Iowa

So, uh, George Packer at The New Yorker wants to give Republicans a piece of his mind:

The first Gallup poll released in the New Year — covering the period from December 26 through January 2 — shows Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich practically tied with 24 and 23 percent support, respectively, among registered Republican and Republican-leaning voters.

As voters get their first formal chance to weigh in on the Republican presidential nomination process, here are five questions that will be answered during tonight’s Iowa caucuses:

At 9:55 a.m. Tuesday morning, this Jake Tapper tweet came sailing across the ether: “Near the breakfast buffet, Senator Rand Paul chatting with Bill Kristol.”

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich lowered the boom on Mitt Romney in an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. Gingrich criticized his GOP rival as a "Massachusetts moderate" while touting himself as a "Southern conservative." Asked if he ought to be responding more aggressively to attacks from Romney and the other Republican candidates, Gingrich said he would need to fight back, as some aides have reportedly been urging him to do.

Des Moines, Iowa
As I checked in to my hotel here tonight, the first person I ran into in the lobby was Rick Santorum. Accompanied by his family, he (and they) seemed in a good mood—which was made even better when I told him I wasn't going to write a post predicting his victory, because it would just jinx him. He heaved a sigh of relief, and laughingly urged me to confidently proclaim Mitt Romney the winner.

Perry, Iowa
Bill Yewell had no idea he was so powerful. Yewell, a Rick Santorum supporter from Odgen, Iowa, conducted his own, personal phone bank on behalf of the candidate.

With Newt Gingrich now coming in fourth in Iowa polls, the former speaker of the House is playing down expectations before tomorrow's caucuses. "I don't think I'm going to win," Gingrich reportedly told the press.

A new survey of Iowa Republicans from GOP firm InsiderAdvantage shows a close, tough race the day before the Iowa caucuses.

It’s likely that no candidate will win so much as 30 percent of the votes cast in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses. Yet you can bet that the press corps will crown as the big winner the candidate who gets perhaps one-quarter of the votes of caucus-goers in a state that’s half the size of the average state. Meanwhile, those who get one-sixth, or one-seventh, or one-eighth, of that same vote, will be labeled as losers who might want to think about dropping out of the national race.  This, of course, is foolishness.

PPP polled likely Iowa GOP caucus voters on Saturday and Sunday and found that the race is "headed for a photo finish":

Ron Paul is at 20%, Mitt Romney at 19%, and Rick Santorum at 18%. Rounding out the field are Newt Gingrich at 14%, Rick Perry at 10%, Michele Bachmann at 8%, Jon Huntsman at 4%, and Buddy Roemer at 2%.

Rick Santorum, the Republican presidential candidate who's turned Iowa into a surprising three-way race, sat down on Meet the Press with David Gregory this morning. You can watch it here: