December 3, 2007 7:29 AM
One month and 'That'll be the day...'
View image Photos by M.E. Sprengelmeyer
With exactly one month left until the Iowa precinct caucuses, there will be virtually no more quiet days on the campaign trail.
In Clear Lake, Iowa, where the sidewalks are covered in sheets of thick ice, folks are awaiting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's rally inside the famed Surf Ballroom -- the place where Buddy Holly and friends played their final gig before a tragic plane crash on Feb. 2, 1959.
In separate appearances in Iowa on Sunday, Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama stepped up their war of words, and that could flare again.
But today, Clinton's main goal is to rally supporters, encourage them to drag their buddies to the caucuses on Jan. 3, 2008, and keep spreading their word that the ideosycratic caucus system is "easy" for first-time participants.
Elsewhere in the state, Obama, former Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Joe Biden all have events scheduled today, and a radio debate is set for Tuesday in Des Moines.
Right now at the Surf Ballroom, campaign workers are steaming the wrinkles out of a giant American flag. Behind it is the stage where a surging Republican candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, played bass with his band, Capitol Offense, on Oct. 26 -- right around the time his campaign began picking up fundraising momentum and media attention.
Today, Huckabee is barnstorming in central Iowa on the heels of a new Des Moines Register poll showing he had overtaken the longtime Iowa leader, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in the polls here.
Watch "Back Roads to the White House" for updates throughout the day -- and during this final, 31-day push to the Iowa finish line.
December 3, 2007
8:00 PM
The Real Sporer writes:
Hillary is dead in Iowa, barring a major Obama mistake.
Mitt is holding steady but Huck might pass him (no great insight there). The surprise might be Rudy.
Rudy could finish a lot stronger here than polls presently indicate. Although Huck's surge is very real, Rudy is running a very clever sunterranean campaign here.