Des Moines, Saturday. White House hopeful Newt Gingrich's surge in the polls has upended the race for the Republican nomination, setting up a key showdown between him and Mitt Romney in the first caucus vote in Iowa.
Gingrich has pledged to make near-daily appearances in the state ahead of the January 3 caucus, while longtime frontrunner Romney -- now under enormous pressure to prove his staying power -- this week launched his first Iowa ad.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, until recently appeared to be the favourite to take on Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 elections despite his failure to energize his party's conservative base.

But strong debate performances by Gingrich, a former speaker of the House who was a giant of Republican politics in the 1990s, shot holes in Romney's default favourite status.

Major gaffes by Texas Governor Rick Perry and the spiralling troubles of Herman Cain -- now facing sexual harassment allegations and claims that he had a 13-year extramarital affair -- have narrowed the field.

In what looks increasingly like a two-horse race, Gingrich got a massive boost when he surged to the largest national lead held by a Republican candidate, according to a poll released Thursday by Rasmussen Reports. Gingrich won 38 per cent support among likely Republican voters, while Romney placed a distant second with 17 per cent. No other candidate reached double-digits."It is a game changer," said Trey Grayson, director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

"Romney has got to be considered the favourite but I think Gingrich's surge is real and appears to have more staying power than other surges we've seen from other candidates." (AFP)

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