Republican field begins final push in Iowa

Updated: 11:44 a.m. ET

Just eight days out from the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential candidates are ramping up their efforts in a final push to woo voters in the first-in-the-nation voting state, loading up their schedules with speeches, bus tours and even a pheasant hunt after a relatively quiet holiday weekend there.

Even while the GOP field has on the whole spent less time in the state this year, the January 3 caucuses are a make-or-break moment for a handful of candidates. Doing well in the contest could give contenders like Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann much-needed momentum in the race, while a poor performance could mean the end of some Republican hopefuls' campaigns.

Santorum, who has spent weeks crisscrossing through Iowa in a massive voter outreach campaign, is the first to head back to the state. Later on Monday, he will hunt pheasants (for the second time in three months) with Republican congressman Steve King.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney doesn't return to the state physically until Tuesday, his campaign on Monday released a new television ad blasting President Obama while touting his "conservative agenda" and business bona fides.

A recent Boston Globe poll shows Romney maintaining a strong lead in New Hampshire, which will hold its primary just a week after the Iowa caucuses, on January 10.

The poll, released on Sunday, shows Romney with 39 percent support in the Granite state, while Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are tied for second place with 17 percent. Jon Huntsman, who is banking on a strong performance in the state, has 11 percent support.

And even while a handful of polls conducted within the last two weeks show Romney trailing Newt Gingrich on the national level, some are already predicting a slip for the former House speaker - particularly in light of his recent failure to get his name on the Virginia primary ballot.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who in 2008 won the Iowa caucuses in a surprise upset, said Sunday he's putting his money on Romney for the January 3 event - unless the weather is bad.

"I would probably say that Mitt Romney will end up winning it today," Huckabee said on "Fox News Sunday." "If the weather is good, Mitt Romney is in better shape. If the weather is bad and it's real tough to get out, Ron Paul would win."

Paul, who has a strong and dedicated base of supporters in the state, has been polling in the top three in a series of recent polls. Some observers are predicting that Paul could emerge victorious in Iowa, who placed second in the state's August straw poll. But as he has risen in the polls, he has also faced new questions about a controversial newsletter he once had his name on. (The candidate has disavowed racist comments made in the newsletter, and said he did not write them.) One Republican fundraiser based out of Iowa told the Des Moines Register she fears the Iowa contents may be taken less seriously in future elections if Paul finishes first there.

At the end of the day, however, it appears that victory on January 3 remains largely up for grabs: According to a CBS News/New York Times poll from earlier this month, 66 percent of Republican caucus-goers in Iowa say they could still change their minds.

Nationally, voters seem equally ambivalent: a December 20 poll from CBS News showed that the two top candidates in the survey, Romney and Gingrich, each attracting the support of just 20 percent of Republican primary voters nationwide. The next highest finisher in the survey was "someone else," the choice of 19 percent of GOP primary voters. Another 17 percent said they were undecided or didn't know who they would support.

Even among those who made a choice, there was plenty of uncertainly. Seventy-nine percent of this group said it was too early to fully commit to a candidate, while just 21 percent said they had made up their mind. And only 23 percent said they strongly favor their candidate, while 62 percent said they have reservations.