Iowa still wide open for GOP hopefuls

With just over two weeks until Iowa voters pick the first winner in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination, there is suddenly no clear front-runner and the Jan. 3 caucuses are anyone's to win.

"We're now in the final, critical pre-voting period when voters give the race a new look - and that means the kaleidoscope could shift significantly," said pollster Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus Research Group. "Expect the next couple of weeks to be volatile, with top tier candidates struggling to hold what they have and a bottom tier candidate or two beginning to punch through. That's what happened in the 2008 Republican presidential race and the 2004 Democratic race."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's recent surge in support is holding steady in national polls but receding in Iowa, where he was targeted by Rep. Ron Paul in TV ads that question Gingrich's conservatism. Gingrich also took the brunt of the attacks at last week's Republican debate, the final one before the Iowa caucuses.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has also attacked the former speaker, dispatching surrogates to question Gingrich's ability to lead the country. Last week, Romney called Gingrich "zany."

The attacks are taking a toll.

Iowa polls show that Gingrich's support has dropped off somewhat recently with a Rasmussen survey showing Gingrich in a statistical tie with Romney and Paul, who is perhaps the best organized of all the candidates in Iowa.

Gingrich's slide in Iowa has sparked new hope for Romney, the on-again-off-again front-runner whose fortunes rose and fell over the last several months as other contenders surged and then crashed in the polls. Romney stepped up campaigning in Iowa over the past two weeks hoping a strong showing here will propel him into New Hampshire, where he has spent most of his time. ...

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