Washington, Oct 31:  Wild gyrations have marked the Republican race for the party's nomination to challenge President Barack Obama next year, with the latest twist putting outsider Herman Cain at the top of the pack with Romney in the first-in-the-nation test in Iowa two months away.

The results of a poll by the state's respected Des Moines Register newspaper underline extreme shifts among Republican base voters. They gave Rep. Michelle Bachmann, an ultraconservative congresswoman from neighboring Minnesota, a victory in the Iowa straw poll in August, but quickly deserted her, leaving her to sink to the second tier of candidates.

That happened after Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the race, shot to the top, then watched his support collapse after weak debate performances.
Now it's businessman Cain's turn at the top.

Perhaps as interesting as the dramatic shifts in support for the various Republican candidates is that Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a venture capitalist who lost the nomination in 2008 to Sen. John McCain, has been holding steady in the polls at about 20 to 25 percent support. That's always near the top but a level of support that indicates most Republicans are ambivalent or Romney detractors.

Saturday evening's results of a Des Moines Register poll showed Cain at the head of the pack, with the support of 23 percent of respondents. Romney came in just behind him at 22 percent.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, placed third at 12 percent, followed by Bachmann at 8 percent. Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich polled 7 percent each, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got 5 percent. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a moderate on some issues that Iowa Republicans hold dear, was supported by only 1 percent of those participating in the poll.

Through all the jockeying among the Republicans, the team running Obama's re-election effort has focused primarily on Romney, viewing him—as does his party hierarchy—as the likely candidate.

To that end, Obama's campaign chief David Plouffe issued a sharp attack on Romney on Sunday saying he lacks a political “core.”

“You get the sense with Mitt Romney that, you know, if he thought it was good to say the sky was green and the grass was blue to win an election, he'd say it,” Plouffe said on NBC television's “Meet the Press.”

Romney already faces headwinds from evangelical Christians—a significant part of the conservative Republican base of voters—because of his Mormon faith. Some evangelicals view the religion as a cult. He's also freighted with a history of supporting liberal positions when he was governor of Democratic-dominated Massachusetts then adopting far more conservative views as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

Most damaging was Romney's support for health care reforms in his state—a plan that formed a framework for Obama's overhaul of the U.S. system that is despised by conservative Republicans. They vow to revoke the plan under a Republican president.

The primary process in the United States requires candidates to move to extreme positions to gain the backing of hard-core party loyalists who hold those positions and are most likely to vote in state nominating balloting.

That probably explains Cain's spot at the top of the polls right now.

“I'm doing so well because I'm connected with the people,” he said on Sunday's broadcast of CBS's “Face the Nation.”

Cain said he was adamantly anti-abortion—even in the case of rape, incest or threat to the health of the mother—a position held by Republican base voters. He further refused to reverse himself on a statement about Planned Parenthood, an organization that serves poor expectant women and offers advice on family planning—including abortion services. He said Planned Parenthood was involved in “planned genocide” because so many of the organization's facilities are in black neighborhoods.

Cain is African American and best-known as the former CEO of the Godfather's pizza chain.

Perry, meanwhile, was trying to reinvigorate his candidacy by attacking Obama on his policies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He told “Fox News Sunday” that Obama hasn't listened to his commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama has announced that U.S troops would leave Iraq by the end of the year, effectively ending the war that began under the administration of President George W. Bush. Perry said making those plans public endangers troops still in Iraq and means the president has “lost his standing” as a commander in chief.

That's a position that will find some backing among Republican base voters but little with the majority of Americans who are disenchanted with U.S. military operations in those countries. Moreover, Obama was implementing a deadline for U.S. troops to leave Iraq that the Bush administration had signed with the Iraqi government.

Bachmann, whose support has dropped dramatically in Iowa and nationwide after her straw poll victory there, told ABC's “This Week” that her campaign is “doing exactly what we need to do,” and that she's campaigning heavily in the state. Responding to her low poll numbers, Bachmann said she isn't worried about “day-to-day snapshots” of the race.

Most interesting, perhaps, is the fact that Romney is avoiding direct appearances before the press. He apparently believes, at this point in the race, that the less said the better. His strategy seems to center on letting his more conservative Republican opponents to harm themselves with moderate, independent voters who will determine the outcome of the race with Obama.

The president is extremely vulnerable given the struggling U.S. economy and an unemployment rate still slightly above 9 percent. He was elected in 2008 by a large margin that depended heavily on independent voter support.