Iowa Caucuses | featured news

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann tells a small group of supporters that she's staying in the presidential race, saying she's the only true conservative who can beat President Barack Obama in November.

Well, it's official: President Obama won the Iowa Democratic caucuses tonight. "In some ways, I'm actually more optimistic now than when I first ran," Obama told Iowa caucusgoers tonight by video link from Washington. "We've already seen change take place. 2012 is about reminding the American people how far we've traveled."

President Obama's re-election campaign has taken out big ads on the website of the Des Moines Register that dig at Republicans on caucus day... "The Republican candidates are leaving Iowa. But their terrible plans are here to stay," proclaims the ad, which takes you to a page to sign up with the Obama-Biden re-election campaign.

As Iowa Republicans take in the final appeals before tonight’s caucus voting, one major lesson the candidates will take away: Going negative works. An estimated $5.8 million was spent on television advertising in Iowa through Dec. 30, with $3.7 million financing negative ads, according to most recent data available from New York-based Kantar Media’s CMAG, a company that tracks advertising.

With Iowa deciding on their choice for GOP candidate tomorrow, Google’s timing is much better this election season to roll out their political news and trends trackers at Google Elections. In 2008, they had a similar offering but didn’t release it until just before the conventions.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who led Iowa and national polls in November, said Monday he did not expect to win Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, but will declare victory because he has survived an onslaught of negative advertising.

Iowa’s most influential poll shows that Tuesday’s caucuses are Mitt Romney’s to lose, but that Rick Santorum may be emerging as a last-minute and powerful threat.

It was standing room only as Mitt Romney briefly took time out from Iowa to campaign in Republican strongholds in New Hampshire, where he holds a wide lead approaching the state's first-in-the-nation primary.

After drawing relatively large crowds on her 99-county Iowa bus tour, Rep. Michele Bachmann on Friday had trouble attracting many voters to two campaign events.

With less than a week to go before Iowa caucuses, former Pennsylvania senator's strategy of traveling widely in the state appears to be paying dividends, as he shows up in polls as a top-tier candidate.