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Presidential campaigns are where egos go to die. You spend months as a traveling salesman, your mind is the product, and in the end the voters almost always buy something else. But rarely is the brutality of the process clearer than it was Thursday evening in Des Moines.

Keys to Tonight’s GOP Debate

Fox News will host the final Republican debate of the “pre-season,” before real voting actually begins next week in the Iowa caucuses and then continues in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and beyond. The absence of businessman Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner, could mean other candidates have an opportunity to seize the spotlight, although it could also mean fewer viewers that might see any “breakout” performance.

The media this morning have a few articles offering predictions, expectations, things to look for, ... Read More >>

Santorum and Huckabee, once also-rans, see opening in Cruz-Trump fight

Rick Santorum was right on schedule, strolling into the Coffee Attic at 4 p.m. for his fifth event of the day. He shook hands, posed for pictures in his iconic grey sweater vest, and peered into the room where just a dozen potential voters were waiting to meet him.

Ben Car­son may not win the Iowa Re­pub­lic­an caucuses, but the one-time front-run­ner in the state still could play a sig­ni­fic­ant role Monday: spoil­er.

Since top­ping the Iowa polls with sup­port as high as 32 per­cent in Oc­to­ber, Car­son’s stand­ing in the state that kicks off the pres­id­en­tial nom­in­at­ing pro­cess has slid dra­mat­ic­ally.

Is Rubio’s Strategy About to Pay Off?

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has managed to be considered a top-tier candidate with a strong likelihood of winning the GOP nomination, despite polling numbers that have rarely, if ever, passed those of several of his rivals. This seems to be part of his strategy, as Politico explains in an informative article this morning:

Behind Marco Rubio’s survival strategy

Marco Rubio won’t finish first in Iowa’s caucuses six days from now, but he and his allies have increasingly positioned him to make a ... Read More >>

It’s now less than a week be­fore the Iowa caucuses, two weeks be­fore the New Hamp­shire primary, and thus time for polit­ic­al afi­cion­ados to whip them­selves in­to frenzy. People of­ten be­come so pre­oc­cu­pied with the two con­tests that they lose sight of the lar­ger pic­ture. So take a deep breath, every­one: Neither party’s nom­in­a­tion is likely to be settled by the out­comes in Iowa or New Hamp­shire, or even the two com­bined.

An hour before the Jan. 14 Republican debate, 250 of Ted Cruz’s most dedicated Iowa field organizers huddled in the Heritage Assembly of God church gymnasium in Des Moines. Over a dinner of potato chips and sandwiches, they sat down for a tutorial in caucus-night tactics.