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DAVENPORT, Iowa - White House hopefuls dashed across Iowa in a fevered hunt for support yesterday, with top Democrats pounding home their closing messages on the last day of three-way dogfight that is too close to call.
"If you stand with me for one night, I will stand up for you every day as your president," New York Sen. Hillary Clinton told voters in a two-minute message to air on Iowa television stations in the evening, before Thursday night's caucuses.
Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee took divergent paths toward their Iowa showdown - Romney chased votes in frigid Iowa, while Huckabee flew to sunny California for a television appearance on comedian Jay Leno's "Tonight Show."
"We'll still be campaigning, in the meantime more people will see me in Iowa on Jay Leno tonight," said Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor. Leno's show is the top-rated late-night talk show on US television.
"I guess he's more focused on the caucus in L.A. than the caucus in Iowa," countered Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
Iowa is the first test of the state-by-state battle to choose presidential candidates in November's election, and a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll on Wednesday showed the races on both sides essentially deadlocked.
Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama were tied among Democrats at 28 per cent, with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards close behind in a statistical dead heat at 26 per cent.
Huckabee led Romney by two points, well within the poll's margin of error, with Arizona Sen. John McCain a distant third.
The Democratic caucus begins at 6:30 p.m. CST, with Republicans starting 30 minutes later. Results could begin to appear within an hour or two.
Clinton, Obama and Edwards all bought time on Iowa television stations to offer closing messages to voters on Wednesday night, and dashed back and forth across the state to ask supporters to show up for them on Thursday.
Change the world
"I promise you this - we will not just win the caucus, we will win the primary, we will win the general election and we will change this nation and change the world," Obama told a rally in Davenport.
Edwards, in the midst of a 36-hour marathon sprint around the state, campaigned through the night. He has been inching up in polls and drawn fire from both Clinton and Obama recently.
"We are excited by your energy and enthusiasm. We are sort of running on adrenalin right now," he told an audience of several dozen supporters who crowded into a home in Centerville at 5:15 a.m. CST. "But we feel very good about how things are going."
He later said that he'd grabbed about one hour of sleep and toothpicks were propping up his eyes.
McCain, who has largely bypassed Iowa to focus on next Tuesday's primary contest in New Hampshire, is rising in polls in both states.
He returned to Iowa on Wednesday after campaigning in New Hampshire earlier in the day with Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent Democrat who has endorsed him.
"We like the enthusiasm, we're moving forward and we're happy with the progress we're making and we're eagerly looking forward to next Tuesday," McCain said during a visit to a New Hampshire diner.
He launched a web ad attacking Romney for his comment that if the job of president required foreign policy experience, Americans could get someone from the State Department.
"These are serious times. America needs a president who is serious about foreign policy. John McCain is he one man prepared to lead America in a time of crisis," the ad says.
Romney, campaigning in Bettendorf, Iowa, responded: "If you want a leader, and a person who's led in critical times and in critical ways, I think I fit the bill."
Campaigning in New Hampshire, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani called for a doubling of US combat troops in Afghanistan as part of a broader military expansion.
"We need to bring a surge to Afghanistan and make it effective right now," he said in Wolfeboro. He was referring to the increase of US troops in Iraq credited with dampening violence there.
Giuliani, who has not focused on Iowa to concentrate on later voting states, has seen his poll numbers decline nationally and in the states in recent weeks.
- REUTERS
