Only a few months removed from the tentatively scheduled January 3rd Iowa caucuses, it looks like the race is still up for grabs. In the new NBC News-Marist poll of likely caucus-goers: Mitt Romney is in the lead with 23 percent support, followed by Herman Cain with 20 percent, Ron Paul at 11 percent and Michele Bachmann and Perry with 10 percent each. And even though the playing-it-safe Mitt Romney is still technically in the lead, he's got a lot to worry about from the Tea Partying base: 

Among Tea Party supporters — who make up half of all likely Iowa caucus-goers in the poll — Cain is ahead of Romney, 31 to 15 percent. And among those who "strongly" support the Tea Party, Cain's lead is a whopping 41 to 7 percent.

There's good news for Mitt though. In NBC News-Marist's polling of another early voting state, New Hampshire, he is the runaway favorite: he leads Cain 44 percent to 13 percent. And in a wider view, in Gallup Polling's latest national survey, Romney is still plodding along, clinging on to an overall lead in the GOP field:

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Erik Hayden