With the next President of the United States set to be chosen on November 6 this year, Susan Lechelt takes a look at the potential Republican nominees who hope to stand against current President Barack Obama.

Every four years, presidential hopefuls battle for the chance to become the next Commander-in-chief of arguably the most powerful country in the world. Four men currently stand in the frame to take on Barack Obama in the next American general elections later this year: Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

After the recent national recession, polls and a plethora of protests – including the Occupy Wall Street movement—have shown that the American public is becoming increasingly unsettled with the current state of the government.

This general discontentment, paired with Democratic President Barack Obama’s decision to run for re-election, has provided a series of particularly lively Republican presidential campaigns.

Though there are many political parties in the USA, the Democratic and Republican parties all but monopolise the American political system.

Democrats win votes based on socially and fiscally liberal policies, and are traditionally supported by youth, women and ethnic minorities.

On the opposing side, Republicans describe themselves as activists for a monetarily small government, and are social conservatives, classically endorsing pro-life policy and rejecting same-sex marriage. The party draws its voter base notably from the business community, military employees, Christians and older citizens.

To pick a candidate for the November presidential election, the majority of the states hold simple primary elections. Others, like Iowa, hold caucuses, at which members listen to speeches by the representatives of the candidates before casting their votes.

The primaries and caucuses run from January until June, after which, parties gather at their respective National Conventions to officially pick their candidate and decide on a campaign platform.

The period of the primaries, held from January to March, is particularly important because initial wins can give strong momentum to a candidate and heavily influence the ultimate outcome of their campaign. In the past two months, the Republican candidate pool has narrowed significantly; Herman Cain ended his campaign after charges of extramarital affairs and sexual misconduct with an employee of his pizza business, and Michele Bachmann also left after finishing last in the Iowa caucus.

The beginning of the primaries brought about a strong trend toward party unity within the Republican party, with two candidates - Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry - recently also ending their presidential campaigns in order to support other candidates; Romney and Gingrich, respectively.

All the Republican candidates have pledged not to raise taxes, agree on the idea of a flat tax, and want to lower or eliminate capital gains tax. The party as a whole attempts to portray Obama’s regulations on business and new environmental restrictions as harmful to the private sector, and all candidates have endorsed a hands-off approach to private business. A main area of debate between the candidates is the future of America’s relations with other nations. Gingrich and Santorum are critical of Obama’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and neither have eliminated the prospect of military action in Iran.

Romney has not shown disapproval of the withdrawals, but has not taken a strong position either way. Like Gingrich and Santorum, he believes that intervention in Iran will be necessary if the country refuses to stop work on nuclear weapons.

Ron Paul strongly disagrees with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as with intervention with Iran and Israel, which sets him apart from fellow candidates.

Unlike other Republicans, who are fiscally conservative but impose social regulations, Paul believes in an all-around small government, emphasising personal liberty in all aspects of life. As this is traditionally a view of more liberally minded Americans, a large proportion of Republican voters lean toward the more conservative candidates.

However, Paul is widely supported by the under-30 demographic, as well as some of the supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who have become disenchanted with the corruption of the current bipartisan system.

Romney accounts himself as a moderate Republican - he does not seem to have particularly strong stances on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and has in the past voted for state-mandated healthcare - which may both win and cost him votes.

Santorum and Gingrich have been described as more conservative choices, and are currently battling to attract the demographic at odds with Romney.

Thus far, Romney has won the primary in New Hampshire with roughly 39% of the vote, with Paul in second with 21%. The Iowa caucus ended with some confusion; Romney was proclaimed the winner by just 8 votes, but after inaccuracies in voting districts were explored, Santorum took the lead by a still slender 34 votes. Both Romney and Santorum have proclaimed that the caucus was a virtual tie. Paul came in third, followed by Gingrich in fourth.

Though Romney currently appears to be the frontrunner, his refusal to release tax returns of his $270 million fortune have displeased the public. Recent speculators have asserted that Romney may be keeping up to $33 million in assets off-shore to save it from taxes. Romney has agreed to release tax returns in April, but these allegations, juxtaposed to the USA’s distressed economic state, may cause irreparable harm in his campaign.

Santorum and Gingrich have both had to battle problems with unwanted publicity threatening their campaigns.

When Santorum remarked that homosexuals should be regulated like child molesters and polygamists, a gay activist held a contest to define the candidate’s surname. The winning definition for “Santorum” - the byproduct of anal sex - is now the first result that appears when one searches for the candidate’s name on Google. This “Google Problem,” as Santorum has called it, has turned off a large proportion of more socially liberal voters.

Gingrich recently faced a flood of negative press after one of his two ex-wives claimed that Gingrich approached her asking for an open marriage to continue an extramarital affair. At the last debate before the South Carolina primary, Gingrich refused to respond to questions about these allegations, and the four candidates argued in what the New York Times described as “intensely personal verbal combat.”