A third straight poll in Iowa shows pro-life Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota leading and clearly becoming the front-runner in the state that leads off the Republican presidential campaign with a straw poll and caucus.

The new survey from Mason Dixon Polling and Research has 32 percent of Iowa Republicans saying Bachmann is their favorite Republican candidates and it, as two other polls did, had Romney coming in second place. The former Massachusetts governor, campaigning as a pro-life advocate, has the backing of 29 percent of Iowa GOP voters.

Bachmann was also at the top of two recent surveys by the American Research Group and the IowaRepublican.com web site. Three hundred likely Iowa GOP caucus goers were questioned by telephone from July 5-7 in the new mason Dixon poll and it has a sampling error of plus or minus 5.7 percent...