Two down-four to go after Iowa

The Iowa caucuses have now claimed a second candidate with Michele Bachmann announcing in the past hour that she is suspending her campaign.

Bachmann finished bottom of the pile earlier today winning just five per cent of the vote and joins Texan governor Rick Perry in taking a sabbatical from the race.

So just four candidates now head to New Hampshire with Mitt Romney seemingly the favourite.

She told a room of supporters and reporters in Iowa that "I have decided to stand aside," she told a room of supporters and reporters in Iowa.

 She added that she leaves the race knowing the campaign was run "with integrity." and that the country needs to "stand united behind the person our party chooses to be the standard bearer."

Iowa and your twitter stream-some thoughts

I have had a bit of twitter conversation with two colleagues this morning about how their twitter stream was filled with reports from the Iowa Caucuses overnight and this morning.

The conversation centred around how relevant is was at such an early stage and how we in the UK were going to have put up with 10 more months of it.

My reply was firstly that it was relevant even it this early stage as Iowa set the stalls up for the rest of the campaign.

They are not a great bunch of candidates but one could be the effective leader of the Western world in less than a year,so it is important

One candidate Rick Perry have effectively thrown the towel in,another Michele Bachmann seems doomed and Newt Gingrich,whilst pressing on to New Hampshire has been given a bloody nose.

Yes,let's put into perspective.Only 120,000 voters in one of the smallest states,yet it seems that Mitt Romney,the narrow winner,who is likely later today to get the endorsement of 2008 candidateSenator John McCain,has set his flag firmly in the ground.

Runner up Rick Santorum,who probably until now few have heard of has announced to the world that he has his sights firmly set on the White House and Ron Paul,who I am afraid makes me think of the alien Paul in last years hit Sci Fi movie will continue to battle.

But back to that twitter conversation.It might well be that we have to look at our twitter stream to decide whether to carry on following individuals who keep us up to date with every single sneeze that comes out of the campaign.

 We can to a certain extent do that with lists(I rarely unfollow people) but as I pointed out,it is no worse than when twitter gets taken over by people who you would regard as sensible,bleating about X factor,Dragon's Den and Masterchef.

hat,I am afraid is the social media world that we live in,but remember,if you don't like it, it's only a click away from leaving

Another one bites the dust as Cain throws in the hat

American's who are looking for a serious candidate to challenge Barack Obama next year must be getting rather worried as another Republican contender after a series of gaffes falls on his sword.

Former Pizza man Herman Cain who has been dogged by allegations of sexual malpractice and was caught out badly after being uncertain as to President policy towards Libya has decided to take a break.

Mr Cain says the Telegraph, was by turns defiant and emotional as he announced his decision.
"I am proof that a common man could lead this nation," he said, his lip trembling "I consider myself to be one of you, not one of the political elites."

In case you have lost count of exactly who is left in this contest.most analysts at the moment have former Congressional leader and scourge of Bill Clinton Newt Gingrich as being the favourite,although his past sexual indiscretions may well come back to haunt him before the campaign gets under way for real after Xmas.

Still in the race is that safe pair of hands,Mitt Romney who appears to be the candidate that nobody wants but who has a clean track record,apart from the fact that he is a Mormon.

With Texas governor Rick Perry dead in the water after his own contributions to gaffe gate,it appears that when the Iowa caucuses get underway in January it is going to be straight fight between Romney and Gingrich who has in recent weeks come from nowhere.

Gaffes galore on the road to the Republican nomination

It is at least to me rather worrying that America's Republican candidates a) appear so gaffe prone and b)have rather a superficial grasp of the world.

The latest to pin his colours to the mask is former pizza executive Herman Cain,already dogged by allegations of sexual malpractice who last night seemed uncertain as to President Obama's policy towards Libya.

Asked whether he agreed with President Obama’s handling of the Libya crisis, Cain appeared dumbstruck by the question. After 19 seconds of consideration, he asked: “President Obama supported the uprising, correct?”

He is not alone.At the weekend Rick Perry whose ratings in the primaries are dropping like a stone.

During the debate he could not remember which government agencies he would abolish. His response to the question was “I would do away with the Education, the Commerce and — let’s see — I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” The third agency was Energy.

Perry is promising to relaunch his campaign today with a major policy announcement.

Cain,meanwhile is facing further fallout from the allegations of sexual harassment as a former boyfriend of one of his accusers,Dr. Victor Zuckerman, a pediatrician who said he was a registered Republican, described at a news conference how Ms. Bialek related details of the encounter after it occurred in 1997.

Herman sings the blues

Thanks to Guido who have noticed that American Republican hopeful Herman Cain has taken to song to refute the latest allegations against him.

My turn for controversy-Latest Republican frontruner Cain hit by scandal

I haven't looked at what has been happening over the Atlantic in the race to become next year's Republican candidate for President.

Controversy it seems follows these candidates around and the latest to suffer is Herman Cain who was up to the weekend becoming a serious contender against Mitt Romney and Rick Perry

Cain,former Godfather's Pizza boss,was twice accused of sexual harassment while he was the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

The report which appeared yesterday in Politico and from anonymous sourced claimed the women signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them five-figure financial payouts to leave the association and barred them from discussing their departures.

Cain has refuted the allegations saying they were not true, and amounted to unfair attacks.

It will be a blow to Cain for he's been steadily at or near the top of national surveys and polls in early presidential nominating states, competitive with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as Perry's support has been dwindling and reports this morning suggest that the two are almost neck and neck in the early voting state of Iowa .

Palin finally makes up her mind

Yesterday this blog reported on one withdrawal from the Republican race for Presidential nominee.

This morning another one.

Yes star and hero of the Tea Party and vice presedential candidate in 2008,Sarah Palin will not be standing.

After months of specualation which included a road trip across the country to assess the mood,Palin announced in an interview with conservative talk radio host Mark Levin last night that she would not be running.

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for president of the United States.

It now seems clear that the nomination will be a two horse race between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.