Left for dead in Florida and Nevada, Rick Santorum won all three contests last night in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado, sending warning signals from Mitt Romney's CPU to the mini replica of the 2001 monolith that stands in for the candidate's heart. At his victory speech, Santorum said he wasn't aiming to become "the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama." more ›

Would you believe that a majority of pop musicians disagree with Republican dogma? In recent days Newt Gingrich was sued by the co-author of "Eye of the Tiger" after he used it at numerous campaign events, and Mitt Romney was asked by K'naan to stop using his song "Wavin' Flag." "I'm for immigrants. I'm for poor people, and they don't seem to be what he's endorsing," the rapper told the Times. "My song being his victory song didn't seem quite right." So where can the GOP candidates turn to pump up their pasty crowds? We've compiled a shortlist of tunes that are the least likely to earn a cease-and-desist order. more ›

What does Newt Gingrich's 12% win over Mitt Romney in South Carolina mean? Even if Gingrich doesn't have Romney's war chest and organization for Florida's primary on the 31st, his momentum is snowballing in the state's print media, and this morning Romney admitted he made a mistake in declining to release his tax returns, and said he will make them available on Tuesday. “We made a mistake in holding off as long as we did,” the candidate told FOX News, noting that he pays a "substantial" amount of taxes. Still Gingrich can point out that in terms of percentage, he pays double what a member of the 0.01% does. more ›

Last night's GOP debate in South Carolina was notable for there only being four candidates left in the scrum (remember when Herman Cain used to be there?), but the true winner of the wintry evening was Newt Gingrich, who has been surging in recent polls for the state's primary as well as starring in The Real Housewives Of The GOP. When CNN debate moderator John King asked Gingrich about his second ex-wife's claims that he asked for an open marriage, Gingrich fired back, calling the question "destructive" and "despicable." "I am appalled you would begin a presidential debate with a topic like that. Every person knows personal pain ... I am astounded CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate." more ›

He's trailing in the polls, he hates Social Security, and... and... oh, who cares: News outlets are reporting that Texas Governor Rick Perry is ending his presidential dreams. more ›

Jon Huntsman, the most qualified, moderate Republican candidate for president withdrew from the race today after a poor showing in New Hampshire and polls showing that he trailed a TV personality who isn't even on the ballot in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Before sheepishly endorsing Mitt Romney, Huntsman complained about how mean the other candidates are. “This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in American history,” Huntsman said, apparently never seeing those awesome attack ads John Adams launched against Thomas Jefferson in 1800. more ›

To satisfy America's bloodlust for pallid men in funeral attire yelling at each other, the GOP presidential candidates faced off in two debates, twelve hours apart, ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. At last night's ABC debate at St. Anselm, frontrunner Willard Romney was content to let Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich claw each other's eyes out. But at this morning's NBC/Lunesta debate his rivals came to their senses and with the help of Romney's inability to relate to anyone other than T-1000, attempted to tear down his commanding lead in the polls. more ›

It's the night of the Iowa Caucuses! Everyone run downstairs and look at the Caucus Bush and marvel at how resplendent it is with Super PAC money and tears! At 1,774 precinct stations across the state, registered Republicans will gather at 7 p.m. CST to argue whether Mitt's hair is sexier than Rick Santorum's sweatervests. Polls have Santorum neck-and-neck with Willard Romney, and the man who runs America's most Fair and Balanced resource for on-air errors wants you to "think" about Rick. "Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country," Rupert Murdoch tweeted. Wow! It's almost as if Santorum once worked for FOX News. more ›

Are your kids in the next room playing with their Candy Tails? Google "Santorum." You'll notice that the first result is a website that defines the word as, "The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." This is because sex columnist Dan Savage vowed to repay bigoted failure and GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum eight years ago for the hateful things he says about the gay community, and BOY is it working. Charlie Cook tells the Daily News, "There is nothing that Santorum can do but just try to ignore it." Or he could whine to the media! more ›

