Iowa votes today: Bernie leads Biden

U.S. DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES

Iowa City, Feb. 2: Democratic candidates raced across Iowa on Sunday 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 vicepresident Joe Biden, among the field of several candidates feverishly criss-crossing 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 President Donald Trump in Washin-gton to rush to Iowa before Monday’s caucuses.

The senators — the selfstyled 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 created an unprecedented situation by limiting the senators’ ability to campaign in Iowa in the closing days before the state’s presidential caucuses.

Mr Sanders, Ms Warren and Ms Klobuchar have to return to Washington on Monday, along with Senator Michael Bennet who trails badly in the polls, for the trial’s resumption.