In Rural USA, Republicans Win with Guns, Abortion
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Farmer Kathleen Vinehout knows why guns and abortion, favored Republican Party themes, trump the economy or health care at election time in a swathe of states stretching from Texas to the Canadian border.
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney narrowly won a Republican presidential straw poll of Christian conservatives on Saturday, while Rudy Giuliani persuaded few to look past his support of abortion rights.
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt  Romney won the Wyoming Republican presidential caucus on  Saturday, taking seven of the state's 12 delegates with nearly  all precincts reporting, according to a state party official.
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Republicans are finding that a hard-line stance on immigration resonates with a wide swath of voters.
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IN THE HEADLINES ... Republicans scramble in South Carolina after three big races with three different winners ... Romney's Michigan GOP presidential win helped by party, Bush loyalists.
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Security and family values are fertile issues in the farmlands of Pennsylvania, and ones that Republicans hope will swing this key state, and maybe the White House, for President George W. Bush.
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Bob Elderkin's vote would appear to be a sure bet for President Bush on Nov. 2. He is a hunter, part of a conservative-leaning group of outdoorsmen that is 38 million strong and avidly supports gun rights.
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With its battle to kill the  decade-long U.S. ban on assault weapons won, the National Rifle  Association is now setting its sights on the Nov. 2  presidential and congressional elections.
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Republicans narrowed the gap in party allegiance among registered voters during the past election year.
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The winners are claiming their postelection trophies quickly in Congress. Emboldened conservatives are working to box in an abortion-rights Republican who will chair a key committee chairmanship, while a grateful House GOP decides that not even an indictment should automatically strip Majority Leader Tom DeLay of his power.
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Description: Sen. John Kerry takes a campaign trip into rural Ohio. There, Kerry stressed economic issues in the traditionally Republican territory.
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COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 16 -- The three Republicans who have won early-state contests have succeeded in an atmosphere of hyperlocal politics, using personal charisma and energetic retail campaigning to appeal to narrow constituencies.
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The war in Iraq; jobs and the economy; terrorism. For voters nationwide, those issues seem sure to determine the outcome on Election Day. But in several critical swing states, the conservative push to amend state constitutions and ban gay marriage is giving delegates and party officials a way to lure a group of voters &#151; especially traditional churchgoers &#151; who could tip these states to President Bush.
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The last time a Republican presidential candidate won Minnesota was in 1972, with the nation at war in Vietnam and incumbent Richard Nixon seeking a second term. President Bush hopes to end the 32-year drought by increasing turnout among Republicans in the farther suburbs and rural areas of Minnesota.
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RepublicansÃ¢ÂÂ hopes for expanding their foothold in the Democratic stronghold of West Virginia rest on two successes earlier this decade: George W. Bush carried the state and its five electoral votes for the GOP in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, and Republican Shelley Moore Capito won four House races beginning in 2000 and running through a 2006 campaign year that was terrible for her party nationally.
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Faith, family and freedom were catchwords Friday, as Republican 2008 presidential hopefuls appealed to Ã¢ÂÂvalues votersÃ¢ÂÂ at a convention in Washington, D.C. The event Ã¢ÂÂ organized by the Family Research Council, an organization of religious conservative activists Ã¢ÂÂ will continue into Saturday and conclude with a straw poll of attendees that is being watched as an indicator of voting sentiment among the conservative evangelical constituency.
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Mitt Romneyâs victory means that three very different states have embraced three candidates.