The Democratic and Republican candidates are making their final campaign stops ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the first event that counts in the U.S. presidential race.
Ahead of the community gatherings, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were in a virtual tie, while Donald Trump had retaken the lead on the Republican side in the final polls.
Our U.S. correspondent Priscilla Huff reports:
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The forecast for Iowa for caucus night is about as good as it gets for Iowa in winter
freezing with a threat of a blizzard roaring in
but probably fine for the statewide event.
the forecast matters because voter turnout matters...
Bernie Sanders, the self professed socialist democrat, running neck and neck with Hillary Clinton, has acknowledged, he needs lots of Iowa voters to go to the caucuses.
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The democratic nomination was supposed to be Hillary Clinton's for the taking.
Political observers note
with her pregnant daughter Chelsea
and her husband Bill, the former President, criss crossing Iowa on her behalf
her campaign must be worried.
And it doesn't help that the scandal over her decision to use private - not government - email
and the possibility there were classified documents in her system
remains a nagging problem.
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Jeremy Mayer, a political science professor at George Mason University notes,
America as a whole and it's political priorities can differ from Iowa.
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But you wouldn't know that from the Republican candidates.
With hours to go,
Texas Senator Ted Cruz sent out a message, asking for last-minute support.
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While others, such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio
have been trying to tackle the juggernaut of statements out of Donald Trump's campaign..
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Donald Trump isn't having any of it.
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What matters on caucus night is whether Republican or Democrat voters show up in school gymnasiums and church basements and town club halls
and actually state their preference for who should be the nominee.
and that's why the Iowa caucuses are such a political test
of organization
of actually getting voters to participate
on a cold...and quite possibly snowy...night.
Priscilla Huff, Washington.
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