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Candidates swarmed the state of Iowa in person and on television today in advance of Thursday's caucuses, which could give new meaning to the term "front-runner" in the most open presidential race in 80 years.

Campaigns were in closing-argument mode in a state where the electorate traditionally stays home. Though Iowa has a population of nearly 3 million, only 124,000 of them caucused for Democrats in 2004, and in 2000, the last competitive GOP race, only 90,000 caucused for Republicans. This year, the first time both parties have had open contests without an incumbent president or incumbent vice president running for the office, interest is high.

Predictions, however, are difficult. The polls are all over the place. Among Democrats, a Des Moines Register poll showed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama leading New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 32% to 25%, but a CNN poll found Clinton leading Obama 33% to 31%.

Among Republicans, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was leading former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the CNN poll, 31% to 28%, but the Register poll showed Huckabee leading Romney 32% to 26%.

Clinton, capping a $6.6-million TV campaign, purchased two minutes of air time in every Iowa market tonight for a last-minute appeal. In the ad, Clinton says, "After all the town meetings, the pie and coffee, it all comes down to this: Who is ready to be president and ready to start solving the big challenges we face on Day 1?"

Fellow Democratic hopeful and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, pitching a populist agenda, is pulling an all-nighter, spending 36 hours before the tally on what his campaign calls "a marathon for the middle class."

Several Democratic campaigns began positioning for the second ballot. Under Democratic caucus rules, if a candidate falls below the 15% threshold in a precinct, his backers are invited to vote for a different candidate on the second ballot.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland told his backers to caucus for Obama on the second ballot. The three top candidates are appealing to the others in the race to endorse them on the second ballot, a practice Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd called unfortunate. "I'm opposed to making any deals to support other candidates," he said on MSNBC.

On the Republican side, Huckabee announced plans to leave Iowa today to fly to California to tape "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," the late-night comic's first broadcast since the writers strike sidelined him. Huckabee took a jab at Romney in an early-morning appearance: "People knew my father from the shipyard -- not Har-vard," he said.

Huckabee, whose surging campaign has benefited from an avalanche of coverage in traditional media, nonetheless railed against "East Coast pundits" and the "chattering class," who don't want him to win, he said. Of the possibility of victory here, he said, "I know it will really upset the chattering class."

Arizona Sen. John McCain is showing a TV ad with a graphic image of a terrorist attack, reminding voters that he is a stalwart defender of the war in Iraq with more foreign policy credentials than the other candidates.

And Romney, stumping in house parties, has been saying that he and his wife would not embarrass the nation with their behavior in the White House, like "in the Clinton years."

In an interview with CNN, Romney said he and his wife, Ann, would "try and represent ourselves and our nation well ... [because] there have been failures in the past in the White House -- if you go back to the Clinton years and recognize that -- that I think had an enormous impact on the culture of our country."

Without mentioning President Bill Clinton's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Romney said, "We'll do our very best, our whole family will, to, well, if we can't be perfect, we'll do our best to uphold and be a good example for the kinds of values I think people expect from our leaders."

With reporters on her campaign bus still buzzing over daughter Chelsea's refusal to talk to a 9-year-old reporter from Scholastic News, Hillary Clinton surprised her traveling press corps by delivering coffee and bagels to the bus, noting, "We tried to get New York bagels."

Bill Clinton, stumping for his wife Tuesday in Clinton, Iowa, lamented that he usually spent New Year's Day as a couch potato, watching college football.

"As I was walking out to come here, Hillary looked at me and said, 'Finally, after all these years, I know you do love me.' And I said, 'You do?' She said, 'Absolutely -- you're missing six football games today."

Clinton laughed along with about 300 people at Ashford University, then added:

"I am the quintessential indolent American male on New Year's Day. I just sit around and watch the games, but this is more important."

Weather reports predicted a cold but clear night for the caucuses Thursday. Still, most campaigns, fueled by staff and volunteer forces, offered to help voters get to their polling places.

"We'll shovel your walk, we'll baby-sit your kids," said Clinton campaign manager Terry McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, on MSNBC. "We'll be there for you because she'll be there for you."

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