Iowa voters guide: GOP contenders make last push

Iowa voters guide: GOP contenders make last push. The day before the Iowa caucuses, three Republican U.S. presidential hopefuls were clustered at the top, a Public Policy Polling survey indicated.

Front-runners spent the weekend and Monday crisscrossing the state, trying to pick up support among voters before Tuesday's precinct caucuses.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul led with 20 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 19 percent and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 18 percent, PPP results released Sunday indicated.

Rounding out the field were former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 14 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 10 percent, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota at 8 percent, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman at 4 percent, and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer at 2 percent.

Public Policy Polling said Santorum has moved up 8 percentage points since a PPP poll earlier last week, and that no other candidate had a 1 percentage point gain in support.

Results are based on a telephone survey of 1,340 likely Republican Iowa caucus voters conducted Saturday and Sunday. The margin of error is 2.7 percentage points.

Santorum has spent about 100 days in Iowa, including Sunday when he swiped at his Republican opponents and President Obama, The Hill reported.

"If President Obama has four years where he is not looking to re-election, his foreign policy will not be any different to Ron Paul's foreign policy," Santorum said during one stop.

Santorum's supporters say they believe their candidate has a strong chance of winning the state.

"You are seeing a new candidate, a new Rick Santorum, who is so energized," Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz told The Hill Sunday. "I think a win or a close second-place finish will just continue that momentum."

Romney, the front-runner both nationally and in many recent polls of the state, maintained a more relaxed schedule in Iowa, focusing on Obama rather than attacking his GOP rivals. He indicated that, while he'd like to win in Iowa, he wasn't worried about losing to Paul or Santorum, The Hill said.

Paul spent New Year's weekend in Texas. Campaign officials said he and his son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, had five stops planned in Iowa Monday.

How they are polling:

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Mitt Romney?

Iowa Polling Average: 21.8 percent?

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Ron Paul?

Iowa Polling Average: 20.7 percent?

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Rick Santorum?

Iowa Polling Average: 15.5 percent?

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Newt Gingrich?

Iowa Polling Average: 13.8 percent?

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Rick Perry?

Iowa Polling Average: 11.7 percent?

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Michele Bachmann

Iowa Polling Average: 7.8 percent?

It is fitting that the first contest of the 2012 presidential election is up for grabs. (c) tPC (c) UPI

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5692255694&f=378

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