Newt Gingrich, 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate | featured news

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has taken a commanding lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, hitting the 40 percent mark for the first time in the campaign, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday.

Donald Trump withdrew Tuesday as the moderator of a debate planned for later this month in Iowa, citing his interest in possibly still running for president as an independent. Trump pulled out of a debate he had planned to host along with the conservative magazine Newsmax, scheduled for Dec. 27, just days before the Iowa caucuses. All the GOP presidential candidates save for Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum said they would not participate.

The tense campaign between Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney heated up further on Monday in New Hampshire, where Romney's lead in opinion polls has shrunk in recent weeks.

The tax plan by GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich would provide big tax breaks to the rich and blow a huge hole in the federal budget deficit, according to an independent study released Monday.

The newest Republican front-runner parries attacks on his character, his record and his ideas, including recent statements about Palestinians. In a freewheeling clash that reflected the heightened stakes in the 2012 presidential contest, GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich parried relentless attacks on his ideas, character and record from rival candidates in a televised debate Saturday night.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat reacted strongly Saturday to comments by Republican presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich that the Palestinians are an "invented" people, calling it "the most racist statement I've ever seen."

Mitt Romney may have some help in Iowa: Ron Paul. The Texas congressman's allies and others say that he drains support from the rising Newt Gingrich, and, if that turns out to be the case during the Jan. 3 caucuses and Paul manages to triumph here, the theory is that Romney would benefit in the long-run.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich has taken a double-digit lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination in a new nationwide Gallup Poll. Gingrich's 37% standing is higher support than any Republican candidate has scored to date in Gallup surveys this year that have been led, at various times, by five other contenders. Romney is at 22%.

A day after Herman Cain shuttered his Republican candidacy for president, struggling GOP hopefuls looked to pick up the fallen candidate's tea party following and upset a primary dynamic that has pushed Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich to the forefront....

The polls of the two earliest states in the presidential nominating contest both show significant progress for Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, who has moved up about 20 points in each state since October.