With less than five weeks to go until the Iowa caucus, a national poll released on Thursday found that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich holds a commanding lead in the fluid race to see which Republican candidate will emerge to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.
A Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Republican primary voters has Gingrich way out in front with 38 percent followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in second with 17 percent.
The rest of the pack trails in single digits. Businessman Herman Cain and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul take third with 8 percent each. Three candidates -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania -- are tied with 4 percent followed by former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah with 3 percent.
Gingrichs lead expands if his fellow Georgian Cain pulls out of the race. Cain has been the subject of much buzz since he told campaign staff that he was reassessing his candidacy after a woman went public with her claim to have had a 13-year extramarital affair with the businessman.
If Cain pulls out of the race, Gingrich takes 42 percent in the Rasmussen poll followed by Romney in second with 19 percent. Paul stays with 8 percent while Perry moves up to 5 percent. Bachmann and Santorum remain in place with 4 percent each while Huntsman stays with 3 percent at the back of the pack.
The poll of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters was taken on Nov. 30 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
The Cain camp showed little signs on Thursday that they intended to pull out of the race. They launched a new television ad on Thursday focused on job creation. The ad will be run in Iowa.
The Cain camp also sent an email out to supporters on Thursday, asking for volunteers in the four states that will hold contests in January -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
