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January 02, 2012 | | IOWA The final poll before tomorrow’s Iowa’s caucus shows Mitt Romney in a virtual dead heat with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum—yet the ex-governor is oozing more confidence than he ever has before. Even his wife is talking about “when” he’ll lock up the GOP nomination and evict Obama from the White House. The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove reports from Iowa on team Romney’s new bravado, and whether it’ll come to back to haunt them. Plus, Howard Kurtz on Iowa’s crazy caucus math. Tense Iran isn't backing down. The country announced Monday that it successfully test-fired two long-range missiles in the Gulf that could hit Israel and U.S. bases. Yesterday Iran claimed that its scientists had produced the nation's first nuclear fuel rod, a major step forward in the country's nuclear program, and one that came as a surprise to the West. The military drills and nuclear announcements come shortly after Iran warned it could shut the Strait of Hormuz if sanctions were placed on its oil exports. BACKFIRE The head of an advisory board to the Arab League recommended Sunday that the organization withdraw its observers from Syria, claiming that their presence has only allowed the regime’s violence to continue. "What is happening allows the Syrian regime a cover for the exercise of its inhumane practices under the Arab League's watch," Ali Salem al-Deqbasi said, according to Egyptian state media. An Arab League official said that the observers’ work was going according to schedule, and another regiment was supposed to arrive this week to see whether the Syrian regime has upheld its promise to end a brutal crackdown on dissenters. 2012 Does Ron Paul want to win Iowa? His campaign schedule indicates he might not. Most polls have him within a few percentage points of victory, if not outright in the lead, yet he went home to Texas for the holiday weekend and his Iowa campaign schedule has been unusually light. Politico notes that he rarely asks explicitly for someone's vote, and concludes that Paul's campaign is all about sending a message, something he could do with a second- or third-place finish. “This is ideological,” he said in an interview Friday, his last campaign stop of the year. “So it isn’t a numbers game. It has to do with determination.” SHOOTING A massive search is on for a “person of interest” in yesterday's deadly shooting of park ranger Margaret Anderson at Mount Rainier National Park. Benjamin Colton Barnes, 23, is also wanted in connection with a shooting Sunday in a Seattle suburb that left four people wounded. Barnes, an Iraq war veteran, is believed to be heavily armed and wearing body armor. After shooting Anderson at a traffic stop and firing on deputies who came to assist her, the suspect fled into the park, which has since been locked down. | | 
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