Ron Paul

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Mitt Romney eagerly pocketed an endorsement yesterday from two-time New Hampshire primary winner John McCain and bid to convert a single-digit victory in Iowa into a Republican presidential-campaign juggernaut. Unimpressed, Newt Gingrich ridiculed the former Massachusetts governor as a liberal turned moderate now masquerading as a conservative. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sought to rally conservatives to his side after coming achingly close to victory in the Iowa caucuses.

DES MOINES, Iowa - The struggle for votes in Tuesday's Iowa Republican presidential caucuses featured two different fights Thursday. One involved a top tier of candidates with clear momentum just before the nation's first caucuses. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum were optimistic Thursday about their prospects. Texas Rep. Ron Paul delivered his somber message to big audiences. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was confident enough to beef up his Iowa schedule, including a stay in Des Moines on Tuesday night to await results.

Even people who disagree with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's unvarnished libertarian views can appreciate that he never pulls his punches in expressing them. Of course, there was no need for the Texas congressman to fret about that in Tuesday night's tea-party debate before a crowd of folks who also believe less government is the best government. They applauded Paul, especially when he suggested it was preferable to let anyone who could but didn't buy health insurance stay sick, rather than have taxpayers pay for that person's medical care.

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Washington state Republicans will hold caucuses Saturday, hoping to make or break the four presidential candidates' momentum - however briefly, before 10 more states weigh in Tuesday - in the race for the party's 2012 nomination. Though only about 60,000 Republicans are expected to turn out in a state of 3.7 million voters, the political world will be watching closely. Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich all have campaigned in the state recently.

LOS ANGELES - As campaign stops for Republican presidential candidates go, the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in downtown Los Angeles seemed like a strange choice. There was reggae music booming from big speakers, lapel pins shaped like marijuana leaves, and a speech by California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the liberal former mayor of San Francisco who is famous for granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Yet there Gary Johnson stood last month, drawing cheers from a crowd of drug decriminalization activists.

TODAY is United Nations Peace Day. President Obama is to address the U.N. General Assembly, which passed a resolution 30 years ago naming the observance. Mayor Nutter encourages citizens to observe Peace Day and its "message of nonviolence. " There are events throughout the city. Haven't heard anything from Gov. Corbett, but I'm pretty sure he likes peace, too. Nothing wrong with having a Peace Day, and, internationally, it's a day of cease-fire that allows relief agencies to deliver medical supplies to war-torn regions.

OUR OWN RICK Santorum's a hit in the initial test of 2012. What can it mean? Does it mean Pennsylvania's positioned to get its first White House resident since James Buchanan (1857-61), a regular on lists of worst presidents? Uh, no. It means that some lily-white Iowa evangelical farmers think that the problems of the country can be solved by outlawing abortion and gay marriage and bombing Islamic nations. It means that the heretofore-ignored Santorum gets a turn in the Mixmaster of presidential-campaign coverage.

By Lane Filler More and more, the search for a Republican presidential candidate resembles that of ladies looking for love in a singles bar on a Saturday night. You walk in buoyed by the excitement of the hunt, hoping this time you'll find the one. The first guy you spy is Mitt Romney, sitting at the bar and nursing his Shirley Temple like always. He tosses you a wave and you return it. Solid guy, Mitt. A little wormy, maybe, but respectful and polite. You wouldn't have to pretend your mom just got hit by a runaway snowmobile to make a quick exit from a dinner with him. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Ron Paul - and duck.

DES MOINES, Iowa - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wept Friday as he recalled his late mother's end-of-life illnesses, a moment of poignancy in a notably negative Republican presidential Iowa caucus campaign. "I do policy much easier than I do personal," Gingrich told an audience of women as he tried to regain his composure. The tears flowed as the former speaker was responding to questions about his mother from a pollster and longtime political ally. Gingrich's emotional moment came as his rivals engaged in traditional campaign tactics, and as polls suggested large numbers of Iowa Republicans could change their minds before caucuses Tuesday night provide the first test of the 2012 campaign.

The price for "pre-roll" political advertising — the short ads you have to watch before featured videos on Web news sites — has nearly doubled, to $45 to $50 per 1,000 online views, from about $25 six months ago, said Rick Masterson, cofounder of CampaignGrid L.L.C., the Fort Washington-based, Republican-oriented online advertising consultant. The new price is five times 2010 levels. Thank (or blame) the spread of Internet-by-smartphone, the social-media personal-data explosion, and especially the Supreme Court and its partisan Citizens United decision that eased campaign-spending limits, inflating political ads and rates.