Backgrounder: Major events leading up to 2008 U.S. presidential race
Backgrounder: U.S. presidential nomination process and Iowa caucus
Backgrounder: Key players in 2008 U.S. presidential race
Profiles: U.S. 2008 presidential primaries, caucuses forerunners
Calender: U.S. 2008 presidential primary, caucus
By Yang Qingchuan
DES MOINES, the United States, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The battle for the next U.S. presidency started probably by the end of November 2006, but the first real test will come on the night of Jan. 3 in the midwestern state of Iowa.
Pre-election polls can reflect strength of a candidate, but some results are conflicting and polls are not real elections anyway. With all the major candidates making final pushes in Iowa Wednesday, three latest polls showed no clear leader in the state in the run-up to Thursday's caucuses.
The final Des Moines register poll before caucuses showed among Democrats, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is leading with 32 percent, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with 25 percent and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) with 24 percent.
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Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Jan. 2, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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On the GOP side, former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee is leading former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney with 32 percent-26 percent in Iowa, followed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) with 13 percent.
However, a CNN poll shows Clinton at 33 percent; Obama at 31 percent and Edwards at 22 percent. On the GOP side, the poll has Romney at 31 percent and Huckabee at 28 percent, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) at 13 percent, McCain at 10 percent and former mayor of New YOrk Rudy Giuliani, 8 percent.
A GAME TOO CLOSE TO CALL
With the competitions in both parties still too close to call, the leading candidates raced between colleges and small towns to make their last pitches. On the Republican side, Romney flew two dozen reporters across Iowa for a series of events, ending a hyper-organized Hawkeye State effort that is now threatened by Huckabee's unconventional campaign.
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U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate and former Senator John Edwards (D-NC) campaigns at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa Jan. 1, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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Democratic front-runners Clinton, Obama and Edwards closed out their year-long debate on experience vs change. All of the candidates exhibited exhaustion and a bit of desperation -- the natural outcomes of a presidential campaign that began earlier and with more intensity than ever before but one that has not produced an obvious front-runner on either side.
As the candidates sprinted for the finish line, there was an unmistakable intensity gap between the parties.
In Coralville, near the University of Iowa, about 1,500 Iowans packed into a hotel ballroom on Wednesday afternoon for Obama. Meanwhile, Clinton wooed 1,000 in nearby Cedar Rapids. The Republican candidates had far smaller crowds. Romney, for example, spoke to about 75 people at an elementary school and then held a rally in a Cedar Rapids airport with about 50 supporters.
Iowa carries traditional political weight to 2008 presidential race
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Over 300 million Americans and more around the world are closely watching a U.S. Midwestern state with a size of no more than 150,000 square meters and population of less than 3 million where the primaries of the 2008 presidential elections started.
Roundup: U.S. Democratic presidential frontrunners seal campaign in Iowa
DES MOINES, IOWA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential candidates wrapped up their marathon campaigns in Iowa on Wednesday night as the state caucuses loom.
Democratic forerunners -- Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards -- grasped every last minute to reach out to voters through television advertisements ahead of Thursday's caucuses in Iowa.
