DES MOINES, Iowa/ COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa, (Reuters) – Republi-cans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz battled yesterday to persuade their supporters to turn out and tried to lower expectations on how well they will do in the first U.S. presidential nominating contest in Iowa today.
Iowa will set the tone in the race for the Nov. 8 election, offering the first measure of how strong outsider candidates like billionaire businessman Trump and democratic socialist Bernie Sanders stand against more traditional politicians like Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
The day before Iowa’s caucuses, Trump and Cruz, a senator from Texas and conservative Tea Party favorite, reflected anxiety about the unpredictability of the race in the Midwestern state as they and other candidates made their final pitches at rallies across Iowa.
A Des Moines Register/ Bloomberg News poll of Iowa voters released on Saturday showed Trump in the lead among Republi-cans with 28 percent, Cruz second at 23 percent and Rubio in third with 15 percent.
In the western Iowa city of Council Bluffs, Trump brought his wife and daughter on stage and implored Republicans to pick him, noting that Iowa’s 2008 winner, Mike Huckabee, and 2012 victor Rick Santorum both ultimately failed to win the Republican nomination.
“You have a lousy record – 16 years you haven’t picked a winner. Please pick a winner this time,” he said.
In Iowa City, Cruz urged about 500 supporters crammed into a building at the county fairgrounds to turn out to the caucuses if they wanted to help him break the cycle of politics as usual in Washington.
“Join us, commit tomorrow night to come out and caucus for us. Stand up and speak for us. If we stand together, we will win,” he said.
Among Democrats, Clinton, a former secretary of state, senator and first lady, clung to a narrow 45 percent to 42 percent lead over Sanders, putting the senator from Vermont in position for a potential upset win that would be a harsh blow to Clinton.
Sanders took a jab at Clinton’s electability, pointing to the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server as evidence of potential damage to her campaign. Sanders, on ABC’s “This Week,” said it was a serious issue for Clinton.
Although Clinton spent much of her time at a rally in Council Bluffs contrasting her vision with those of the Republican candidates, she said that while she and Sanders shared the goal of achieving universal healthcare, he had a “different view” of how to accomplish it.
