DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – At least $12.5 million and counting has blanketed the airwaves ahead of next Tuesday’s Republican presidential caucuses, with hard-hitting commercials awash in ghoulish images and startling claims. Most are coming from a proliferation of new independent groups aligned with the candidates.

To hear the ads tell it, Newt Gingrich is a “serial hypocrite,” Rick Perry “double dips” as governor and the “liberal Republican establishment” is plotting to anoint Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential nominee. The attacks, the bulk of the commercials on the air, reflected the volatile state of the race five days before the first votes of the GOP presidential nominating contest.

After a slow start, the ads in Iowa are coming on fast and furious.

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