Field is wide open for Thursday's Iowa caucuses
DES MOINES -- On their last full day of campaigning before Iowa voters kick off the presidential nominating process Thursday night, Republican and Democratic candidates made last-minute appeals in person and on television.
The three top Democratic contenders — Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama — all bought time to air extended final television commercials on Iowa's Wednesday evening news programs. Edwards planned to make campaign stops through the night during a 36-hour barnstorming marathon.
Among the leading Republican candidates, Mitt Romney staged a fly-around of the state. His chief rival here, Mike Huckabee, left for a national TV appearance on NBC's TonightShow. John McCain returned to Iowa late in the day for some last-minute campaigning he hoped would secure him a place among the top three finishers, ahead of Fred Thompson, who also barnstormed the state.
Election observers predict unusually high turnouts for today's caucuses. "I think you'll see records on both sides," said Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro.
Jim McCormick, chairman of the political science department at Iowa State University, predicts that as many as 150,000 Democrats and 90,000 Republicans could turn out for the evening precinct meetings where Iowans cast their votes. He based his prediction on a poll he did in November.
The previous records were 122,000 for Democrats in 2004 and 115,000 for Republicans in 1980.
Doors open at nearly 1,800 precincts statewide at 6:30 p.m. CT. The National Weather Service in Des Moines predicts partly cloudy skies and temperatures falling through the 20s, but no precipitation.
Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, who is neutral in this year's race, called it "the most interesting I have ever seen" because, after a year of campaigning, "there is no clear front-runner."
Ken Mehlman, the former national Republican Party chairman, said the GOP field is similarly unsettled: "This is going to be the most wide-open, unconventional and exciting election we have seen in a decade."
Some Iowans seem ready for the campaign to end. Bob Wiedmann, a retired Indianola contractor, hopes whoever wins the presidency will pass a law barring political phone solicitations.
"I have had, I swear, 200 phone calls," he said.
Some candidates ended their Iowa campaigns with whirlwind tours. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson scheduled seven final "job interviews" in small towns such as Muscatine, Decorah and Storm Lake. The Democrat hopes to stay close to his party's three front-runners.
Four major-party candidates were not in Iowa Wednesday: Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Duncan Hunter and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. A fifth, Republican Ron Paul, made a brief trip but focused on New Hampshire, which will vote Tuesday. Here's a look at the final day in Iowa:
'You will have a vision'
CORALVILLE — Obama asked a revved-up crowd his campaign pegged at 1,500 for a show of hands of those who had never been to a caucus. More than a third of the attendees raised their hands.
"They don't think you're going to show up. Are you going to prove them wrong?" he challenged and was met with a roar of "Yes."
Polls show Obama could win the Iowa caucuses tonight if first-timers and independents show up. In a hotel ballroom hung with "Change we can believe in" banners, he made a passionate appeal for his candidacy and against his chief rivals. About two dozen TV cameras recorded the event.
"My job is to be so persuasive here today that a light bulb will go off over your head," he said to laughter. "A beacon of light will shine. You will have a vision, and you will say, 'I have to vote for Barack Obama.' "
— Jill Lawrence, Susan Page
More important than football
MASON CITY — The sign outside the Chicago Dawg restaurant in Mason City features two cartoon canines. One's got a hot dog and a mug of beer. The other prefers shrimp and wine.
For Huckabee, an ordained Baptist preacher, it might have seemed an inappropriate symbol, but his has been an unorthodox campaign from the start, full of trademark quips.
There was no shortage of those Wednesday. Huckabee urged about 150 mostly older people to attend tonight's caucuses, even at the risk of offending Kansas and Virginia Tech football fans. "The Orange Bowl is going to be boring," he said. "You don't want to watch that."
Huckabee also protested negative ads run against him by opponents who spent millions "to tell you guys what a bum I am. … I brought my wife. She can tell you that for free."
— David Jackson
Grip of the iron fist
IOWA CITY — More than 28 hours into a non-stop, 36-hour bus tour, Edwards was losing his voice but not the hard-edged message that has put him in contention for tonight's caucuses.
"They have an iron-fisted grip on your democracy, just as sure as I'm standing here, and nothing will change until we break that grip," he said, referring to corporate interests that he says block progress on health care, global warming and fair trade. That brought cheers from hundreds of supporters jammed into a coffee shop near the University of Iowa, the 13th of 16 stops.
