Cain, Romney, and (shudder) Paul lead in Iowa
But the real story may be that Mitt Romney is running a reasonably close second in a state whose Republicans and Democrats each tend to congregate around the zany ends of the spectrum.
The poll gives Cain 28%, to Romney's 21%, Ron Paul's 10%, Newt Gingrich's 9%, Michele Bachmann's 8%, Rick Perry's 7%, Rick Santorum's 4%, Jon Huntsman 2%. "Somebody else" gets 4%, and "not sure" gets 8%.
Huntsman is not contesting Iowa.The results for Bachmann- who won the Ames Straw Poll in August- and for Perry- who recently led the pack in Iowa- are ominous. Bachmann is a native Iowan, and her campaign almost certainly could not survive a finish below the top three in her native state. Perry, whose campaign is reeling nationally, would also find such a poor finish in Iowa a difficult blow from which to recover.
Only a third of respondents say that they are sure that they won't change their minds, however.
Among those "certain" to caucus Cain 's lead over Romney grows to 31% to 18%. This could be crucial, because Cain has no organization here in Iowa to speak of- and organization can be a major factor in getting supporters to devote an entire cold, winter's evening to the caucus.
HT: Drudge
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