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    January 01, 2012

Romney Leads Iowa Poll 2 Days Before Caucus

   VOA News
   Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
   Romney speaks during a town hall meeting, in Sioux City, Iowa, December
   31, 2011. Photo: AP
   Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
   Romney speaks during a town hall meeting, in Sioux City, Iowa, December
   31, 2011.

   Mitt Romney is the Republican Party front-runner in Iowa in the final
   days before the first voting leading up to the 2012 U.S. presidential
   election, leading Ron Paul by two points.
   The Des Moines Register poll out Saturday gave the former Massachusetts
   governor 24 percent support to 22 percent for libertarian U.S.
   Representative Paul. Social conservative Rick Santorum surged into
   third place with 15 percent and Newt Gingrich was fourth with 12
   percent.

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   Ron Paul, December 29, 2011.

   Texas Governor Rick Perry was behind Gingrich with 11 percent, while
   Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who won Iowa's August straw
   poll, sagged to 7 percent.
   The candidates crisscrossed Iowa Saturday to boost support and sway
   undecided voters.
   While the winner of the Iowa caucus may not go on to win a party
   nomination, or the presidency, a poor showing in the state may force
   some candidates to drop out of the race.
   University of Iowa political science professor Timothy Hagle tells VOA
   that Romney's staying power trumps that of other candidates.
   "Quite frankly, Romney is prepared for the long haul, unlike some of
   the other candidates, and so if these other candidates, whether its
   Gingrich or Santorum or any of the others, if they don't get a
   sufficient bounce coming out of Iowa and New Hampshire, they won't get
   the fundraising bump that they need to be able to go longer into the
   Super Tuesday states," said Hagle.
   Jon Huntsman, who was President Barack Obama's ambassador to China, is
   focusing his campaign on New Hampshire, the second state scheduled to
   vote on a nominee. That northeastern state holds its primary January
   10.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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