A special edition of the Daily 2008 today in honor of the Ames straw poll. Most of the focus today is on Mitt Romney, who has pulled out all the stops trying to secure a win that will meet expectations. Michael Luo of the New York Times reports that 96 members of the Romney clan - you read that right, 96 - have converged on Iowa in the last few days to help push toward an Ames win.

At least one candidate thinks the Romney juggernaut is overrated. "I don't think [Mitt] Romney's going to win it easily," said Tommy Thompson, adding, "I think his support is very, very thin. I may be wrong on that. And I think at 110 degrees or 95 degrees or whatever it's going to be tomorrow, it's going to be tough to get anybody's voters there." We'll see. Thompson is among the group of second tier candidates who must get some voters to Ames today or almost certainly face the end of their run.

Another storyline is whether Ron Paul's fervent online support will produce any offline results. The Ames Tribune interviews Paul supporters Kyle Varner and Jesda Gulati, who drove 27 hours from Spokane, Washington, to help promote Paul's Ames effort. Said Verner, "Right now, the mainstream media and a lot of people believe that we are just a bunch of Internet spammers...I think by being here, people will see that we are really a lot of very passionate people who believe in Ron Paul's message."

The problem for Paul, of course, is that even if he does have a number of supporters make the pilgrimage to Iowa from states around the country they won't be able to vote - only Iowa residents can. However, what Paul's supporters can do - and what they appear to be doing - is to try and convert supporters who are heading to the straw poll on someone else's dime, like Mitt Romney's. We'll know this evening whether they had any success with this strategy.

Storyline number three is Tom Tancredo. The Washington Post's Sridhar Pappu profiles Tancredo - and campaign manager Bay Buchanan, whom Pappu refers to as his "co-candidate" - in this morning's paper. As to the straw poll, Tancredo predicts a Romney win and also acknolwedges of his own chances that ""If we can't show up in the top half of the crowd, even if we want to go forward it will be very, very difficult."

Will Tancredo's single-minded focus opposing illegal immigration resonate with enough straw poll goers to make him today's surprise? As Reid Wilson reported on Monday, there are some indications it might, and the Muscatine Journal reports on a bogus email sent out yesterday which the Tancredo campaign says was intented to try and diminish and/or derail his support at today's event.

Who knows how it will all work out. One thing is for sure, it's going to be a long, hot day in Ames. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the fun. We'll have coverage throughout the day. Results will be announced tonight at 7pm.