Republican favourite to challenge for the US Presidency, Mitt Romney, stood alone today at the top of the field of candidates in this week’s primary balloting in South Carolina, where three of his more conservative challengers are splitting evangelical and social conservative voters.

Jon Huntsman, the former ambassador to China whose presidential campaign never connected with Republican primary voters, will withdraw today from the race for the nomination, his campaign manager said.

TORN between reality and their political dreams, leading conservatives are defending Mitt Romney against attacks on his work in the private sector even as they search for a more palatable candidate amid a growing sense that his nomination looks certain.

Mitt Romney began a 10-day quest for victory in the South Carolina Republican presidential contest, where a win could all but ensure that he will be his party’s choice to run against President Barack Obama.

REPUBLICAN presidential contenders brought buckets of cash and sharp rhetoric to South Carolina yesterday for an intense 10-day battle that may determine whether any candidate can stop Mitt Romney’s march to the party’s nomination.

THE Republican presidential candidates who are not Mitt Romney brought along modest hopes on their smiling, hand-shaking visits to New Hampshire’s polling places yesterday — just let me come in third place or so, most said, and survive to challenge the front-runner again in South Carolina and Florida.

Voters in the tiny New Hampshire village famed for casting the first ballots in the nation's first presidential primary have found themselves in a tie between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

NEWT GINGRICH challenged frontrunner Mitt Romney to account for his record as a corporate takeover artist as Republican presidential hopefuls hustled through a final day of campaigning for the New Hampshire primary, a pivotal test for the rivals bidding to derail the former Massachusetts governor.

REPUBLICAN favourite Mitt Romney emerged from back-to-back debates in New Hampshire a bit dinged but not seriously dented yesterday, as rivals stepped up attacks to slow his march toward the presidential nomination.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has come under sharp criticism from rival presidential hopefuls during a face-off hours after he largely brushed aside their criticism in the opening round of back-to-back debates just days before the New Hampshire primary.

REPUBLICAN rivals of presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney have urged the party faithful to nominate somebody with a greater chance of opposing President Barack Obama.

REPUBLICAN presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum looked past each other to run down President Barack Obama’s economic policies, as they jockeyed for support in New Hampshire and reached out to voters in conservative bellwether South Carolina.

Rick Santorum is poised to establish himself as the top conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, a day after jolting the Republican US presidential race by coming within eight votes of winning the Iowa caucuses.

Mitt Romney was locked in a dead heat with Rick Santorum today in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, the opening contest in the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.

REPUBLICAN presidential hopefuls Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann have both said they would reinstate waterboarding during interrogations of suspected terrorists, while rivals Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman both say they see the procedure as torture.

Republican presidential hopefuls Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann have both said they would reinstate waterboarding during interrogations of suspected terrorists, while rivals Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman both say they see the procedure as torture.

Republican presidential contenders turned the heat on the two frontrunners in a debate, attacking businessman Herman Cain’s economic plan as a tax increase and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney over his health care law.

QUICK to tangle, Republican presidential rivals Rick Perry and Mitt Romney sparred vigorously over job creation and social security in a feisty campaign debate that marked a contentious new turn in the race to pick a 2012 challenger to President Barack Obama.

Republican presidential rivals Rick Perry and Mitt Romney tangled over their records on creating jobs in a campaign debate that marked a contentious new turn in the race to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama next year.

Minnesota rivals Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann have sparred bitterly in a Republican presidential debate, trying to stand out ahead of an Iowa test vote with huge consequences.

FORMER Utah governor Jon Huntsman has joined the Republican presidential contest, pledging to run a civil campaign and claiming that he and President Barack Obama both love the US but have different visions of its future.

Another Republican has formally entered the race for the US presidential nomination, just months after stepping down as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to China.

DESPITE a spate of discouraging economic reports, US President Barack Obama insisted yesterday he is not afraid of the country slipping into a double-dip recession. But at the same time he displayed impatience, saying the pace of the recovery has “got to accelerate”.

THE list of Republicans hoping to unseat president Barack Obama next year grew longer yesterday when former senator Rick Santorum announced his intention to elbow his way into an increasingly crowded field of Pennsylvania Avenue aspirants.

Former US senator Rick Santorum has confirmed he is running for president, joining a crowded field of Republicans looking to challenge Barack Obama in next year’s election.

SARAH PALIN rumbled through Washington on a Harley as she and her family began an East Coast tour yesterday that renewed speculation that the former Alaska governor would join the Republican presidential nomination contest.

CHINA protested US president Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama in strong terms yesterday, saying it “seriously harms” bilateral relations and demanding the US take steps to improve ties.

Crews searching for any sign of six miners trapped for more than three weeks are “hoping a miracle could happen”, a US federal official told lawmakers.