Republican Presidential Candidate, Rick Santorum | featured news

A final count of votes from the 2012 Iowa Caucus may show that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum actually won over rival Mitt Romney. Romney was initially declared the winner of the Iowa Caucus, beating Santorum by a razor-thin margin of eight votes. However, certification of the caucus results -- a process that began the day after the caucus and will wrap up by the end of this week -- could show that Santorum was the official winner, the Washington Examiner reports.

In the past twelve hours the six men running for the Republican presidential nomination have debated not once but twice. We live-blogged both debates — the Saturday night set-to sponsored by ABC/WMUR and the “Meet the Press” debate this morning. Below is our combined winners and losers from the two debates. Agree or disagree? That is your right; this country is all about liberty. (Ron Paul homage!) The comments section is open for business.

Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman is gaining support in New Hampshire at the right time, days before Tuesday's key primary election, but he still trails front-runner Mitt Romney by a prohibitive margin.

Those skeptical of whether Rick Santorum has what it takes to win a general-election contest this fall have focused on, among other things, his drumbeating on social issues in a year when Republican strategists believe hitting President Obama on the economy is the way to win the White House.

Why didn't Newt Gingrich praise Mitt Romney for his squeaker win in Iowa, when he spoke warmly of Rick Santorum, who came within a handful of votes of the top spot? "Other than the fact that Governor Romney ran a relentlessly negative campaign of falsehoods, which earned one of his ads four Pinocchios from the Washington Post?" Gingrich said at a news conference Wednesday. "The fact is, three out of four Republicans rejected him. Governor Romney is a moderate Massachusetts Republican to the left of the vast majority of Republicans. I find it amazing that the media continues to say he's the most electable Republican when he can't even break out in his own party.

In the closest finish in the history of the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum were locked in a virtual dead heat in the first battle for the Republican presidential nomination... Ron Paul, nearly doubling his Iowa vote from 2008, was a close third.

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.

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.

After a campaign effort that has defied convention and angered top Iowa Republicans, Mitt Romney is well-positioned to emerge as a big winner in Tuesday's presidential caucuses. The tightest GOP caucus contest in decades features Romney, Ron Paul and a fading Newt Gingrich in a virtual tie for the lead, making the final days of politicking unusually consequential. And another candidate, Rick Perry or Rick Santorum, could get hot at the end and knock one of the favorites out of the top three.

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.