Join AEI's Election Watch team for a reflection on past races and a look ahead at what's to come.

Amid the pre-Jan. 3 buzz, it's worth remembering that Republicans in most states, for better or worse, haven't been doing much in the way of following Iowa's lead in selecting a GOP presidential nominee.

While many of the GOP candidates are pundit-candidates and overexposed, all of them are united on core economic and policy issues, and to make Obama a one-term president.

In just a few days’ time, Gingrich has managed has to do something Romney has tried and failed to do for more than five years: rally conservatives behind Mitt Romney.

Early opinion polls show President Obama essentially tied with three reasonably well-known Republicans.

If Romney can’t defend free-market capitalism against Gingrich, how will he be able to defend it in the fall against Obama?

The presidential nomination process remains the weakest part of our political system. It's too lengthy, its rules are too capricious and giving eternal first dibs to Iowa and New Hampshire is intellectually indefensible.

At the recent GOP debate in Iowa, Gingrich defended his pro-life record, declaring, “I believe that life begins at conception” and stating that embryos at fertility clinics “should be considered life because by definition they’ve been conceived. I am against any kind of experimentation on embryos. And I think my position on life has been very clear and very consistent.” No, it hasn't.