By Todd Dorman/The Gazette An Iowa presidential caucus campaign that defied prediction again and again, month after month, produced a result Tuesday night that confounded crystal-clear analysis. The fashionably late front-runner and the last-minute sprinter from the right rode Iowa’s crazy caucus rollercoaster to a tight finish. ...

Putting on the caucuses should be easy, right. Just pull out the plan from four years ago and update it, right. That’s not the case at all in Linn County where Republican “location coordinator” Eric Rosenthal threw out the 2008 plan and started over when making plans ...

  WEST DES MOINES – Despite a shaky end to her Iowa campaign, GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann predicted “a big surprise” Tuesday night when Iowa Republicans finally get their say on who should be the party’s 2012 nominee to face Democrat Barack Obama this fall. “I ...

  POLK CITY – GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum told an overflow crowd Monday that he is surging in the polls because Iowans “are doing their homework” and liking his ideas for charting a new course via a business friendly, limited government rather than listening to ...

Last chance: Today is likely to your last chance to see any of the Republican presidential hopefuls before the caucuses. Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney will be in the area. Gingrich starts the day at the Heartland Acres Agribition Center, Independence. At noon, he’ll ...

DES MOINES – For the field of hard-driving presidential candidates and the Iowa Republicans they pursue, the finish line is in sight. Months of stump speeches, hand clasps and other trappings of retail politicking will culminate Tuesday night when the leading vote-getters at 1,774 precincts have ...

  Pig posse: It seems all the Republicans running in Iowa want to cut pork barrel spending. But one group simply wants to cut the pork. That’s PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA’s pig posse will be hot on the heels of the Republican ...

What's Ahead Dec. 30: Christie, Iowa Democrats focus on Romney Mr. Vice President?  Gov. Chris Christie, who was asked by Iowans to run for the Republican presidential nomination, will campaign in Cedar Rapids today – not for himself, but for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The New ...

Trying to predict the results of the Jan. 3 Iowa precinct caucuses is a “pretty serious crapshoot,” according to Rick Perry, who predicted caucus night might produce some surprises. The Texas governor hopes one of those surprises is him finishing in the top three among the ...

  URBANDALE – Texas Gov. Rick Perry hammered President Obama’s energy and immigration policies Wednesday and berated him for not holding a welcome-home parade to salute the U.S. soldiers who served during the war in Iraq over the past nine years. “It really disturbs me that nearly ...