Rubio, Bush make final pitches to Iowa caucus-goers

A member of the audience holds a campaign sign that reads “227 Years of Men”. If not they can try and recruit other supporters or jump over to another candidate. She asked the crowd of about 500 “to stand up for someone who can be president and commander in chief and take the fight to the Republicans”. “It alread has started to I believe”, said Marco Rubio on Face the Nation before Iowa.

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall). Republican presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Vampire Weekend lead singer Ezra Koenig wave during a campaign rally at the University of Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Iowa City, Iowa.

He appreciates some aspects of the message of Donald Trump, “but in the end what is important is the program”.

The Ted Cruz campaign, which is targeting the religious right, did no such ground work on Sunday morning.

Although Clinton spent much of her time at a rally in Council Bluffs contrasting her vision with those of the Republican candidates, she said that while she and Sanders shared the goal of achieving universal healthcare, he had a “different view” of how to accomplish it.

Both the Republican and Democratic races are considered up for grabs, with the winners certain to get a burst of momentum.

And if Bush continues his campaign beyond the Super Tuesday primary on March 1, as his confidantes promise he will, he could make it harder for Rubio to win what will be one of the biggest prizes in mid-March: Their home state of Florida, which awards all of its delegates to the victor rather than handing them out proportionally. “But I think it would be really good to win Iowa”.

In the last major preference poll before the caucuses, Trump had the support of 28 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers, with Cruz at 23 percent and Rubio at 15 percent.

Over the past week, Trump’s team appears to have upped its voter outreach efforts, aggressively recruiting volunteers to a call center in West Des Moines.

Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are separated by just three points in the latest poll.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush began his final full day campaigning in Iowa quietly and reflectively, taking in Mass at the Cathedral of St. Raphael in Dubuque. That’s what’s been suggested by Tom Vilsack, the former Democratic governor of Iowa.

“The lie that his whole campaign is built on is that he’s the only conservative and everyone else is a sellout and a RINO [Republican In Name Only], and it’s absurd”, Rubio fired back at Cruz on CNN.

“Either Rubio or Christie, but I’m leaning toward Christie”.

As she walked away, the starstruck woman murmured, “I’m so happy”.

The aggressiveness of Trump, his insults and excessive simplification of complex subjects can be productive against said Mr. Haila.

According to a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll, the former secretary of state now snags 45 percent of the vote to Sanders’ 42 percent. He boasts the largest support base of any candidate in the field.

Several findings point to this conclusion. Trump’s unfavorable rating (47 percent) is surpassed only by that for Bush (53 percent).

He also told Rubio supporters to stop “whining” about attack ads.

Trump’s team has been notoriously secretive about its operation, imposing what the campaign’s Iowa architect, Chuck Laudner, recently described as “radio silence”.

Trump, who has never sat through a nerve-wracking night of vote counting, was not predicting victory in Iowa in interviews and stump speeches on Sunday.

Indicators of greater enthusiasm for Clinton can also be seen outside Iowa.

“He was born in Canada, and a lot of people are saying he can’t even be running for the election, so we’ll find out about that”, Trump said, referring to contentions that the Calgary-born senator from Texas doesn’t qualify as a natural-born citizen. Another immigration path is one leading to legal status short of citizenship.

Republicans have been throwing that caution to the wind and going for it – in prime time, no less.