Poll results and strong fundraising portend a tight presidential election in November. The rising heat of political rhetoric by the candidates and their surrogates guarantees it will be nasty and brutal.
Wanted: A political attack dog ready to tear into President Barack Obama. Must play by team rules, be able to withstand the pressure of a presidential campaign and pass a rigorous vetting process.
America is in trouble. And we know it.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, already the presumptive Republican nominee, will win Tuesday's GOP presidential primaries in Kentucky and Arkansas, CNN projects.
CNN's Tom Foreman tackles the increasing trend of the number of minority babies surpassing white babies in the U.S.
President Barack Obama lags in several polls on fixing the economy. His favorability rating is virtually even with that of presumed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. His signature health care reform law appears on the verge of being overturned. Women, once central to his base, are now drifting toward his opponent. He has even lost support among once-passionate young voters.
Mitt Romney compares America's economic woes to a "prairie fire" and promises to right the listing financial ship.
Mitt Romney continued his blitz against President Barack Obama over the federal deficit on Tuesday, signaling a GOP shift away from social issues and back to what Republicans consider the president's Achilles' heel: the economy.
Mitt Romney spoke this weekend to the students at Liberty University, a hotbed of conservative studies,and he has been forced to think about his ties to the right. He is facing a difficult challenge in determining what his relationship should be with the tea party Republicans who helped revitalize the GOP after the doldrums of 2008.
We sometimes liken the presidential campaign to an extended job interview, but it's certainly unlike any job any of us has ever applied for.
A long time ago a great three-time governor of Louisiana, Earl Long, said about Jimmie Davis, the two-time not very good governor of Louisiana, "You couldn't wake up Jimmie Davis with an earthquake."
James Carville is concerned Democrats are too complacent and over-confident about the party's chances in November.
Former Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich says Mitt Romney has "earned the right to represent the Republican Party."
There is something tragic in the unfolding of Mitt Romney's campaign for president.
In his campaign kick off speech, President Obama discusses Mitt Romney's approach to taxes and the economy.
Mitt Romney says the Obama administration failed Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng and should work to secure his freedom.
As the saying goes about political parties and their candidates: Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line.
Rep. Michele Bachmann officially endorses Mitt Romney for president at an event in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Every time I hear Mitt Romney protest that he's being attacked for his success, my head goes to that Pantene shampoo commercial from the early '80s where the actress opens with, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful." Even as a kid, I remember being confused by this opening line when everything I saw around me celebrated beauty like hers.
President Barack Obama on Monday appeared to call out Mitt Romney over what he said about going after Osama bin Laden on the campaign trail four years ago, as opposed to on the eve of the first anniversary of the raid that killed the terrorist leader.
Presidents Obama pokes fun at Mitt Romney's dog at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Just in case you had any lingering illusions that politics deals with substantial issues, here's the issue that last week filled our media chatter:
For Republicans and certain presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the best defense appears to be a good offense on issues and themes being pushed by President Barack Obama and Democrats.
Modern technology has made campaigning much easier in some ways. It's now possible to raise millions in small donations through the Internet, host Facebook town halls and galvanize millions of supporters through Twitter. An ad can be released on YouTube and attract enough media coverage to make it worthwhile without spending a dime on TV time.
Where exactly does Mitt Romney stand on immigration issues? As CNN's Anderson Cooper reports, it can be tough to tell.
A month after defending the health care law, the Obama administration again confronted the buzz saw of skeptical Supreme Court justices on Wednesday -- this time on immigration. But come November, Republicans may very well be on the losing end of the argument.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday affirmed his support for likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, after initially backing Newt Gingrich's rival campaign following his own withdrawal from the race.
It took more than 20 years to get an answer for the injustices I suffered as an unfairly paid worker, so I know what it's like to wait. But the six seconds of silence from Mitt Romney's campaign recently seemed like forever.
The GOP primary night yields no surprises, but will it finally force one contender out of the race? Karin Caifa reports.
Now that Mitt Romney has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination for president, the discussion has veered toward potential running mates. Who embodies the conservative credentials Romney is seen as lacking? Who can deliver a battleground state that will put Romney over the top? Who can generate the enthusiasm that will bring not only Republicans, but also independents, to the polls on Election Day?
CNN's Paul Steinhauser takes a look at some of Mitt Romney's prospective GOP running mates.
With primary season over, the race for president -- and the race for cash -- is about to heat up.
Mitt Romney says his staff has started the process of choosing a running mate but won't say who is or isn't on the list.
A day before President Obama is set to make a series of appearances on federal student loan rates, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Monday that he supports extending lowered rates on a popular federal student loan program for low- and middle-income undergraduates.
Politicians played hot potato with the No. 2 spot on the Republican presidential ticket on Sunday, with the latest round of prominent Republicans closing the door at varying degrees to serving as presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's vice president.
