>> reporter: the republican race is now a two-man battle between gingrich and romney. the former house speaker not only has the lead in iowa but made a surge in new hampshire where romney has been sitting pretty at the top of the polls for months. romney is now starting to engage gingrich more directly. >> he is a lifelong politician. >> reporter: gingrich fired back. >> it is fair to say i have been a successful candidate a number of times. >> reporter: gingrich confident he'll be successful one more time. yesterday gingrich talked about what kind of race he would run against president obama. gingrich said he will compete in all 50 states. rob, sunny? >> thank you, karen. our new abc news poll just released shows just how popular gingrich is among iowa republicans. 33% of iowans who plan to go to january's gop caucus back gingrich. mitt romney and texas congressman ron paul favored by 18%. texas governor rick perry is backed by just 11%. compared to rivals, 43% believe gingrich has the best experience.