Michele Bachmann

  A shrunken field of GOP presidential hopefuls descended on New Hampshire on Wednesday, the next test in the party's nominating fight, as Mitt Romney sought to bolster his status as front-runner and establishment favorite. A day after winning the Iowa caucuses by the slimmest margin in history - eight votes - Romney signaled that party ranks were closing and used a morning TV interview to contrast the breadth and strength of his campaign with the hand-to-mouth candidacy of Rick Santorum, Iowa's runner-up.

In the wake of a bottom-feeder finish in the Iowa GOP caucuses, Michele Bachmann ended a presidential bid Wednesday that once held so much promise in this state. “Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside,” she said at a morning news conference. Bachmann called on Republicans to unify behind the ultimate nominee, but did not say whom she would support. It was only five months ago, in August, that Bachmann, an Iowa native, captured the Ames Straw Poll, a test of a candidate's strength among influential conservatives in the state and a victory that appeared to establish her as a force to be reckoned with.

Michele Bachmann, who finished a distant sixth in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, will hold a news conference Wednesday morning where she is expected to discuss the future of her bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Feeding speculation that the Minnesota congresswoman may end her campaign, the Associated Press reported that she has canceled a planned trip to South Carolina, which loomed as a key showdown in the nomination fight after next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Bachmann and Texas Gov. Perry had each planned to skip ahead to the Palmetto State as other Republicans headed to New Hampshire.

It was almost as if the Michele Bachmann campaign expected no one to show up at all. Bachmann kept a light schedule Monday, with her first stop at a diner so small that there was no room for her. It was so packed with cameras, reporters and a smattering of customers that an aide said Bachmann wouldn't come in unless a few people moved. "But she will be appearing down the street at the Diggity Dog," the aide said. A walking tour of well-worn storefronts seemed a world away from those heady days in August when Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll, which landed her on the cover of Newsweek.

After placing last among the six Republican presidential hopefuls who campaigned heavily in Iowa, a visibly exhausted Michele Bachmann thanked supporters Tuesday night and vowed again to make President Obama a “one-term president.” Despite having earned just 5% of the vote with most precincts reporting, Bachmann praised the caucus process, which she said “has worked.” “It's the people of Iowa who chose tonight,” she said....

Michele Bachmann delivered her closing argument Monday, but there were precious few voters around to hear it. The presidential candidate, who isn't expected to be among the top finishers in the Iowa caucuses, kept a light schedule. A day before the caucuses, while Ron Paul rallied a packed ballroom in Des Moines and Rick Santorum played to bigger and bigger crowds, Bachmann toured a series of small storefronts west of the city. Her first stop, a small diner, was so jam-packed with cameras, reporters and a smattering of customers that an aide warned that Bachmann herself wouldn't be able to come in unless some of the media moved behind the lunch counter.

It was tempting to read everything as metaphor Sunday morning in church with Michele Bachmann, struggling toward the finish line in Iowa where voters will cast the first ballots of the 2012 presidential season on Tuesday. Bachmann carried her own Bible as she and her husband, Marcus, walked into Jubilee Family Church, a charismatic evangelical congregation about an hour southeast of Des Moines. Moments after she began a talk billed as a testimony to her faith, a church aide came up to the altar to turn on her microphone.

SATURDAY Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC The Chris Matthews Show The 2012 elections; New Year's resolutions for the media: Major Garrett, National Journal; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC; David Ignatius, the Washington Post; Gloria Borger, CNN. (N) 5 p.m. KNBC; 5:30 a.m. Sunday KNBC McLaughlin Group (N) 6:30 p.m. KCET SUNDAY CBS News Sunday Morning (N) 6 a.m. KCBS Today New Year's celebrations. (N) 6 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America (N) 6 a.m. KABC State of the Union Iowa caucuses: Presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)

The Republicans jostling to break into the upper tier of presidential contenders clashed over Iran's nuclear ambitions and their credentials to be commander in chief as they dashed across Iowa on Thursday to lock down support in next week's opening contest of the race. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic Texas congressman who has gained popularity among Iowa Republicans while still marginal in nationwide polls, defended his call for backing away from sanctions to deter Iran from building nuclear weapons.

A number loomed large in Rick Santorum's remarks Thursday, as he traveled throughout southeastern Iowa seeking to capitalize on polls showing that his support among caucus-goers is surging here in advance of Tuesday. It wasn't 16 - as in the percentage of voters backing Santorum in a CNN-Time poll this week that sparked the kind of media attention that the candidate has craved for months. It wasn't three - the slot behind Mitt Romney and Ron Paul here that, right now at least, seems to guarantee that a candidate can move on to the later primaries.