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GOP 2012 Presidential hopefuls are in the final stretch of marathon campaigning in Iowa today before caucus voting begins at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Mitt Romney leads the pack of 7 Republican contenders for his party’s nomination. Following Romney is Rick Santorum, who has surged up the polls in recent days buoyed by non-stop travel around the state and strong support from the state’s self-described evangelical voters. Also in the top three is Ron Paul, who has been a consistent wild card candidate whose hopes are pinned to a large turn-out of independents and disaffected Democrats expected to switch parties for tonight’s vote. Michelle Bachmann, the winner of last Summer’s Iowa straw poll, is now predicted to finish near the bottom of the pack. After weeks of dwindling support Bachmann’s campaign took a major hit last week when Kent Sorenson, her Iowa campaign Chairman, shocked her team and defected to Ron Paul’s camp. In a very enthusiastic public announcement at a Paul rally in Iowa, Sorenson stated he simply believed Paul to be the better candidate. Bachmann contends Sorenson, a state senator, was offered “a large sum of money” to support her rival. She told reporters yesterday that she would lead, “in the image and likeness of a Ronald Reagan or a Margaret Thatcher.” Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich who very recently was a GOP frontrunner, is expected to lose today, a slip observers largely credit to a barrage of attack ads against him. The Super PAC Restore Our Future, backing Mitt Romney has spent the most money to knock Gingrich out of the race. So far an estimated $16 million has been spent by Super Pacs and campaigns in Iowa.

GUEST: Adele Stan, AlterNet’s Washington bureau chief

Visit www.alternet.org to read Adele Stan’s work.