Iowa Republican Party

One of the great things about the Iowa caucuses is the event's quirky Hey, kids, let's put on a show quality. Candidates do indeed still shag voter questions in intimate settings, addressing audiences of a dozen or fewer after navigating to the front  around tables laden with home-baked cookies and Jell-O salad. (At least that's the case for minor candidates before they become major; see Santorum, Rick.)  But the downside of what amounts to an amateur production surfaced in the last 24 hours with reports calling into question Mitt Romney's astonishingly thin eight-vote victory Tuesday night.

On a day that Michele Bachmann scored an early victory in Iowa, Rick Perry scrambled the Republican presidential race by jumping in with a "tea-party"-themed attack on Washington and what he termed President Obama's "rudderless leadership. " Perry's announcement Saturday stepped on Bachmann's triumph in the Ames straw poll, the biggest moment yet in her presidential campaign and a further sign of her appeal in this early-voting state. "It's your victory! You did it!" Bachmann told supporters crowded outside her bus on the Iowa State University campus, the scene of the daylong GOP event.

The news landed with a thud this week. Not a single candidate had hired Hickory Park, the Ames barbecue institution, to provide food for Saturday's Republican presidential straw poll. "That is crazy," said Shane Vander Hart, editor of the political blog Caffeinated Thoughts. "I am assuming that is a mistake on the part of the campaigns. " Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is bringing in barbecue from Minnesota-based Famous Dave's — "but that's just wrong," Vander Hart said.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination with an Internet-driven announcement he said allowed him to talk directly to voters. He made his announcement in a webcast originating from the Iowa Republican Party headquarters in Des Moines and sent out over his campaign's website.

Charlton Heston was hailed as "a fearless patriot" and "a defender of personal freedoms" during a tribute in Orlando, marking the end of his tenure as National Rifle Assn. president. Heston, 78, planned to step down as the public face of the gun-rights group on Monday at the NRA's annual convention. He will be succeeded by Kayne Robinson, the ex-chairman of Iowa's Republican Party.

Iowa Republican Party leaders voted Saturday to keep a rule that does not require GOP registration to participate in party precinct caucuses--a move likely to benefit presidential candidate Pat Robertson. The caucuses in 2,487 precincts will conduct a straw poll that is an important early test of presidential candidate strength, even though it does not determine the selection of Iowa delegates to the national nominating convention.

Mitt Romney still holds a double-digit lead in South Carolina ahead of the state's potentially decisive Republican primary, but Newt Gingrich has narrowed the gap some, according to a new CNN/Time poll. Romney has the support of 33% of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina, good for a 10-point advantage over Gingrich. That's down, however, from an 18-point lead Romney held over Rick Santorum in a poll earlier this month. Santorum is now down to 16% in the new poll, followed by Ron Paul at 13% and Rick Perry at 6%. For Romney, a win in South Carolina on Saturday could essentially end the GOP nominating race.

About an hour after the Ames Straw Poll victory, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, descended from her bus outside the Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University to thank the small band of supporters who waited for her. They were far outnumbered by members of the press, anxious to get a photo and a quote from Bachmann after she eked out a victory over Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose loyal band of supporters were audibly disappointed when Iowa Republican Party...

There may only be two candidates, but plans for a debate moderated by Donald Trump are "moving full steam ahead," the organizers said Friday. Only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum accepted the invitation from conservative media group Newsmax to attend the Dec. 27 forum in Iowa, broadcast on Ion Television. Some other candidates, in declining, cited the possibility that Trump might make a third-party run for president, an option Trump said Friday he's not prepared to give up. Asked by Fox Business Network's Don Imus on Friday whether he might back out of his role managing the Q&A, Trump said: "I'll have to see. " "They want me to drop my status as a person to run as an independent.

Patrick J. Buchanan on Wednesday became the second major GOP presidential candidate to refuse to sign an Iowa Republican Party pledge to boycott Louisiana's caucuses. The pledge is part of the Iowa GOP's effort to protect the state's status as host of the first presidential caucuses. State party officials had set Wednesday as the deadline for presidential hopefuls to sign a pledge to boycott Louisiana unless it rescheduled its caucuses to follow Iowa's. The Louisiana caucuses are set for Feb.