During the GOP Presidential debate on Thursday night, some vocal Republicans could be heard booing a gay active member of the military who asked a question about the now-defunct "Don't Ask Don't Tell" military policy. The aptly-renamed Rick Santorum was given a lot of flack for seemingly ignoring the boos as he gave his typically backwards response to the question. But yesterday, Santorum lamented the acoustics of the debate venue, and claimed he hadn't heard the boos at the time: "I condemn the people who booed that gay soldier," he told Fox News' Megyn Kelly too-little-too-late. Watch his sorta mea culpa below. more ›

The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one. more ›

The polls in New York close in a half hour, so the media won't be reporting returns until then. But it's still exciting and heartbreaking to watch the other states' elections returns. For starters, Bob Casey ousting Rick Santorum for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania? That's exciting. Heartbreaking would be reports of bugs and intimidation at the polls. more ›

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend is really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it. more ›

Republican candidates. The AP reports that he was in Cleveland for Senator Mike DeWine last night, and today, he'll be in Arkansas for Asa Hutchinson (running for governor) as well as in Pennsylvania for Senator Rick Santorum and the All-Star Game. Then tomorrow he'll be at fundraisers for Lynn Swann, running for governor of Pennsylvania, and Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich. Yeah, we did the "Ugh, Santorum, really?" too, but apparently Giuliani is keen to support him because of his commitment to national security. Okay, we get that national security is a big issue, but being able to view other Americans as people is a big issue to us. The scuttlebutt is that the fact that Rudy is visiting Arkansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania means that he's strongly considering a presidential run. more ›

Wow, Apple puts U2 on an iPod and all of a sudden, U.S. politicans want a piece of the Irishmen! The New York Times says that the globally conscious band is "distancing" itself from campaign fundraising, as Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Rick Santorum are both planning fundraising events tied to U2 concerts. According to the article, in response to a report from NewsMax about Bono "teaming up" with Santorum, Bono's Debt AIDS Trade Africa group issued a statement saying U2 wasn't connected to any political fundraising events. Even if the fundraiser's husband is a fellow ubersexual? (For the record, Gothamist hates the term "ubersexual" - we're sticking with "a man's man.") While Gothamist understands that U2 would be attractive to politicians because Bono has become an eloquent spokesperson on behalf of many issues, but we wonder why there aren't any American bands that good enough? Surely, there must be an indie rock band with the right kind of convictions that the senators could try to associate themselves with! more ›

Do you like to get the weather forecast on your cell phone? Do you like your tax dollars paying for satellite loops? Do you enjoy the lovely graphs that Gothamist sometimes makes? All those things might disappear if Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) gets his way. Santorum has introduced legislation that would prevent the National Weather Service (NWS) from distributing any information other than severe weather alerts and possibly routine forecasts, that could be provided by the commercial weather industry. According to Santorum's statement introducing the bill, the intent is the "clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National Weather Service" especially with it's relationship to the commercial weather industry. Many people have noted that AccuWeather, which stands to be the big winner if the bill is passed, is based in Pennsylvania and that company's high executives are big contributors to Santorum's re-election campaign. more ›

The Washington Post's Beltway gossip Lloyd Grove gets ready for his new gig at the Daily News by going heavy on the D.C. screening circuit today. First, he leads with a screening of The Passion, with director Mel Gibson present, for insiders to quell rumors. The invitees skewed to the conservative: Matt Drudge, Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director Mark Rodgers of the Senate Republican conference chaired by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.); former Republican House member Mark Siljander of Michigan; and White House staffer David Kuo. Jack Valenti seemed to be the only liberal, but as he's the head of the annoying MPAA and kiss up to Mel, Gothamist is not surprised that he told audience members, "I don't see what the controversy is all about. This is a compelling piece of art. I just called Kirk Douglas and told him that this is the movie to beat." Gothamist dies a little as another spin machine starts. [Via nw] more ›