With the June 2 primary elections less than two months away, Republican candidates are jockeying for position in Iowa’s gubernatorial race.

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Ross Lightfoot has been the front-runner for the past six months. He has consistently maintained a wide lead over Secretary of State Paul Pate and Des Moines businessman David Oman.

Two polls have verified this top-dog status, one conducted by the University of Northern Iowa at the party caucuses on Feb. 2 and the other an Iowa Poll taken in March by The Des Moines Register.

In the caucus survey, 74 percent of 851 likely GOP voters said Lightfoot was their first choice.

Pate, who received 9 percent of the votes, and Oman, 8 percent, were far back. Lt. Gov. Joy Corning finished last in the poll with 7 percent of the votes.

Corning has since dropped out, but the Iowa Poll data shows her absence has not changed the standings significantly.

During the last week of March, the Register canvassed 400 Republicans who said they were “very likely” to vote in the primary, and 70 percent of them tabbed Lightfoot as the man to replace four-termer Terry Branstad.

Oman and Pate ran a distant second and third with single-digit support.

These results mirror a similar Register poll taken in December, in which Lightfoot held a comfortable 60 percent to 9 percent lead over Corning, with Oman and Pate at 6 percent.

Oman spokesman Ryan Chamberlain discounted the seemingly negative numbers.

“It’s all name recognition at this point,” he said. “[Voters] really haven’t made a decision yet. That poll doesn’t mean anything until people start paying attention.”

Jason Gross, Pate’s campaign manager, said his candidate is not worried yet.

“There’s only one poll that really counts, and that’s the one on June 2,” he said. “The real primary campaign doesn’t begin until after Easter anyway.”

One public official has noticed the long-term similarity in the candidates’ support and has come to this conclusion: “Pate, Oman Should Drop Out.”

That was the title of a press release from Speaker of the Iowa House Ron Corbett, R-Cedar Rapids, last week.

Citing a need for “party unity,” Corbett said, “Neither campaign has picked up any traction. They’re just spinning their wheels. Both men should drop out of the race.”

He added that the GOP needs a “unified attack,” saying, “Too often, we see desperate candidates go negative and get personal in an attempt to bring a front-runner down to their level.”

Corbett’s call for the candidates to withdraw could be a blow to Oman, who told the Iowa State Daily earlier this month that he spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on a media blitz in March and promised to “be back on the air in April.”

But Chamberlain said the speaker’s statement will be a boost to the Oman campaign, because it will spur more debate.

“When Corbett comes out and says something like this, it starts a dialogue,” Chamberlain said. “That’s our strategy — to get Lightfoot engaged. Once people hear him speak, people are going to say, ‘We don’t want him to be governor.'”

Describing Corbett’s announcement as “disheartening,” Chamberlain said the attention should be focused on Lightfoot’s avoidance of the issues.

“We would have liked to have seen him say, ‘Hey, Lightfoot, get in the race. Show your cards,'” he said.

Gross criticized Corbett for a different reason.

“This whole thing just smells of back-room politics,” Gross said. “Ron Corbett has endorsed Lightfoot. This clearly came from the Lightfoot campaign, and no one could convince me that this was Ron Corbett’s original idea.”

An crucial step in the campaign will come Friday, April 24, when all three men attend the Iowa Newspaper Association’s “Gubernatorial Candidate Forum,” the first real debate to take place.

Oman had previously criticized Lightfoot for not making himself available to voters, but a press release from Lightfoot for Governor trumpeted his “commitment to enter debates and honor the tradition of debating his opponents.”

Chamberlain said Oman is looking forward to the debate.

“David will put issues on the table, and Lightfoot will answer them or run away from them,” he said.

“The debates are definitely going to be a milestone. If we see a poll after the debates, and people are still lopsided, then we might be a little discouraged. But that’s not going to happen,” Chamberlain said. “After the debates, all the cards will be on the table.”

Lightfoot needs to provide voters with information on the issues, Gross said.

“I’m very, very hopeful that both Paul and David will ask those questions, and that Jim Ross Lightfoot will respond,” he said.

The three Republicans will also appear at the May 11 forum on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” sponsored by The Des Moines Register.