Aug 11

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney scored a largely symbolic, yet critical victory in Saturday's Iowa GOP straw poll, beating a field of lesser known candidates in the first test of the governor's organizational ability.

Despite the fact that the first primary voters will not cast a ballot for another seven months, the bulk of the unparalleled presidential campaign coverage has focused on the so-called "horse race" stories, rather than the issues.

While the Iraq war continues to dominate the current political debate, Republican candidates are jockeying to position themselves as the true fiscal conservative in the race. The question is whether voters are satisfied with what they are hearing.