative the way he has in recent weeks on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Paul is spending $429,000 on television ads — a whopping amount, more than almost any other candidate — and much of that is in this 60-second buy in Iowa. The ad is brutal, …
How Newt Wooed the Right: Inside His Meeting with Top Conservatives
Over Thanksgiving weekend Newt Gingrich sent an e-mail to his old friend Richard Viguerie, the dean of the cultural right, asking him to convene a meeting of the top undecided conservatives from around the country–a big …
Ron Paul’s Army Eyes an Iowa Caucus Upset
Ames, Iowa
It’s a cold Thursday night the week before finals, and a light dusting of snow is falling on the Iowa State campus. But inside the school’s student union, more than 1,000 supporters have queued up to catch an early …
Newt as Napoleon in Russia
Rick Perry’s latest ad fires at multiple targets, including Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. But the first person it whacks is Newt Gingrich. And while most GOP primary voters will already know that Romney and Obama have both supported health care mandates in the past, the fact that Gingrich has also committed this most venal sin will …
Not Beating Elizabeth Warren, GOP Admakers Try to Join Her
Back in early November, the Republican independent expenditure juggernaut Crossroads GPS wanted to take Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren down a peg, so they cut an ad insinuating that her attempts to rein in big banks had put spark to the dry tinder in Zuccotti Park. “Elizabeth Warren sides with extreme left protests,” a …
How Mitt Romney Can Still Win Iowa
The 2012 Republican nomination will be decided largely by whether Newt Gingrich runs a disciplined and well-executed campaign over the next several weeks. This, of course, is somewhat like expecting Lindsay Lohan to be punctual and dignified, but stranger things have happened. Even assuming that Gingrich doesn’t implode (something he …
The New Mitt Offensive: Newt Gingrich the Unreliable
Don’t call it an attack. It’s a “contrast” that was debuted Thursday morning, Mitt Romney’s attempt to set up a clear choice for Republicans as they enter the final weeks of a suddenly exciting campaign: Romney The …
Obama’s GOP Primary Mischief
Officially, Barack Obama has better things to worry about. “We’re not very focused on that race,” White House spokesman Jay Carney tells reporters about the Republican presidential primary. But those same reporters are bombarded with a dozen e-mails a day from the Democratic National Committee, which Obama effectively controls, trying to …
The Newt Balloon
My print column this week, which can be found here by TIME subscribers, is about Newt Gingrich–who is, without doubt, one of the more interesting specimens in American politics, a combination of vile rhetoric and occasionally interesting policy ideas. What can you make of a guy who, on the one hand, called President Obama the purveyor …
As Newt Rises, the Romney Campaign Remains Restrained in Iowa
West Des Moines, Iowa
Chris Christie had barely begun his pitch for Mitt Romney when the familiar refrain cut in. “Mic check! Mic check!” shouted some two-dozen protesters, several of whom sneaked onstage behind the New Jersey governor for this campaign rally at the corporate headquarters of Kum and Go, a Des Moines-based gas and …