DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Republican White House hopefuls scoured Iowa for undecided voters on Saturday and front-runner Mitt Romney ignored his rivals and focused on President Barack Obama three days before the first votes of the 2012 election campaign.

Iowa Republicans kick off the race on Tuesday to decide the party’s challenger against Obama, a Democrat, in November, with a tight pack battling for the lead and many voters still undecided.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Republican voters in Iowa open a long and grueling 2012 presidential race on Tuesday, with polls showing Mitt Romney battling Ron Paul for a momentum-generating win in the party’s kickoff nominating contest.

Four other contenders, led by surging Rick Santorum, are vying to consolidate conservative support and break into the top tier in the state-by-state fight to pick a Republican challenger to President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in November’s election.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – The long and sometimes quirky drama of electing a U.S. president, marked by obscure rules and long-held traditions, begins on Tuesday in more than 800 schools, libraries, churches and homes across Iowa.

Iowa’s caucuses, which bring voters together for hours to cast ballots in a public place on a winter night, are the first step in a state-by-state nominating race that ultimately will decide the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in the election on November 6, 2012.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Iowa’s moderate Republicans are a small and dispirited bunch, but they could provide a vital boost for Mitt Romney in the state’s tight kickoff presidential contest.

While the Republican White House contenders battle for the state’s big but badly split bloc of religious conservatives, Iowa’s moderates are a forgotten minority who have coalesced around the candidate they consider their only choice: Romney.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two prominent Iowa religious conservative leaders endorsed Republican Rick Santorum on Tuesday, bolstering his longshot presidential candidacy and dealing a blow to front-runner Newt Gingrich two weeks before the state’s kickoff nominating contest.

Bob Vander Plaats, head of the influential Christian group Family Leader and Iowa Family Policy Center head Chuck Hurley backed Santorum after the Family Leader’s board of directors was unable to reach agreement on a broader endorsement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, once the leader and presumed nominee, is back in front-runner mode.

Less than three weeks before Iowa kicks off the state-by-state Republican battle to find a challenger to President Barack Obama, polls show support for main rival Newt Gingrich may already be softening.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes in 2012 could be getting brighter as the bruising Republican nomination fight intensifies and the struggling U.S. economy shows signs of hope.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday found Obama dramatically expanding his advantage over Mitt Romney to 8 percentage points, up from a 1-point deficit in early November, and leading Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich by 13 points.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Surging frontrunner Newt Gingrich fought off heavy attacks in a presidential debate in Iowa on Saturday from Republican rivals who portrayed him as a Washington insider and questioned his judgment.

Gingrich, described by some critics as rash and petulant, kept his cool as his Republican rivals criticized him for making up to $1.6 million from housing giant Freddie Mac, for saying Palestinians were an “invented” people and for his troubled marital past.

DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Surging front-runner
Newt Gingrich came under heavy fire in a presidential debate in
Iowa on Saturday from Republican rivals who portrayed him as a
Washington insider who profited from his contacts at taxpayer
expense.

Hoping to halt his quick rise in the polls, the Republican
contenders led by Mitt Romney described Gingrich as a member of
the Washington establishment who took $1.6 million from housing
giant Freddie Mac .