US presidential race gets hot

2007-12-30 22:47

Des Moines, Iowa - New polls on Sunday showed Democrats waging a desperate single-digit struggle four days before Iowa's leadoff US presidential nominating contest, and Republican Mitt Romney bouncing back.

Former Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards put on a spurt in one new survey, and Hillary Clinton led another, with Barack Obama closing out a nervy dead heat heading into Iowa's critical caucuses on Thursday.

Republican Mike Huckabee appeared to be sliding, under a withering barrage of Romney attack ads and a string of foreign policy stumbles, after shocking his rival by rocketing to the top of the pack in the state in recent weeks.

Clinton, despite consistently topping national surveys, has failed to break her rivals in Iowa, and said on Sunday even third place on Thursday would not spell disaster heading into the New Hampshire primary on January 8.

"I believe that this campaign will be bunched up, I think the history out of Iowa shows that a lot of people live to fight another day," Clinton told ABC News.

Obama denies roadblock

Obama, the charismatic senator vying to become America's first black president, paints Clinton as a symbol of fractured Washington politics, and denied that polls showed he had hit a roadblock.

"We are seeing unbelievable crowds that are two, three times what we are seeing in other campaigns," he told NBC.

"This is going to be a tight race, the polls are going to be bouncing up and down."

Edwards meanwhile assailed Clinton as a tool of corporate interests, and debunked her claim to be an agent of political change as she strives to make history as America's first woman leader.

"I absolutely believe, to my soul, that this corporate greed and corporate power has an iron-clad hold on our democracy," he told CBS.

"Senator Clinton defends the system in Washington ... I don't think you can defend a broken system and bring about the change that you need."

Edwards surged in an MSNBC/McClatchy poll in Iowa to lead by 24%, ahead of Clinton on 23% and Obama on 22%.

A Zogby survey in notoriously hard-to-poll Iowa however had Clinton on 31% - four points ahead of Obama. Edwards was back on 24%.

'Hucka-boom'

Two surveys of the splintered Republican field suggested Huckabee's stunning surge in Iowa, dubbed the "Hucka-boom," might be turning into a "Hucka-bust."

The MSNBC survey had Romney on 27% to 23% for Huckabee, with former senator Fred Thompson on 14%. Zogby had former Arkansas governor Huckabee still on top, but by 1% over Romney on 28%.

Given the narrow band separating top contenders on both sides, the twin victors on Thursday were likely to be decided by who manages to mobilise core supporters to show up to wintry Iowa's quirky caucus meetings.

Candidates blitzed on Sunday morning talk shows and attended church services before heading out for another exhausting day on the campaign trail.

Clinton went on the offensive over Obama's perceived lack of experience, hours after former president Bill Clinton issued a stark warning of national security dangers looming for the next US leader.

"I think my experience is unique, having been eight years in the White House, having, yes, been part of making history," Clinton said on ABC.

Last week, Obama said his history of living abroad as a child, and ethnically mixed background, gave him more insight into foreign affairs than simply having "tea" with diplomats abroad, a clear swipe at Clinton.

Fighting

Meanwhile negative attack ads assailed the airwaves with Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, fighting a two-front war in Iowa and New Hampshire, against Huckabee and McCain.

"McCain championed a bill to let every illegal immigrant stay in America permanently," the ad warned, hitting the Arizona senator for backing an ill-fated Senate bill which provided a long path to citizenship for illegals.

Illegal immigration is a boiling issue for Republicans, and helped drive down McCain this year. Recently though, the 71-year-old has been rising again, prompting one Iowa columnist Saturday to dub him "The Comeback Codger."

- AFP