Romney leads in Iowa; Clinton and Obama neck-and-neck

The latest poll in Iowa confirms Mitt Romney holding his lead and Mike Huckabee surging among Republicans, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama locked in a tight race among Democrats with John Edwards fading.

The University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll released this morning shows Romney ahead on the Republican side with 36 percent, Huckabee tied for second with Rudy Giuliani at 13 percent, and Fred Thompson in fourth with 11 percent.

Romney has invested heavily in time and money in Iowa, banking on a win in the Jan. 3 first-in-the-nation caucuses to propel his campaign.

On the Democratic side, Clinton has 29 percent, Obama has 27 percent, and Edwards 20 percent.

Both Obama and Edwards are trying to stop Clinton's momentum in Iowa. She leads in New Hampshire, site of the first primary, and has built a 20-percentage-point lead in national polls.

The Hawkeye Poll was conducted Oct. 17-24 among 285 likely Republican caucus-goers and 306 likely Democratic caucus-goers. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5.8 percentage points for Republicans and plus or minus 5.5 percentage points for Democrats.