Republican Presidential Candidate, 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate | featured news

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.

All across Iowa next Tuesday, tens of thousands of Republican voters will travel through a chilly Midwestern night to the warmth of a local church or gymnasium for caucus meetings to select presidential candidates, the first voting in the 2012 election campaign.

Mitt Romney swatted at Ron Paul on Wednesday, a shift for the candidate who has largely ignored the Texas congressman and a possible sign at the shifting nature of the race in the state that in less than a week holds the first presidential voting contest in the nation.

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.

Former President George H.W. Bush says Mitt Romney is the "best choice" for the GOP presidential nomination, but stopped short of giving a formal ...

Mitt Romney says if Newt Gingrich can't stand the heat coming from his allies, then just wait until President Obama starts coming. "This is politics, and if you can't stand the heat in this little kitchen, wait until the Obama Hell's Kitchen turns up the heat," Romney said on Fox News . He made similar comments later on MSNBC.

The only danger about people like me and Ed saying Ron Paul can never win is that it fuels his anti-establishment cred. Paul has two bases of support: a libertarian base that likes Paul for his consistent purism on stripping government of all but extremely limited powers and a really angry base that is more about creating chaos than philosophy. This second group would like nothing more than to send a giant message of anger to the political establishment, and Paul is a good vehicle for that.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are tied at the top of the Republican pack to win their party's presidential nomination, each with 20 percent of GOP primary voters' support, according to the latest CBS News Poll. Ron Paul takes the third spot with 10 percent, while the remaining candidates enter the holiday period languishing in the single digits.

The presidential candidate, in danger of slipping from front-runner status, says criticism from fellow Republicans is 'reprehensible.' Facing slipping poll numbers, an angry Newt Gingrich lashed out at his Republican presidential rivals Monday, calling their criticism of him "reprehensible" and helpful only to President Obama's reelection.

Sarah Palin says it's not too late for someone to jump into the Republican presidential race. Asked by Fox Business Network's "Follow the Money" about the likelihood that she'd become a candidate, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee said it's not too late for "folks" to jump in. Said Palin: "Who knows what will happen in the future."