Mitt Romney's dominating debate performance could not have come at a more perfect time for his campaign in Iowa, as Republicans are now requesting more absentee ballots than Democrats, according to Iowa state records over the last ten days.  

The Des Moines Register reports:

Republican voters’ requests for ballots have eclipsed the Democrats for 10 straight days, significantly shrinking President Barack Obama’s advantage, state records show.

Though Democrats always outpace Republicans in Iowa with early voting, the mainstream media have continued to say the early voting advantage Democrats have in Iowa is another example of a so-called "firewall" Obama has in the state.

As the Register noted, historically, "GOP voters in Iowa are more inclined to vote on Election Day than by absentee ballot": 

Four years ago, Republican John McCain won among Iowa votes cast exclusively on Election Day — 16,804 more Republicans than Democrats turned out. That was a 2.5 percentage-point edge for the GOP, even though McCain lost by nearly 10 points. Absentee ballots the Obama campaign had whipped up from voters in the preceding weeks made the difference.