Rick Perry, Herman Cain | featured news

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads GOP voters overall with 27%, but he is still having a hard time wooing conservatives, who are more enthusiastic about businessman Herman Cain. A collapse in support for Texas Gov. Rick Perry has left Mitt Romney as the clear front-runner in California's Republican presidential primary, but the former Massachusetts governor is still struggling to rally the party's most conservative voters, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Perry, who struggled in his previous debate performances, was talking about the three departments that he would cut to curb the size of the federal government. He named two — Education and Commerce — but for an excruciating period searched his mind for the third, as competitors tried to help him out.

Sensing an opening, Romney is stepping up his Iowa campaign and talking about winning the state after months of taking a more low-key approach. He probably will return to Iowa in November and hold a conference call with thousands of Iowa GOP caucus-goers.

Tuesday night was fight night in Las Vegas. Seven Republican presidential candidates clashed sharply over issues such as illegal immigration, taxes and health care at a presidential debate in Nevada sponsored by CNN and the Western Republican Leadership Conference. But it was the three Republican frontrunners -- former Godfather's Pizza executive Herman Cain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov Rick Perry -- who came under frequent attack.

A stark financial divide is opening up between two groups of Republican candidates for president, with the top candidates together bringing in tens of millions of dollars in their bids for the presidency and a second tier struggling to attract major donors and in some cases even crack the million-dollar mark.

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain scolded President Barack Obama on Sunday for making "insulting" remarks to the Congressional Black Caucus and called fellow Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry's handling of a race matter "very insensitive."

Former pizza executive Herman Cain surprised rival Rick Perry with an upset victory on Saturday in a Republican presidential straw poll in Florida, dealing a disappointing loss to the Texas governor two days after a shaky debate performance.