"A Victory for America Rising"

Mike Allen reports:

THE NARRATIVE – Des Moines Register, taking up two-thirds of the front page, “AMAZING RACE: DUEL LONG SEEN AS DRAW HAS BECOME 6-POINT ERNST LEAD – Iowa Poll: Joni Ernst [R] 44% ... Bruce Braley [D] 38%,” by Jennifer Jacobs: “The ground under Bruce Braley has shifted. ... Ernst leads ... in a race that has for months been considered deadlocked. She leads nearly 4-1 with rural voters, and is up double digits with independents. ... Just seven months ago, political analysts considered Braley almost a shoo-in for a seat held for 30 years by liberal Democrat Tom Harkin. ...

“[T]he 6-point deficit isn't insurmountable ... Twelve percent of likely voters remain undecided. Some of the vulnerabilities for Braley, a lawyer and eight-year congressman: He isn't winning in his home district ... Two-thirds of likely voters think it's a problem that he missed a large percentage of Veterans Affairs Committee meetings in the U.S. House. Fifty-nine percent think his role in crafting ... Obamacare is a problem. ...

“[A victory for America Rising, the new GOP oppo factory:] Two-thirds of likely voters who live in the country are bothered by a remark he made about Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley that's been perceived as besmirching farmers. ... Republicans call Braley ‘gaffetastic.’”http://dmreg.co/1yvyI8r

Newt Up to 37% in Gallup

Gallup reports:

Newt Gingrich leads Mitt Romney 37% to 22% in Gallup's inaugural Daily tracking of Republican registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, with all other candidates in the single digits.

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When Gallup last measured Republican registered voters' preferences Nov. 13-17, 22% supported Gingrich, 21% supported Romney, and 16% backed Cain.

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The 2012 GOP nomination contest stands as one of the most topsy-turvy for the Republicans in the primary-nominating era. Not since 1964, when the nominations were still decided at the conventions, has Gallup seen more movement in nomination preferences. That year, Barry Goldwater emerged as the nominee at the national Republican convention after a year of shifting Republican preferences. Republicans more typically settle early in the contest on a dominant front-runner who ends up winning the nomination. The one exception to that pattern was in 2008, when eventual winner John McCain languished lower in national polls in November and December 2007 before emerging as the winner once actual voting began in January.