We've all heard that the news cycle has accelerated to the point where it's less of a cycle and more of a constantly flowing river of pseudo-issues, feigned outrage, charges and counter-charges. But what if a campaign could not just respond instantaneously to what its opponents are saying, but actually go backward in time to respond before their opponents can even open their mouths?
Not too long ago, it seemed this week's meeting of the Republican National Committee in Arizona might be consumed with squabbles about delegate math and anxious hand-wringing over the long and acrimonious presidential primary fight.
It's that time in the presidential cycle again. Mitt Romney, presumptive GOP nominee, appoints a trusted adviser to lead his vice presidential search. The questionnaires are readied; the real level of interest of the contenders is gauged (and all public protestations of noninterest dutifully disregarded.)
After devoting seven years and tens of millions of dollars trying to convince conservatives that he is one of them, Mitt Romney finally has a firm grip on the Republican presidential nomination.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at a GOP fundraiser in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
With the inevitability of Mitt Romney's GOP presidential nomination now assured, the next question looming in this long, twisted election cycle is likely to be this: Which Mitt Romney will be running against President Barack Obama?
Mitt Romney's campaign confirmed Monday that a trusted aide of the former Massachusetts governor will lead the search for his running mate in November, as the presumptive Republican nominee trails President Barack Obama by 9 points in the latest CNN/ORC International nationwide poll.
Rick Santorum's announcement that he is suspending his presidential campaign brings the Republican primaries closer to the end. With all the speculation about brokered conventions and last-minute turnarounds, the original predictions appear to be correct. Mitt Romney will almost certainly be the Republican candidate who faces off against President Barack Obama in the fall.
Mitt Romney attacks President Obama's tax policies as a burden on "economic freedom."
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a conservative audience what it wanted to hear Friday, accusing President Barack Obama of leading the country away from the founding fathers' vision and "toward limited freedom and limited opportunity."
In his first major speech to conservatives since his Republican rival Rick Santorum quit the presidential race, Mitt Romney turned his sights on the general election and accused President Barack Obama of waging "an assault on our freedoms."
Mitt Romney's son Josh talks to CNN's Piers Morgan about his mother, Ann.
My Twitter feed was on fire after an appearance Wednesday night on CNN's AC360, where I said that I thought it was wrong for Mitt Romney to be using his wife as his guide to women's economic struggles when she "had never worked a day in her life."
Typically when a presidential candidate wraps up his party's nomination after months of reaching out to base voters in the primaries, the question becomes whether he can appeal to the political center for the general election.
Maybe money can't buy you love, but it buys a nomination.
As the Rolling Stones sang, "You can't always get what you want/ But if you try sometimes you just might find/ You get what you need." That's what many Republicans are doing as they slowly reconcile themselves to the candidacy of Mitt Romney.
It's not the way most Americans spent Easter weekend, but then again, most Americans aren't Mitt Romney. And that's the potential problem that will be leveraged against him in the battle for the White House.
A unique look at how the GOP candidates are going about winning women voters.
Debra Saunders, Erin McPike and John Aravosis discuss Mitt Romney's candidacy and his wife's "unzipped" comments.
Speculation about vice presidential picks is heating up. As it has become increasingly clear that Mitt Romney will win the Republican nomination, there has been all kinds of chatter about who he will pick to run with him on the ticket.
Fresh off a three-primary sweep that bolstered the perception he is the inevitable Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney on Wednesday blasted President Barack Obama for running what he called a "hide-and-seek" campaign that lacked candor.
After winning all three primaries on Tuesday night, Mitt Romney looks to Pennsylvania for what could be a decisive blow.
With his victories in Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, Mitt Romney now looks unbeatable. He has more than half the delegates necessary to clinch the nomination. Republicans are signaling boredom with the contest, and it's becoming harder and harder to justify Rick Santorum's ongoing insurgency.
Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney had a big night Tuesday, sweeping primaries in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Wisconsin and putting more distance between himself and closest pursuer Rick Santorum in the race for delegates.
Mitt Romney wins all three of Tuesday's Republican presidential primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington DC.
Mitt Romney, fresh off a three-primary sweep that put him more than halfway to the delegate number needed for the Republican presidential nomination, gets the chance Wednesday to answer President Barack Obama's harsh attacks the day before against Republican ideology.
While Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich can sustain their bare-bones insurgent campaigns long enough to fight through the spring, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have already moved on to the next battlefield.
When Mitt Romney heard he had won Wisconsin's primary -- capping off a trio of victories on Tuesday -- he jumped up and said: "Let's go!"
Rick Santorum turns his focus to his home state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday as he faces an uphill battle to convince Republicans he can stop Mitt Romney from clinching the party nomination after his three-primary sweep.
CNN's Tom Foreman takes to the "magic wall" to break down the top issues for Maryland voters in Tuesday's primary.
Mitt Romney won all three of Tuesday's Republican presidential primaries, putting more distance between himself and his closest contender, Rick Santorum, who indicated he plans to fight on to his home state of Pennsylvania and beyond.
