What do you learn when you try to meet every single Republican presidential candidate in person? You learn that Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) is awful at small talk. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a ham, breaking into funny voices and goofy faces. And former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is . . . not like that at all. “Like talking to your doctor,” one voter remembered. Read full article > >

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New Hampshire primary voters get up close and personal with GOP candidates

For six decades the United States has planned for the capacity to conduct two nearly simultaneous major ground combat operations. During the Cold War, one of those campaigns was assumed to be an all-out struggle against the Warsaw Pact in Europe, the other a conflict in Asia. Since the Cold War, defense secretaries Dick Cheney, Les Aspin, William Perry, William Cohen, Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates have adopted some variant of this framework as well. It is time for a change. Read full article > >

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Why a one-war posture for the U.S. military will work

Why did Rick Perry decide to remain in the race? Knowing the answer is crucial to understanding whether Mr. Perry has any chance of mounting a comeback.

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FiveThirtyEight: Perry, Perry, Quite Contrary

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination Aug. 13, the same day as the Ames Straw Poll, those watching social streams could have rightfully assumed he had won the Iowa contest. Twitter exploded with Perry mentions, even though he didn’t participate in the straw poll, while the winner, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), drew far less attention. Social media was the writing on the wall. Perry would soon trend up in polls, surpassing Bachmann and the rest of the field. Twitter was the early — scratch that — Twitter was the real-time warning system. Read full article > >

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@MentionMachine tracks the presidential candidates: Who’s up, who’s down on Twitter?

With 50 percent of the votes cast, Fox News is predicting that Newt Gingrich will finish tonight's caucuses in fourth place. That would leave Perry and Bachmann in fifth and sixth place respectively. Talking Points Memo notes that John McCain was the only candidate to win nomination who wasn't among the top three in Iowa's 2008 caucuses.

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Fox News: Gingrich Will Come in 4th

DES MOINES Just a few hours before the Iowa caucuses opened, Don Acheson, a general contractor from West Des Moines, remained as he had been for months: wracked by indecision. First, he had been for Rick Perry, then Newt Gingrich. When I caught up with him, he was preparing to give Rick Santorum a hard look, but Mitt Romney was “not far behind” in Acheson’s esteem. Read full article > >

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Indecision 2012: In Iowa and the GOP

Early last week, a postcard advertising a rally for Mitt Romney arrived at the home of Pam Arnold Powers and her husband, Kelly. As undecided voters, the couple had grown accustomed to such invites. They regularly received mail from Rick Perry and Ron Paul, and Romney himself called several times a week, clogging up their voice mail with automated messages that began “Pamela, this is Mitt.” Read full article > >

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Many Iowans still don’t know who they will caucus for

Join in Perry’s lawsuit.

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4 More Candidates Sue to Be on VA Ballot

British comedian Russell Brand has filed for divorce from American singer Katy Perry after 14 months of marriage.

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Brand files for split from Perry

Perhaps I should begin by confessing a vested interest: Having called the attention of readers nine days ago to the Rick Santorum Iowa surge that is now the object of considerable journalistic interest, I have a pundit’s vested interest in having an early call pan out. (We’ll talk about my mistakes another day.) As I see it, only one thing can stop the former Pennsylvania senator from doing exceptionally well in Tuesday’s caucuses, and that is Texas Gov. Rick Perry hanging on to the support he now has. Read full article > >

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E.J. Dionne Jr.:
The Santorum-Perry showdown

Maybe it was an effort to revive her campaign — or fatigue brought on by her 10-day, 99-county bus tour of Iowa — that prompted Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to say recently that the Hawkeye State has “already shown that the United States is ready for a female president .” In next week’s caucuses, Bachmann clearly hopes to build on her Ames Straw Poll victory . History, however, does not paint a promising picture. Read full article > >

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Can a woman win Iowa?

A week before the caucuses, Iowa Republicans say there isn't a clear leader. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are at the top, but Rick Perry is gaining.

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GOP presidential field still unsettled

Perry’s spent the most, seconded by Romney.

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GOP Spent $10M on Iowa Ads

Texas is still paying for Gov. Rick Perry’s guards. He is the only Republican candidate with state-financed security.

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The Texas Tribune: Texas Foots the Bill for Gov. Rick Perry’s Security Detail

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening and early Saturday. The Republican Party of Virginia announced early Saturday that Gingrich and Perry failed to submit 10,000 signatures of registered voters required to get their names on the ballot for the March 6 primary. Read full article > >

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Gingrich, Perry disqualified from Va. primary ballot