Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
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Kraig Moss, a Donald Trump supporter touring Iowa ahead of the caucuses.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Getty Images)
It’s four days until the Iowa caucuses.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>There’s a Fox News debate tonight in Des Moines that several Republican candidates will attend.
Meanwhile, debate-sitter-outter Donald Trump plans to upend Fox's debate plans with an event of his own at the same time — and a couple of the undercard debaters even plan to attend.
It’s all bit convoluted. Let us help. Here’s what’s happened in Iowa on Thursday:
[h=2]The debate event, and the debate over Trump’s anti-debate event[/h]There may be<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a Trump-shaped hole in the center of Thursday’s debate, as the Republican front-runner planned to skip Fox News’ event after a multi-day spat about Fox’s debate moderator, Megyn Kelly.
Trump announced his own counter-event at Drake University. And then, Thursday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>morning, announced something curious:
Wow, two candidates called last night and said they want to go to my event tonight at Drake University.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
All was later revealed, as Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum – who won’t be in tonight’s main debate, anyway – revealed themselves as the two mystery candidatesauditioning as Trump’s vice president expressing their support for veterans.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate. He’s even booked a venue for it already on Saturday at the Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, he said.
Carly Fiorina, another Republican candidate who didn’t make Thursday’s prime-time debate,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>offered<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to donate $2 million to charity for the chance to debate Trump.
However, Jim Gilmore — a man many don't know is even running for president — said on MSNBC that he’ll join in none of this Trump nonsense.
Stay strong, Jim.
[h=2]An expert breaks down the current race in Iowa[/h]Des Moines Register columnist Kathie Obradovich lays it all out:
Trump’s big question is whether he can “convert enough star-struck celebrity watchers into bona fide caucusgoers to win on Monday,” she says.
The central question for Trump’s only visible threat, Ted Cruz, “isn’t whether his supporters will show up” but “whether there are enough of them to withstand Trump mania.”
For Democrats, an Iowa loss will hurt Hillary Clinton more than Bernie Sanders:
“If the best campaign organization that money can buy can’t hold off a Democratic socialist, she will be damaged goods …Yet even if Clinton loses Iowa, she’s poised to beat Sanders among black voters in South Carolina — another crucial early state.
"On the other hand, if Sanders loses Iowa in a close race, he could still win New Hampshire, and there may still be protracted difficult slog to the nomination.”
[h=2]Bernie’s healthy, at 74, and feels confident if Iowans show up[/h]Sanders on Thursday in Des Moines.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Joe Raedle)
"We are going to win Iowa if there is a large voter turnout," Sanders said Thursday. "If there's a low voter turnout, we'll be struggling."
What’s not struggling is Sanders’ health, which his doctor called “very good” in a report the campaign released Thursday.
[h=2]Muslims to Iowans: Please, no Trump[/h]The Muslim Public Affairs Council, billed as America’s largest advocacy group for U.S. Muslims, will place an open letter in 25,000 copies of the Register on Friday.
The letter clearly alludes to Donald Trump’s call for ban on Muslims, asking them to support “a vision that moves our country forward.”
Trump, meanwhile, Tweeted this clearly Photoshopped image on Thursday of a meme rated “mostly false” by Politifact:
Trump currently leads the Republicans field by 15 points or more.
Who’s in Iowa Friday?
Eight Republican candidates — Jim Gilmore not among them, sadly — and all three Democrats. See details for every event on the Register’s candidate tracker.
Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>@joshhafner
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