US elections: it all starts in Iowa
Updated on 02 January 2008
Who will be the next President of the United States? The first votes in the process are cast and all eyes are on Iowa.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the voting had already begun...
But it is only tomorrow that the very first electoral test of candidates for the Presidency of the United States will take place, here in the rural midwest state of Iowa.
Anyone's a winner
It's an improbable place to start the search for a person who will have to deal with Iraq, the Middle East, Kenya, Pakistan and global warming.
Not since 1952 has America faced a choice in which no candidate hade ever served in the White House. It's wide open.
Who's leading?
In the polls for the Democrats, Senator Barak Obama is neck and neck with former first lady Hilary Clinton.
For the Republicans, former heavyweight preacher and governor, Mike Huckabee is in the lead with former Governor and practicing Mormon, Mitt Romney.
So tomorrow, party supporters here get to decide - in a highly complex and arcane procedure called a caucus.
It's a gathering in homes or public buildings to vote in a sort of knockout contest until a final winner emerges.
The race for the White House has well and truly begun.
