The Ames Straw Poll: To compete or not to compete

The Fix:

"Romney spent oodles of money in Iowa last time around only to watch Huckabee -- with only the barest of bones political organizations and far less money -- catapult past him for the win on caucus day.

So far this cycle, Romney and his political team seem to be adopting a 'been there, done that' approach to the early skirmishes of a presidential fight -- avoiding the fray more often than not. Given how Romney could struggle to win over social conservatives in Iowa -- a critical voting constituency -- he may well stay away from the Straw Poll."