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Clinton took the stage for a campaign stop in Indianola, Iowa
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January 03, 2008, 07:45
White House hopefuls dashed across Iowa in a hunt for votes today, with Hillary Clinton and her two top rivals scrambling to avoid third place in a tight opening round of voting for the US Democratic presidential nomination. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee took divergent paths to Thursday's showdown in Iowa: Romney chased support in frigid Iowa, while Huckabee flew to sunny California for a television appearance on comedian Jay Leno's Tonight Show
Clinton, a New York senator, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards are in a three-way battle among Democrats. A third-place finish for any of them would be a serious setback, slowing their momentum and raising doubts about the future of their campaigns. Edwards swiped at corporate greed in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, and all three Democrats paid to air closing messages on Iowa television.
"If you stand with me for one night, I will stand up for you every day as your president," Clinton told voters in a two-minute message airing on Iowa television stations in the evening, before tomorow night's caucuses. 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 showed the races on both sides essentially deadlocked.
Clinton and Obama were tied among Democrats at 28% with Edwards close behind in a statistical dead heat at 26%. Huckabee led Romney by two points, well within the poll's margin of error, with Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson tied for a distant third. The Democratic caucus begins at 6:30 p.m. CST (7:30 EST, 0030 GMT), with Republicans starting 30 minutes later. Results could begin to appear within an hour or two.
The US presidential race is the most wide open in a half-century, with no sitting president or vice president running for the first time since 1952. Clinton, Obama and Edwards dashed back and forth across the state to ask supporters to show up for them tomorrow. - Reuters
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