It has become a great American tradition, an act of small-town civics, an example of direct democracy in action where citizens get to meet presidential candidates multiple times.  The New Hampshire primary will tell us a good deal more than the Iowa caucuses did about where the Republican candidates stand and how they might do in the general election against President Barack Obama.  The oil industry launched a nationwide campaign titled "Vote 4 Energy" Wednesday, a day after the Iowa caucus set the stage for the 2012 presidential election.  Republican Rick Santorum may have come up eight votes shy of a win in the Iowa caucuses. But a piece of his wardrobe appears to have emerged as the clear winner.  CNN's Wolf Blitzer discusses results of the Iowa caucuses and where the nominating process goes from here.  Republicans this year have the best chance of defeating a sitting Democratic president since Ronald Reagan toppled Jimmy Carter more than three decades ago, but Democratic heavyweights are quietly celebrating the fact that, given Tuesday night's caucus results, that task has just become harder.  A reshaped Republican presidential race shifted to New Hampshire on Wednesday as Mitt Romney won the endorsement of an old rival and Michele Bachmann dropped out after a disappointing Iowa showing.  Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucuses by eight votes. However, Rick Santorum came out of nowhere in the course of two weeks to grab a narrow second-place finish and become the latest Republican to seize the anti-Romney mantle.  The Iowa caucus is Tuesday and so far, this shaky bunch of challengers has done a better job of telling us why Obama should not be re-elected than telling us why they would be any better. And yet, one of these candidates must be declared the winner, which is a big reason why 70% of Americans want the election to be over even before it officially begins.  LZ Granderson urges voters to take a more proactive approach and not become jaded by ongoing elections.  When people in Iowa cast the first votes in the long U.S. presidential election, it has an importance beyond the result.  Negative ads in the Iowa caucuses are just the tip of the iceberg. While as recently as three election cycles ago there were still some reservations about slinging mud, in 2012 negative ads are a virtual must-have component of every political campaign.  CNN's John King explains the difference between a primary and a caucus and how they both lead to a party's nomination.  Fifty years ago this new year, on March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in an NBA game.  The Iowa caucus isn't just a political exercise. It's also a very big business.  With the Iowa caucuses days away, Bachmann and Paul are feuding over campaign staffers. Anderson Cooper reports.  Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann weaved between tables at the Kay's Kafé in tiny Corning, Iowa, on Wednesday, interrupting patrons enjoying their "6 oz. Ribeye Steak Sandwich" (only $5) and pleading for the votes of conservatives just days before the Iowa caucuses.  No doubt about it, the Republican presidential candidates are reaching a critical point: It's less than one month before the Iowa caucuses. A majority of GOP voters -- and Iowa caucus-goers -- say they could still change their minds. The president has thrown down the gauntlet on tax cuts for the middle class, and the GOP needs to speak with one voice in response. It's decision time, and there are real questions that need to be answered with clarity.  CNN's Joe Johns takes a look a who Newt Gingrich is and why he's running for President.  In 1979, George H.W. Bush was giving a foreign policy speech to a group of Iowa Republican caucus-goers when a British journalist, well into his cups, shouted "Rubbish! Rubbish!" at the former U.N. ambassador from the back of the room.  As you're being inundated with wall-to-wall coverage of the Iowa caucuses this week, keep the following number in mind: zero.  Forget the ads, the weather, and all those back-and-forth attacks -- the Republican caucuses in Iowa will come down to thousands of small pieces of paper.  A notorious group of hackers may be trying to target the Iowa caucuses to tamper with voting. CNN's Brian Todd reports.  Heading into the final days before the Iowa caucus, the nomination is still anybody's game as CNN's Jim Acosta reports.  A Republican presidential race that has lately been defined by its negative tone took a sunnier turn Thursday, as the field of GOP candidates presented closing arguments to voters in the final debate before January's pivotal Iowa caucuses.  Nevada GOP chairwoman Amy Tarkanian announced late Wednesday the state will hold its presidential caucus on January 14, further sliding the voting season closer to the holiday season.  Colorado Republican leaders voted Saturday to move the state's nonbinding presidential caucus to early February, immediately after the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus.  Republican contenders faced an altered political landscape Sunday in the race for the presidential nomination as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann surfed a wave of attention coming off the Ames Straw Poll and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out.  Candy Crowley talks with reporters Neil King and Philip Rucker about the Straw Poll results and Pawlenty dropping out.  Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty abandoned his bid for the GOP presidential nomination on Sunday after a disappointing finish in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.  Republican Tim Pawlenty pulls out of the presidential race after finishing third in the Iowa straw poll.  Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad nicely summed up the stakes of the Ames Straw Poll this week during a television appearance.  Like a rain shower during a drought, the Iowa Caucus will bring some relief to the battered farm economy of the Hawkeye State. Some $25 million will be pumped into Iowa by February 8, when citizens...
We're in the thick of the South Carolina Republican Primary, and all the ugly old stereotypes are being deployed as shorthand for one very beautiful state.