US Democrats make final push ahead of Iowa votes

Democratic candidates race across Iowa in a last-minute flurry of rallies and handshakes ahead of the state’s nominating vote that marks the official start of the US presidential election season.

Iowa has traditionally served as a vital launching point — or burial ground — for presidential hopefuls. But Monday’s caucuses have created an air of suspense, with no clear frontrunner.

Leftist senator Bernie Sanders holds only a narrow lead over former vice president Joe Biden, among the field of several candidates feverishly crisscrossing the rural Midwestern state of three million people.

Three of the leading candidates seized on a brief break from their duties as jurors in the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump in Washington to rush to Iowa before Monday’s caucuses.

The senators — the self-styled democratic socialist Sanders, progressive Elizabeth Warren and moderate Amy Klobuchar — each had meet and greets and other events planned for Sunday after a Saturday that was just as hectic.

The impeachment trial — only the third in history of a US president — created an unprecedented situation by limiting the senators’ ability to campaign in Iowa in the closing days before the state’s presidential caucuses.

— AFP