It's an election but there are no campaign posters, no official candidates and even the people who might get voted in to the Vatican's top job protest they absolutely do not want it.

There are 12 battleground states that deserve close attention as Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney go head to head in Tuesday's historic election:

In Iowa, a rural state of outsized political importance, retired nurse Pauline McAreavy is among thousands eager to vote against President Barack Obama after four years of disappointment.

In Iowa, a rural state of outsized political importance, retired nurse Pauline McAreavy is among thousands eager to vote against President Barack Obama after four years of disappointment.

US President Barack Obama returned to Iowa to rekindle a romance with the fabled political swing state, but Republicans insist there is no mending a relationship that is on the rocks.

R. Clarke Cooper has called on Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich to repudiate NOM's marriage pledge. R. Clarke Cooper, the executive director of the gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans, has called on Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich to repudiate a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) each signed promising to work against gay marriage. The GOP presidential candidates signed the group's 5-point pledge last summer. In on op-ed published Tuesday by the Washington Times, Cooper criticized recent revelations that the group was working on a strategy to pit minorities against supporters of marriage equality. ?NOM put explicit plans to exploit racial divisions on paper,? Cooper wrote. ?'The strategy goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks.' Regarding immigrants, 'We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity.' NOM's ultimate agenda? 'Fanning the hostility' between L

Republicans could end up handing President Barack Obama a second term if they tap conservative darling Rick Santorum to be the party's White House contender, analysts say.

Republicans could end up handing President Barack Obama a second term if they tap conservative darling Rick Santorum to be the party's White House contender, analysts said.

A quarter of the money that has fuelled a bitter nomination battle among Republican White House hopefuls, from which no settled favorite has yet emerged, has come from just five super-rich Americans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rick Santorum might be about to feel what it was like to be Newt Gingrich in Florida.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Mitt Romney in a national poll on Monday, becoming the clear favorite of Tea Party voters and white evangelicals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Mitt Romney in a national poll on Monday, becoming the clear favorite of Tea Party voters and white evangelicals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has surged into a virtual tie in opinion polls with Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, setting up a tough fight in the party's primary in Michigan on Feb 28.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The policies of U.S. President Barack Obama and his potential Republican rivals differ, but when it comes to campaign trail fashion they could not be more alike with their style at the frontline of winning votes.

Republican Rick Santorum trained his sights Wednesday on rival Mitt Romney after his shock three-state vote sweep, pressing his case that he can take his underdog campaign all the way to the White House.

Religious conservative Rick Santorum's startling win in three Republican nominating contests has reignited his White House bid, raising fresh question marks over frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Christian conservative Rick Santorum's unexpected trio of state wins has reignited his White House bid and raised new question marks over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Christian conservative Rick Santorum reignited his White House bid, claiming an unexpected trio of state wins that raised new question marks over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Christian conservative Rick Santorum reignited his White House bid, claiming an unexpected trio of state wins that raised new question marks over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum reignited his White House bid with wins in Minnesota and Missouri that staked out his claim to be the main conservative alternative to frontrunner Mitt Romney.