Presidential candidates made one last big push in Iowa this weekend, ahead of the Iowa Caucus Monday – the first real contest of 2016.
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Supporters for both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ campaigns are advocating certain districts vote for Martin O’Malley to “steal” delegates.
Rian Brown, from Cleveland, was in Iowa City Sunday for an interview at the UI when she noticed the crowd gathering for Clinton’s speech.
Iowa, and the entire early momentum of the presidential race, is up for grabs.
There is no sense of worry in Hillary Clinton or her campaign aides a day before Iowans decide who to caucus for on Monday night.
Later, campaigning in Cedar Falls, Rubio downplayed differences among the Republican hopefuls, casting himself as the party’s best hope against the Democrats. That result is different from the Des Moines Register poll released Saturday, which also featured a three-point difference, but with Clinton in the lead, 45% to 42%.
In explaining his pitch to voters, Cruz told Tapper he would follow through on his conservative campaign pledges, unlike his Republican opponents. Marco Rubio of Florida trails at 15%, with Ben Carson further back at 10%.
If Rubio makes a strong showing in Iowa, he would emerge as the top mainstream Republican candidate heading into the New Hampshire vote on Feb.9. If Sanders can win in Iowa based on a coalition of students and working-class (often rural) whites, then his revolution will have legs.
The thousands of students who fill his rallies could produce an upset, if they show up to caucus.
“What they will really be looking at is to see whether or not Iowa is prepared to move this country away from establishment politics and establishment economics and move us in a very, very different direction”, he said. But she received a boost Sunday with a $6 million contribution to a pro-Clinton independent group from billionaire investor George Soros, The Hill newspaper reported.
Other questions showed just how little attention many people have been paying to the presidential campaign. Both Trump and Sanders have been trying to expand the universe of Iowa voters by bringing in people who have never caucused before. “I think the race will narrow after a couple states”.
Rubio also charged Cruz with shifting his positions. Sanders, a lawmaker from the state of Vermont, wins a majority of those under 35, first-time caucusgoers and political independent, said the poll.
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For all the media attention they generate, the Iowa caucuses do not always provide an accurate guide to who the final nominee will be, particularly in the case of the Republicans, where the last two winners – Rick Santorum in 2012 and Mike Huckabee four years previously – failed to win the nomination.
