The latest from Iowa -- right before polls close

As I write this, GOP candidates on hand at the presidential straw poll are rushing around trying to get last minute votes.  The polls close at 6 PM CT, just less than one hour from now.  A winner will be announced at 7 PM CT. 

Mitt Romney is expected to win easily.  Because Giuliani, Thompson and McCain are not on hand, whoever finishes in second could vault themselves into the top-tier.  Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Tommy Thompson, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter are battling it out for that position.  According to some emails that I have been getting, it looks like second place will either go to Huckabee, Tancredo or Brownback.  My money is on Huckabee -- but I could be proved wrong in two hours.

Just hours ago, Chris Cillizza of The Fix reported on the ground at Iowa State University, where the poll is taking place.  He said it's a carnival-like atmosphere:

The Fix drove 45 minutes north from Des Moines this morning throughland dominated by corn fields to arrive in this college town that, fortoday at least, is at the center of the political universe.

The atmosphere is like a carnival. A man in stilts teetered by me; kids bounce around a huge blow-up playground on Sen. Sam Brownback's (R-Kans.) tent space; a climbing wall stands in the middle of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's massive -- and well-positioned -- space right next to the Hilton Coliseum where the candidates will be speaking later today.

We will know in just under two hours whether Tancredo, Brownback or Huckabee gets second -- and with it will come instant attention from the traditional media.