Bush Doing Whatever It Takes to Stay Relevant  —  Jeb Bush's supporters have spent $15 million on slickly produced ads to win over Iowa voters.  Barely registering in the polls and increasingly desperate in the shadow of the Iowa caucuses, he's now trying a cost-free, personal tactic: hugs.

Franklin Pierce-Herald Poll: Rivals need Iowa win to catch Trump, Sanders in N.H.  —  GOP presidential challengers Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Democrat Hillary Clinton desperately need breakthroughs in Iowa tomorrow to overcome expanding leads held by Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire …

Iowa poll reveals a line of attack that could sink Trump  —  DES MOINES — The final poll ahead of Monday's caucuses showed Donald Trump rallying to a five-point lead over Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with two days to go before voting, but it also revealed a line of attack that could sink Trump.

Fox host shreds Ted Cruz over Obamacare falsehoods: ‘More people have jobs and health insurance’  —  DON'T MISS STORIES.  FOLLOW RAW STORY!  —  Fox News host Chris Wallace cornered Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Sunday about his claim that President Barack Obama's health care reform law had cost jobs.

Ted Cruz's Iowa Mailers Are More Fraudulent Than Everyone Thinks  —  Ted Cruz's Presidential campaign prides itself on being data-centric and on integrating insights from political science into its tactics.  In 2008, academics at Yale published an influential paper showing …

Microsoft on the hot seat in Iowa  —  Microsoft volunteered to provide the technology to help tally up the results of Iowa's caucus, free of charge.  Now it will be put to the test Monday night.  —  The contests in both parties are expected to go down to the wire.

How Clinton is plotting to go after Trump  —  DES MOINES — It's tunnel-vision time for Hillary Clinton as she battles Bernie Sanders here — but she's casting some serious side-eye in Donald Trump's direction.  —  After months of laughing off Trump — and assuming his ascent would propel …

This is the atheist capital of America  —  If you don't believe in God, you might want to move to the Pacific Northwest.  —  Portland, Ore., is No. 1 on the list of metropolitan areas with the most religiously unaffiliated residents (42%), according to the nonpartisan and nonprofit Public …

How Trump Did It  —  What they heard as they ate deli sandwiches around Donald Trump's hulking, wooden conference table sounded like the businessman's typical bravado.  These 25 New York political operatives had come to ask him to run for governor.  But Trump had another plan—a very specific plan—to run for president.

Don't Shoot the Messenger, Israel  —  United Nations — IN Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, 2016 has begun much as 2015 ended — with unacceptable levels of violence and a polarized public discourse.  That polarization showed itself in the halls of the United Nations last week …

Wind, Sun and Fire  —  So what's really at stake in this year's election?  Well, among other things, the fate of the planet.  —  Last year was the hottest on record, by a wide margin, which should — but won't — put an end to climate deniers' claims that global warming has stopped.