2012 | featured news

Three years after his surprising wins in Southern states, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is doubling down in the region, hoping to turn changing demographics into electoral wins and offset potential losses in traditional swing states next year.

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation’s capital. But Cain’s economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

While there are reports that President Obama's re-election plan will try to tap the energy of the anti-Wall Street protests, one top aide said this morning that the political impact of the demonstrations remains to be seen.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry tapped his home-state base of deep-pocketed donors to leap ahead of the Republican field in fundraising during the third quarter. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, used his sizeable warchest to build an infrastructure for the campaign fight ahead, new finance reports show.

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.

Mitt Romney raised more than $14 million over the past three months for his Republican presidential campaign.

President Obama overcame low poll numbers to collect $42.8 million in the July-to-September fundraising quarter, racing ahead of his Republican rivals who must marshal their resources for a fast-changing primary calendar. Obama also raised $27.3 million for the Democratic National Committee for a combined $70.1 million during the third quarter, his campaign announced Thursday. That's a drop from the $86 million the president and national party raised in the previous quarter.

Republican candidates have been test-driving themes and previewing attack lines online for months, foreshadowing the TV ad war that's all but certain to start soon in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early voting states.

Mitt Romney leads the field vying for the Republican presidential nomination, but fewer than one in four of the party's voters back him as a surging Herman Cain gains ground, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.

New Hampshire is considering moving up its Republican presidential primary to as early as December 6 as states vie for more influence in picking the party's nominee, a senior state official said on Wednesday.