Bachmann: God Sent the Hurricane, Earthquake...

Candidates make last-minute preparations

(NEWSER) - A day ahead of Iowa voting, three candidates are within two points of each other in the latest poll: Ron Paul is leading the field at 20%, while Mitt Romney follows at 19% and Rick Santorum boasts 18%, having jumped eight points since earlier this week, notes Public Policy Polling . That gives him the clear momentum; he's also got the highest favorability rating at 60%. Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich trails at 14%, ahead of Rick Perry with 10%, Michele Bachmann with 8%, and Jon Huntsman with 4%. More»

Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Santorum also missing from ballot

(NEWSER) - Experts don't believe Rick Perry's lawsuit to get on the Virginia Republican primary ballot will succeed, but that didn't stop four other candidates from jumping on the bandwagon. Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Santorum joined the suit, which claims Virginia's ballot laws are unconstitutional , yesterday. Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul successfully got themselves on the state's ballot, CNN notes. Virginia's Republican primary is part of Super Tuesday, held on March 6. More»

Says Kent Sorenson told her money was involved

(NEWSER) - Michelle Bachmann may be down in the polls , but she's certainly not backing down. The GOP candidate yesterday continued to insist that her Iowa campaign chair defected to Ron Paul's camp because he was bribed to do so, reports Bloomberg . Kent Sorenson "told me that he was offered money, he was offered a lot of money by the Ron Paul campaign,” Bachmann said. "No one else knows about that conversation other than Kent Sorenson and myself." Sorenson continues to maintain that he "was never offered money from the Ron Paul campaign or anyone associated with them and certainly would never accept any." More»

And more from the Sunday talk shows

(NEWSER) - Rick Perry today weighed in on last night's big debate moment— the $10,000 bet . "I was taken a little aback" by Mitt Romney's wager, Perry said on Fox News Sunday, Politico reports. "Driving out to the station this morning I'm pretty sure I didn’t drive by a house that anyone in Iowa would think a $10,000 bet was possible. It was a little out of touch with the normal Iowa citizen." (Perry also addressed a recent gaffe of his own , explaining , "I don’t have memorized all of the Supreme Court judges," but added that Americans "aren’t looking for a robot that can spit out the name of every Supreme Court justice … They're looking for somebody who's got values.") More»

And he's not the only one who thinks so

(NEWSER) - The saga continues: Donald Trump thinks Jon Huntsman is a "joke candidate." Huntsman thinks Trump's debate "is a joke." More from the candidate's comments, made today, plus other reactions to the controversial Dec. 27 debate:

• Huntsman: "This is not about ratings for Donald Trump, this is about jobs for the American people. This is a serious debate that we ought to be having here in the United States," he said on NBC's Today . "I believe that the presidency of the United States of America is beyond reality shows. This is a joke."
• Robert Gibbs: “Cancel Christmas. Just get ready for the Donald Trump debate," said the former White House spokesperson on Morning Joe, according to Politico . "Pay-per-view. Pay-per-view. We ought to have this, the new rule, I think you’ve heard, you have to have your birth certificate to participate in the debate. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel."