In the first round of polling in Iowa since the Republican presidential field has taken shape, Mitt Romney leads the pack, but is virtually tied with Michele Bachmann.

The Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found 23 perent support for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, among likely Iowa caucus-goers.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was only marginally behind with 22 percent support. Bachmann will officially kick off her campaign for the Republican nomination in Waterloo, Iowa on Monday.

Romney, who leads in most national polling, has not made Iowa a focus for his campaign. He announced this month that he would skip the influential Ames Straw Poll of potential Iowa caucus-goers, a contest he won in 2007.

Businessman Herman Cain grabbed the third spot in the poll with 10 percent support.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) were next with 7 percent.

Six percent of those polled backed former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and 4 percent supported former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.).

Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah and ambassador to China, got 2 percent support.

The poll, was conducted by Selzer & Co. Inc. of Des Moines for the Register. It was based on telephone interviews with 400 likely Republican caucus-goers June 19 to 22. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

(Source: The Hill)