It’s (Almost) Down to the Voting in Iowa

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, R, predicts that this time, 150,000 Republicans are likely to turn out, energized by Trump’s candidacy. Ted Cruz, R-Fla., greets people outside his campaign event in Ida Grove, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016.

Republican presidential contender Donald Trump says “many” senators will endorse his candidacy, “very soon”.

Candidates in the race for the U.S. presidency crisscrossed Iowa, speaking at rallies and meeting voters in a final push to win support ahead of all-important caucuses.

Donald Trump isn’t shy about boasting, but the Republican presidential front-runner says he also has a humble side. “We will lose the caucus on Monday night if there is a low voter turnout”. “I can’t go to a meeting where … middle-aged people [don’t] tell me how how much in debt they are in terms of student debt or people who can’t afford health care”, Sanders said.

While Hillary Clinton has the advantage of having worked with the White House as Secretary of State under President Obama, Sanders has been in politics since 1974 and has continuously represented Vermont in the Senate since 2006.

Republicans will have picked the most out-of-the-box, radical – not to say outrageous – candidate in modern times; Democrats will have chosen the most traditional, inside-the-box politician.

She also said former senator Rick Santorum’s surge in the waning days before the 2012 Republican caucuses when few others did.

“Nope, nope. That is not, I think, a fair assessment”.

Currently, the Democratic National Committee has only two more sanctioned debates: February 11 in Milwaukee, Wis., sponsored by PBS NewsHour and March 9 in Miami, Fla., sponsored by Univision. Trump cited Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, along with strong hopes for NY and Virginia.

“What we’re seeing is if the old Reagan coalition coming together”. We’re seeing conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians and Reagan Democrats. “Those are the issues that we’re going to focus on”.

Both John Vilmain and Stahl said they fully expect the other campaigns to come after their vote, with Stahl saying he can’t keep up with the mailings from Sanders and Clinton.

“The desperation kicks in”, Rubio said in response to Cruz.

Despite the emphasis placed the Iowa caucuses, the real impact of this process happens further down the line, when results are eventually translated into votes for delegates, who represent their states at their respective party conventions. Successive victories in Nevada and SC, even if they follow losses in both Iowa and New Hampshire, will put Ms. Clinton in a good position to win the nomination.

Rubio strategist Todd Harris said the Iowa goal is to end up third behind the flamboyant Trump and the highly organized Cruz.

“There’s no question we are feeling some wind at our back”, he told The Associated Press.

He added, “I think that’s where the discussion tips very favorably to Hillary because of a whole history of actually knowing how to get something done for a progressive cause”.

The poll found Trump had surpassed Cruz with 28% support compared to Cruz’s 23%. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has pulled to within two and a half points in the latest Iowa State University/WHO-HD poll, which has a three and a half-point margin of error.