Will first-time caucus goers actually show up?
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Hattie Irving, an 81-year-old Iowa native, has never taken part in her state's caucuses, but she plans to this year
- for Hillary Rodham Clinton. It will be 27-year-old Brad Smith's first time, too, and he'll be standing up for Barack Obama.
The Democratic front-runners are counting on a lot of first-timers to show up.
Hers are grayer and generally female. His tend to be younger and male.
Experts say gambling on either group is risky.
"No matter how much hoopla surrounds the caucuses, the people who show up tend to be the party regulars," said Hugh Winebrenner, an emeritus professor and caucus historian at Iowa's Drake University.
Strategists for Clinton and Obama are working hard to dispel that notion. They say older women will turn out to help elect the first female president, that young folks will show up for the young man who's energized their political interest.
They also concede that John Edwards' strength among experienced caucus goers gives him a significant leg up. He's been working hard at this in Iowa since the 2004 campaign.
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Giuliani reads to kids, says he's cancer free
NEW YORK (AP) - Rudy Giuliani read a beloved Christmas story to youngsters in Harlem on Monday, assuring them that Santa Claus is alive and well. He said he, too, was in good health after last week's scare.
"I'm perfectly healthy. I don't have cancer," Giuliani told reporters after his annual reading of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" at New York's Hale House, a residence for needy children.
Giuliani, who had prostate cancer seven years ago, was hospitalized last week in St. Louis after suffering what he described as a headache so severe his campaign plane turned back less than 10 minutes after takeoff.
The former New York mayor canceled some events but was back campaigning in New Hampshire over the weekend, where he told reporters he had been tested and given a clean bill of health.
In response to renewed questions Monday, Giuliani said his PSA level was measured just three weeks ago and was "zero or negligible." High PSA levels can mean cancer. He said his doctor would issue a full report soon.
Giuliani has read the Christmas story - better known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
- to children at the Hale House for 12 years. He promised that if he's elected president, he would still return to read the Clement Moore classic.
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Dodd spends Christmas Eve assembling packages for troops
CARROLL, Iowa (AP) - Most of the presidential candidates took a brief holiday break from Iowa, but Democrat Chris Dodd remained in the state and spent part of Christmas Eve packing items for National Guard troops.
The Connecticut senator and his wife, Jackie, joined local volunteers in a Carroll park to assemble the packages, which will be shipped to Iowa troops overseas.
Campaign spokeswoman Taylor West said Dodd has a tradition of taking part in such work during the holidays.
"When he's in Connecticut, he always does service projects around the holidays, and he wanted to bring that tradition to Iowa," West said.
After assembling the packages, Dodd and his family were returning to their rented home in Des Moines to celebrate Christmas.
Dodd, who has moved his family to Iowa to focus on the state's leadoff precinct caucuses, was the only candidate with campaign events planned in the state Monday or Tuesday. A flood of candidates will return Wednesday for a final sprint to the Jan. 3 caucuses.
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Dying Iowa voter confronts candidates
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - In October of last year, Kathy Stangl received a devastating prognosis: Doctors told her she had only a few months to live. She's still around and doing what comes naturally to Iowans
- meeting presidential candidates.
"I just think we have a unique opportunity here. It's a rare privilege to talk to everybody running," said Stangl, a 56-year-old mother of two from Des Moines who has an incurable lung disease. "I see the caucuses as a big round-robin open-table job interview. Why should we hesitate to ask any questions?"
