Barack Obama

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is making efforts to salvage his campaign as he seeks to strike a chord with evangelicals in South Carolina after a disappointing fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

“When you find that peace from God, you stop worrying about what the critics say,” Texas Gov. Perry told a gathering at the landmark Beacon Drive-In in Spartenburg, S.C., Sunday. “I got all the people that love me that I need – her, Jesus and my family,” he added, referring to his wife, Anita.

More than 60 percent of the Republicans in South Carolina are evangelicals, and Perry hopes to gain from it. “My family didn’t look to the government to have all of the answers,” Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying. “We prayed to our creator, and we looked to one another.” more >>

Critics accused Barack Obama on Thursday of abusing his position as president by circumventing the Senate to appoint new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Richard Cordray and three others.

Obama appointed the four agency officials to the CFPB and National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday despite the fact that the U.S. Senate blocked Cordray’s nomination and had not interviewed two of the other three appointees. The administration approved the officials through “recess” appointments – appointments only made while the Senate, the congressional body mandated by the U.S. Constitution to confirm the most senior federal officials, are away on recess or leave.

Obama explained his decision saying, “I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate put party ideology ahead of the people we’re elected to serve.” more >>

A scorecard developed by the Secular Coalition for America has created debate over whether candidates should be allowed religious views or forced to follow a secular constitution.

The scorecard is a review by the coalition based on candidates’ stances on religious based issues. It was developed to help secular and nontheistic Americans to elect a candidate who would support their views. However, most presidential candidates received failing marks for mentioning their religious beliefs.

President Barack Obama was voted to have the most “secular stance,” but still only received average scores. Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum scored all but one “F” on the scorecard. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul also fell somewhere in between with mixed scoring, but few A’s. more >>

For the time being, the GOP primary race appears to be down to two candidates: Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. With the repeal of President Obama’s health care overhaul on the minds of many conservative voters, it’s important to look at where both candidates stand on the issue, where they have possibly fumbled on the issue in the past, and what they hope to achieve with it in the future.

A current poll by Real Clear Politics reveals that 49.4 percent of Americans oppose the health care plan while only 37.2 percent support it.

Santorum more >>

Some predictions are rather safe to make. 2012 is almost certain to be a determinative year on the issue of same-sex marriage. Multiple courts appear poised to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] and, even more urgently, the appeal on California’s Proposition 8 at the Ninth Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals will set up a certain appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Given the facts of this case and the significance of the nation’s most populous state, the Supreme Court is almost certain to take the case. This sets the stage for the courts to make some determinative statement on same-sex marriage within the next several months - a decision that will go a long way toward setting the direction of the larger culture.

At the same time, the same-sex marriage issue will play a part in the 2012 presidential campaign. The reason for this is quite simple. The issue of same-sex marriage is about far more than marriage as a legal institution and about more than sexuality and personal autonomy. It is the great inescapable issue, and we will know in fairly short order what all the candidates believe about the issue.

Then again, maybe not. more >>

Sen. John McCain’s expected endorsement of Mitt Romney may prove to be the kiss of death for conservatives who believe the former GOP nominee is a middle-of-the-road Republican and who fault his campaign leadership for Barack Obama’s 2008 win.

GOP presidential candidate Romney praised the prospect of a McCain endorsement. He told Fox News, “John McCain of course is beloved in many parts of the country, particularly New Hampshire. Some call him Mr. New Hampshire. So if, in fact, he makes an announcement today that would be big for me in a state he knows very, very well."

News website BuzzFeed first reported the possibility of a McCain endorsement. The news comes just after his win in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night. He beat Rick Santorum by eight votes. more >>