DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The Iowa caucus may end up a fight between Howard Dean and Richard A. Gephardt for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Dean, the former governor of Vermont, has spent the last two years campaigning through all 99 counties in Iowa and leads in polls heading into the caucus next week in what some are calling the most contested since 1988, the New York Times reported Sunday.
Gephardt, from neighboring Missouri, emerged the victor in the caucuses in 1988 and has moved aggressively to block a Dean victory in Iowa, the Times said.
However, polls indicate many Iowans remain undecided or less than committed to a Democratic candidate. A Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times poll found 40 percent of caucus goers said they had chosen a candidate but could still change their minds.
Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina are also campaigning hard in Iowa because coming in second or third could lift a candidacy going into New Hampshire a week later. Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut are not competing in Iowa.
Democratic leaders predict an Iowa turnout exceeding the 125,000 who participated in 1988.