Mitt Romney explains what a Romney win in Wisconsin could mean for the GOP nomination.
My 91-year-old mother finds a lot of things aggravating. Drugstores that run out of things that are on sale. Typos. And phone calls from Mitt Romney. Quite a few phone calls from Mitt Romney. Also from Rick Santorum. And other people advocating for each of them. She's had enough. Also the television ads. Do they have to run so many?
Sen. Mitch McConnell believes Romney will be an "excellent candidate" but does not feel the need to endorse him.
Mitt Romney and his top challenger for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday focused their campaign efforts on Wisconsin, the main prize of three contests Tuesday before a three-week break in the primaries.
Even Mitt Romney admits that he's got his work cut out for him to reach out to female voters as he transitions from the Republican presidential nomination battle to what will most likely be his general election matchup against President Barack Obama.
Ads, phone calls and mailers have bombarded voters in Wisconsin in the days leading up to Tuesday's vote -- the next major battleground in the Republican presidential race.
Mitt Romney thinks a Wisconsin/Maryland/D.C. sweep Tuesday night will set him sailing to the nomination long before the August Republican convention.
For months now, platoons of politicians have been filling the air with words.
Another major conservative figure backs Mitt Romney. His voice joins a growing chorus of major names in the Republican Party calling for the divisive GOP nomination battle to come to an end.
Former president George H.W. Bush says it's time for the entire Republican Party to get behind Mitt Romney.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney picked up two more big endorsements this week, but neither appears likely to have much impact on sealing the deal for the GOP front-runner.
The Republican presidential primary hasn't exactly overflowed with talent. In December, it was a roll call of the undesirable Right: Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, Perry, Huntsman and Bachmann -- a list so long and bizarre that Count Dracula could have slipped in on the end and no one would have noticed. Except, as the citizens of Chicago will tell you, the dead always vote Democrat.
Newt Gingrich is determined to stay in the race for the Republican nomination, his communications director said Wednesday, even though he's laid off one-third of his staff and faces increasing calls to cede the contest to front-runner Mitt Romney.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer why he lashed out at a New York Times reporter.
With calls increasing for some or all of them to drop out, challengers to Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney say they intend to keep battling until the nomination gets settled.
By all measures, Mitt Romney won convincingly in Puerto Rico earlier this month. He captured 83% of the popular vote and all 20 of the island's pledged delegates. But that's not all Romney took back to the mainland.
GOP candidate Mitt Romney wasted no time attacking Obama's now-controversial "open-mic" comment with Russia's leader.
So we're at a point in the campaign where health care reform is about to go on trial at the Supreme Court, unemployment remains high and gas prices are skyrocketing.
Mitt Romney is in a bind. He must present himself as a staunch conservative in order to appeal to skeptical right-wing voters in the Republican presidential primary, but if he plays it too conservative, he'll alienate moderate voters in the general election.
"Excited" after a meeting Thursday with Mitt Romney, tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint urged fellow Republicans to be realistic and rally around the party's eventual nominee, making his plea the same day the ex-governor's chief rival suggested voters would be as well off with President Barack Obama as they would Romney.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum makes a dig at rival Mitt Romney in Texas.
Mitt Romney may have won the Illinois primary by a wide margin Tuesday night, but it was not a knockout, and Rick Santorum will live to fight another day. Even so, the conventional wisdom is that this contest was the beginning of the end.
CNN's John King and our panel discuss "The Truth" of how an Etch A Sketch shook up the Romney campaign.
Mitt Romney picked up a highly prized endorsement Wednesday from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush after a convincing victory the night before in the Illinois primary but then saw a top adviser's televised comment provide new ammunition to his trailing rivals in the Republican presidential race.
Illinois exit polls show that support for Mitt Romney is solidifying and he's closer to getting the nomination.
Mitt Romney regained his aura of the inevitable Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday with a solid win in Illinois' primary.
With a decisive win in the Illinois presidential primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sets his sights on the bayou where Louisiana holds the next Republican primary.
Mitt Romney pitches to Latino voters after a victory in the Republican presidential primary in Puerto Rico.
As the Republican primary reaches its halfway point, the question of inevitability is a main topic of conversation. Is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who holds a sizable lead in delegates, destined to be the Republican nominee for president in 2012?
Unsolicited text messages from scammers, companies and political campaigns are illegal and annoying. But at least now they're easier to report.
Anita Dunn and Ed Gillespie talk to Candy Crowley about the chances of the candidates in the 2012 presidential campaign.
Turns out the U.S. territories are very, very good to Mitt Romney. He romped in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico on Sunday, so much so that he took all 20 delegates. Oh, how Romney would love a romp in Illinois on Tuesday.
Mitt Romney heads in to Illinois's presidential primary this week with a handy win in Puerto Rico, pocketing the territory's 20 GOP delegates in a bruising race that has become a numbers game for the Republican nomination.
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