I’m on leave writing a book about my beloved stimulus, but when I heard about Rick Santorum’s big finish in Iowa, it reminded me: Didn’t someone advise Swampland readers to invest in Santorum back in May when Intrade was giving him a 0.5% chance to win the nomination, because “that’s going to rise as the campaign starts heating up in …
rick santorum
Eight Votes in Iowa: Where the Race Goes from Here
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 …
GOP Candidates Go Back to School in Des Moines
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 …
Welcome to the ‘Big Sifter’: Iowa on Caucus Day
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 …
The Iowa Ad Bonanza: GOP Candidates’ Closing Arguments on TV
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 …
Why Rick Santorum Is No Social-Conservative Savior
With less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, it looks like the “come-from-way-behind Rick Santorum boomlet” I joked about a month ago could actually be a reality. And unlike many of the other candidate surges that have …
What the Rick Santorum Swell Has Wrought
“People say, when are you gonna get your surge?” Rick Santorum said today in Iowa. “I say, January 3.” He’s gloating and rightly so; a TIME/CNN poll released Wednesday showed Santorum thundering up the leader-board at the most opportune of times: five days before the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
If Santorum is indeed pulling …
CNN/TIME/ORC Poll: Gingrich Collapse Fuels Santorum Surge in Iowa, Solidifies Romney Lead in New Hampshire
With less than a week to go until Republicans cast the first votes of the 2012 presidential race in Iowa, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas congressman Ron Paul remain atop the field there, even as the fortunes …
In the ArenaIn the Arena
13 Days Till Iowa: Remember Rick Perry?
Davenport, Iowa
Is it elitist to expect that a candidate for President of the United States have a passing familiarity with the English language? Rick Perry is a mud-track biker when it comes to fluency, slipping and sliding …
Mitt Romney: Mr. Plurality
Adam mentions below that the prominent Iowa social conservative Bob Vander Plaats has endorsed the fervently pro-life, “values”-centric Rick Santorum. My first reaction is to shrug, because Rick Santorum is not only a virtually hopeless contender for the GOP nomination, but also an extreme long shot even to win Iowa, despite the slightly …
A Day of Iowa Splintering
The Iowa caucuses are unlikely to deliver any candidate a clear mandate in the Republican presidential nomination contest in two weeks. In fact, if anything, the chances for a split decision are growing every day — as today’s campaign highlights make abundantly clear.
Gingrich Emerges Mostly Unscathed From Pivotal Des Moines Debate
In a crucial Saturday night debate that marked the beginning of the final, frantic sprint to the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich weathered an onslaught of attacks from his Republican rivals and emerged relatively unscathed, …
The Vanishing, Virtual Presidential Primary Campaign
Monday kicked off the final sprint to the Iowa caucuses, now less than a month away. The latest snapshot of the race, captured by a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night, showed a surging Newt Gingrich atop the field, …