Romney and McCain in ‘dead heat’ in Michigan

As voters in Michigan cast their ballots in the Republican primary Tuesday, the latest polls show Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney locked in a virtual tie.

The last two tracking polls to come out, one from the American Research Group (ARG) and the other from Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby, continued to show McCain with a 1-point lead, which, given the margin of error, means the race is a dead heat.

{mosads}“It’s just as tight as it ever was,” pollster John Zogby said in a release. “It’s a razor-thin margin all around.”

The ARG poll showed McCain slipping somewhat in the last couple of days as fewer independent and Democratic voters said they were planning to vote in the Republican primary.

The ARG release also noted that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has “increased his share” with non-Republican voters behind an automated phone effort. ARG puts McCain at 31, Romney at 30 and Huckabee at 19 percent.

The Reuters poll put McCain at 27 percent to Romney’s 26 percent, with Huckabee coming in at 15.

One interesting note from the ARG poll was that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (N.Y.) lead over the “uncommitted line” appeared to have slipped over the last two days.

Clinton is the only major Democratic candidate with her name on the ballot, and there have been widespread reports of a whisper campaign designed to encourage supporters of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) to vote uncommitted, setting up a potentially embarrassing episode for Clinton.

The last ARG survey, conducted Jan. 12-14, showed Clinton leading uncommitted 56 percent to 31 percent.

The same survey, conducted Jan. 9-11, showed Clinton’s lead at 61 percent to 23 percent.

Voters started heading to the polls this morning — they close at 8 p.m. EST — as state officials predicted a record turnout of about 1.5 million voters.