Democratic, GOP races tight as Iowa kicks off 2016 voting

The Iowa caucuses are finally here.

Republican presidential candidate, Sen.

Less than half of Rubio supporters – 47 percent – have made up their mind on who to support, according to the Iowa Poll.

Taking breaks for applause, Clinton’s speech lasted about an hour and took the audience through a laundry list of the former first lady and U.S. senator of New York’s accomplishments, including her time as U.S. Secretary of State under President Barack Obama.

“I don’t have to win” in Iowa, Mr Trump said, before adding that he believes he has “a good chance” of victory.

Republican Donald Trump went with straight-up guilt to inspire his legion of fans.

Sanders, a senator from Vermont, had previously refrained from invoking the controversy over Clinton’s controversial use of a private email account on a private server.

“If turnout is within a normal range, Hillary likely wins”, he reasoned. Ted Cruz of Texas in the race for the Republican nod, 28 to 23 percent.

He’s set to speak to supporters at 7 p.m.in Des Moines.

Mr Cruz, who describes himself as a “consistent conservative”, is relying on a strong get-out-the-vote operation to overtake Mr Trump, who is hoping his star power will boost turnout among non-traditional caucus participants. Yet Trump has taken the lead in all the most recent polls.

Rachel Gonzales, 17, of Independence, Missouri, has spent the last seven weekends campaigning for Clinton in Iowa and will stay through Monday night.

Some candidates didn’t plan to wait. Ohio Gov. John Kasich comes in fifth place with 8 percent.

“People are really enthusiastic, and if people come out to vote, I think you’re going to look at one of the biggest political upsets in the modern history of our country”, Sanders told CNN’s “State of the Union”.

Some could pivot quickly and throw their support behind another candidate.

Despite his rank in the polls, Sen. Could a Huckabee exit and Trump endorsement be in the offing?

The party nomination is determined by the state-by-state primary elections spanning from start of the year to summer in the year.

Santorum’s finish in 2012 is a case in point.

Campaigns are not required to report January totals just yet, so the Sanders announcement was seen as an effort to create a sense of growing momentum and broad-based appeal on the eve of the key Iowa caucuses. Sanders has 57 percent support over Clinton’s 37 percent.

The candidates will be chosen by the summer, ahead of the election at the end of the year. And what the candidates are competing for aren’t votes, but support, as determined by a formula that takes past statewide and congressional district voting into account. The state’s 30 Republican delegates are awarded proportionally based on the statewide vote.

In the Democratic race, Sanders continues to lead Hillary Clinton by a wide margin, 57 percent to 34 percent in the new poll. In an early Democratic presidential debate, he declared that the American people were “sick and tired” of hearing about it.

On Sunday, at two rallies at Council Bluffs and Sioux City, Mr Trump displayed a more low-key style than his usual flame-throwing flourishes in an apparent bid to appeal to Iowa religious conservatives, who have for the most part backed Mr Cruz.