CANDIDATES COMPETING FOR the Democratic nomination in this year’s US presidential election will see the race heating up as Iowa makes its decision on who it wants to see take the title.
In a race that began almost a year ago when more than 20 people threw their hat in the ring, just 11 candidates remain.
Despite the historically diverse field consisting of men and women of color and young candidates with little Washington exposure, the leading candidates are Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.
Iowa’s all-important vote will likely whittle the field further as it provides the first verifiable results in a contest deciding the party’s future direction, and its 2020 flagbearer.
In a typical election year, Iowa absorbs the country’s full political attention. But this presidential cycle has been anything but normal.
Today will see those still standing cross swords at the caucus in Iowa, a swing state that Trump took from the Democrats in 2016.
That will be followed by the New Hampshire primary contest a week later and then in early March by Super Tuesday where there are votes in 15 territories on the same day. The final states vote in June.
Perhaps the most significant to fall by the wayside before the voters had their say is Kamala Harris, the California prosecutor who was seen as an early favourite but failed to make an impact.
The Democrat party is still licking its wounds from its defeat in 2016 when Trump confounded the pollsters with a comfortable electoral college victory over Hillary Clinton, winning several key states from the Democrats, notably in the “rust belt” which covers the mid-west states that were formerly known for their heavy industry.
Looming over the process is Trump’s impeachment saga, which is coming to a climax on the same week Iowa votes.
A final vote on Trump’s fate, with acquittal almost certain in the Republican-led Senate, occurs Wednesday.
With reporting from AFP. © – AFP 2019
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