US:Only two dozen people showed up at the local museum in Winterset, Iowa, birthplace of John Wayne and home to the bridges of Madison County, to hear about Hillary Clinton on Friday night, but campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe was satisfied.
"I've been to some of these where there are two or three people. There are 1,750 caucuses. It's happened that only one person has shown up to a caucus," he said.
Iowa's caucus on January 3rd is earlier than it has ever been, as dozens of states have moved their primaries into the first weeks of the year in the hopes of dislodging Iowa and New Hampshire as "first in the nation".
New Hampshire has not yet set a date, but it is expected to vote on January 8th, with Nevada, Michigan, Florida and South Carolina also voting in January. On February 5th, more than 20 states - including heavyweights California and New York - will vote, probably determining who the nominees for each party will be. "I'll remind you that Bill Clinton did not announce for the presidency until October 3rd, 1991. We got in on January 20th because of the early calendar. Jack Kennedy didn't get in until January 1960," Mr McAuliffe said.
If other states hoped to diminish the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire by moving their primaries forward, the opposite appears to have happened. Mr McAuliffe said Ms Clinton was the only candidate who could afford to lose Iowa and remain a viable contender for the Democratic nomination.
"I think for some of the other candidates, it's a must-win," he said. "If they don't do well here, they're gone."