The former North Carolina senator said he's the most electable of the Democrats — and the only one from the South.
Noting that the last two Democrats elected president were Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Jimmy Carter of Georgia, he drawled, "They both talked like this."
— Susan Page, Jill Lawrence
'Call your friends'
CEDAR RAPIDS — Ever the businessman, Romney hopscotched the state for one final sales job.
About 60 people went to a chilly airplane hangar in Cedar Rapids to hear Romney extol his experiences in business and as Olympics CEO and governor of mostly Democratic Massachusetts.
Romney's fly-around included stops in Bettendorf and Mason City before a final rally in West Des Moines that drew hundreds of people to the Hy-Vee Conference Center. At each stop, he repeated his mantra that elections are "about tomorrow."
His biggest pitch to supporters: Be sure to vote, and get others out there with you. "Call your friends," Romney said. "Get 'em out to the caucuses and make that difference. People are going to be listening to what Iowa has to say."
— David Jackson
It's not ancient history
INDIANOLA — Clinton uncorked the star power: Her warm-up act here, where it was 4 degrees as she pulled into town, was the acting couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.
Clinton spoke to about 300 people without notes for nearly an hour about her determination to expand health care coverage, reduce the cost of college education, improve alternative energy sources and end the war in Iraq.
She told the crowd that the Methodist church where they were gathered reminded her of the one she attended as a child in Illinois, which she considered "a great sign." Without mentioning Obama by name, she chided him for mocking her references to her previous work as first lady.
"When I talk about the '90s, one of my opponents says, 'There she goes again, talking about the past,' " Clinton said. "It's not like I'm talking about ancient Rome."
— Kathy Kiely
The V is not for fifth
WATERLOO — A joking, jovial Thompson stumped through eastern Iowa Wednesday.
The Republican former Tennessee senator held up two fingers in a "V" sign when asked what place he would be happy to finish on caucus night. Thompson sounded familiar themes of strength on national defense and electability during his stops here and in Mason City, Cedar Rapids and Davenport.
His speech at Beck's restaurant here drew a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 120 who gave him loud ovations and laughed at his jokes.
When his daughter Hayden, 4, started handing out "Fred08" ski caps to those in the front row, he said, "Honey, don't try to buy the voters yet."
— Bill Theobald Gannett News Service
Pursuing the undecideds
OSKALOOSA — Joseph Biden spent the day traveling by plane, van and SUV to blue-collar and rural communities in the eastern half of the state, hoping to sway the 30% of voters who aren't solid in their support of another candidate.
Playing off a Mark Twain quote — and perhaps his single-digit poll numbers — he told a group of about 80 at a restaurant here that "the reports of my death are premature."
The Delaware Democrat is competing for the second-tier candidates' trophy of fourth place to stay in the race. He told listeners he is best qualified to deal with world crises and take on Republicans. "I will eat these guys alive," he said.
— Nicole Gaudiano Gannett News Service
Looking for boost in N.H.
DAVENPORT — McCain returned to Iowa for a last-minute blitz aimed at a strong third-place finish and a boost in New Hampshire, which he hopes to win next week.
"This caucus tomorrow will be covered by every media outlet in the world because it's what democracy is all about," McCain said at an evening appearance at Assumption High School in this snow-covered eastern Iowa city on the Mississippi River.
A Des Moines Register poll released Monday found McCain moving into a distant third place behind GOP front-runners Huckabee and Romney. "There's many undecided voters who will be making up their minds in the last 24 hours, 48 hours, and that's why we are campaigning as hard as we can," McCain said after the event.
—Dan Nowicki The Arizona Republic
History of cooperation
AMES — Democrat Chris Dodd reminded an audience of about 200 at Lucullan's Italian Grill that Iowans play a huge role in picking the next president. As someone who moved his family here, he probably didn't need to.
The Connecticut senator, on a five-city sweep through the state, advised attendees to choose someone who has a history of working across party lines. "You've got to have leadership in this country that doesn't just demonize the other side," he said. "I think Americans are tired of demonization in politics," Dodd said to cheers.
— Jared Strong The Des Moines Register
Contributing: Doyle Rice