No Clear Leader as Iowa Caucuses Kick Off Primary Season

It's the first vote of the primary season, and no one seems to have a clear lead.

The GOP presidential candidates are scouring Iowa today to win undecided voters for the state caucuses later tonight. As the New York Times explains, about 100,000 voters are expected to gather in their communities this evening to make their choice for the Republican nominee.

Although the Iowa test is widely seen as a toss-up, with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, or Ron Paul the most likely to win based on statewide poll numbers (helpfully illustrated in our Iowa Horse Race), Politico notes that online bettors are putting their faith in Romney. 

Although the caucuses are non-binding polls of voter preference (they don't directly pick the state's delegates), they have a symbolic and practical importance as the first votes—as opposed to polls—testing the candidates' appeal. But with no candidate so far stating that a poor showing in Iowa will be a campaign-ender, the actual power of this Iowa caucus is unclear. For more on that, check out Slate's Dave Wiegel's explanation of why a win for Santorum won't guarantee much for the candidate, who is currently riding the latest poll surge.

Wiegel and John Dickerson are in Iowa today, and their reports from the caucus circus can be found here. 

A quick roundup of some of the last-minute candidate pull quotes so far:

- Newt Gingrich, who has previously insisted on a positive campaign, used a caucus-day interview on CBS's The Early Show to call Mitt Romney a liar. Asked to confirm that was, in fact, what the candidate meant to say, Gingrich said, ""Well, you seem shocked by it!" he continued, "This is a man whose staff created the PAC, his millionaire friends fund the PAC, he pretends he has nothing to do with the PAC—it's baloney. He's not telling the American people the truth."

- Santorum, in Sioux City, apparently answered a question about "foreign influence" in America by talking about federal assistance programs in racial terms, saying he doesn't want to "make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money." The video is at CBS news, though the Santorum campaign takes issue with the reported context of the quote. 

- Michele Bachmann, who has been polling poorly of late, thinks she'll surprise tonight. She went on Fox News Tuesday and said, "I think there is a lot of soft, hidden support that's going to come out tonight at the caucuses," The Hill reports.

- Meanwhile, in an ABC News interview, Ron Paul doubted his own chances at the White House, when asked whether he saw himself in the Oval Office after 2012, the candidate responded, "Not really, but I think it's a possibility."