PREVIEW - Iowa Caucuses Give Start To US Presidential Race

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2020) Both major American parties start on Monday selecting their nominees to run for US President, holding in the state of Iowa closely watched Republican and Democratic caucuses, the first voting contests of the 2020 race.

The stand-off in the rural, landlocked, predominantly white territory, hardly a representative of the nation as a whole, has a symbolic meaning of the official kick-off of the election season and offers an initial gauge of the public sentiment after months of canvassing and debating. The nomination campaign will continue with primaries and caucuses in 49 other states and the District of Columbia, and the battle royale of the national conventions, held by both parties in summer.

Donald Trump's reelection bid faces little competition from two other Republican candidates, Joe Walsh and William Weld, with the impeachment hurdle all but eliminated as the Senate refused to subpoena new witnesses and set the final vote for Wednesday, expected to wrap up the saga with the complete exoneration of the incumbent over his dealings with Ukraine.

In a far tighter Democratic race, featuring 11 politicians, former Vice President Joe Biden is neck and neck with Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, an advocate of Medicare for all and free college schooling, recent opinion polls suggest.

Republicans and Democrats have different sets of rules for their caucuses in Iowa. The former vote secretly by writing a name on a piece of paper. The latter gathers at 1,678 precincts across the state to physically break into groups in support of their candidates. Groups accounting for less than 15 percent of the turnout are determined "nonviable", but in the second round can team up with other voters to pass the threshold and secure their candidates a proportionate share of the Iowan representation at the Democratic national convention.

The outcome of the Iowa caucuses is historically more predictive for Democrats. In case of contested races they have awarded the nomination to seven out of 10 state victors since 1972, but only two of them - Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama - made it to the White House. Among Republicans, three of eight winners have received the national nomination with just one, George W. Bush, eventually becoming US President.