Iowa kicks off presidential campaign

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Democrats were meeting at caucus sites around the state on Monday, kicking off what could be a bruising months-long national nominating fight to choose a November election challenger to Republican US President Donald Trump.

Voters poured into more than 1,600 schools, community centers and other public locations to render judgment on a field of 11 Democratic contenders led by front-runners Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former vice-president Joe Biden, who have battled for the top in recent Iowa opinion polls.

Long lines and heavy crowds were reported in some locations, but doors to the caucus sites closed at 7 pm (8 pm ET Tuesday), and caucus-goers began organizing for the tally.

Mostly white, rural Iowa is the first test in the state-by-state battle to pick a Democratic nominee to face Trump in the Nov 3 election. After more than a year of campaigning and more than $800 million in spending, the results in Iowa could begin to provide answers for a party desperately trying to figure out how to beat the businessman-turned-president.

Do voters want someone with appeal to centrists, independents and disaffected Republicans, like moderates Biden, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Senator Amy Klobuchar of neighboring Minnesota?

Or should the party choose a candidate who energizes its liberal base and could bring out new voters, like progressives Sanders and fellow Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts?

Because voters could register as late as Monday, the caucuses could draw a late surge of attendees, especially among independent voters or Republicans turned off by Trump.

At the caucus sites, voters gathered in groups by candidate preference in a public display of support. If a candidate did not reach a threshold of support of 15 percent of voters in a caucus, the total needed to be considered viable, that candidates' supporters were released to back another contender, leading to a further round of persuasion.

"We need a candidate who can bring our party together," Warren told a caucus at a high school in Des Moines. "We need all our Democrats united. Most of all, you need someone who's going to inspire people: Democrats, independents and Republicans."

Even if one candidate wins by a commanding margin in Iowa, Democrats may still lack clear answers as the race moves on to the other three early voting states of New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina later in February.

Whoever remains in the race by Super Tuesday on March 3, when 15 states and territories vote, will also confront billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is skipping the early states in favor of focusing on states rich in delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.

Sanders, who finished in a virtual dead heat with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in Iowa during his first presidential run in 2016, surged recently in many Iowa polls to move just ahead of Biden.

Warren and Buttigieg remain within striking distance, and many polls showed a big bloc of undecided Iowa voters, creating the potential for upsets and late surges.

Iowa state party officials are expecting a record turnout, exceeding the nearly 240,000 voters who attended the caucuses in 2008, amid the excitement over Barack Obama's first presidential candidacy.

Beating Trump was the prime consideration for voters as they entered the caucus, according to a poll of 745 Iowa Democrats conducted by the National Election Pool. Six in 10 caucus-goers said they wanted someone who can beat Trump, while 4 in 10 wanted a nominee who agrees with them on major issues.

During final rallies across the state, all the contenders made their cases for why they would be the best choice to beat Trump.

Biden touted his experience after decades in elected office, most notably a track record of achieving progressive goals through bipartisan relationships with lawmakers.

"He is scared to death to run against me, and he has good reason to be concerned," Biden said of Trump during a rally in Muscatine, Iowa. Accompanied by his wife, Jill, Biden greeted supporters and said he was "feeling good" as he delivered pizza to volunteers at a field office in Des Moines on Monday.

REUTERS