Iowa Republican Caucus LIVE: Follow Daily Mail’s coverage as thousands brave the state’s deep freeze to vote with Trump heading for a blowout win

People are arriving at a caucus site at Fellows Elementary School in Ames, Iowa

Voters are streaming into precincts across the state.

Here, Toni Justice of Glenwood, signs in to caucus at the Mineola Community Center in Mineola, Iowa,

At another caucus site in Ames, Iowa, people waited in line.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to hit two caucus sites in Dubuque, Iowa, this evening during voting, which is set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET.

Dubuque is near the Mississippi River in the northeast part of the state.

The location is notable since Donald Trump was the only Republican to win the county since 1956.

All eyes will be on the outcome of the Dubuque County this evening as a sign of momentum.

After months of campaigning it is crunch time.

The doors to over 1,600 caucus sites across Iowa are opening and voters are arriving.

Here, caucus worker Michelle White checks in voters at a site in the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa.

Donald Trump was tucked away inside his Des Moines for the first half of Monday, dispatching an army of MAGA supporters from Congress to help rally Iowans to the caucuses.

Temperatures were hovering around 2 degrees when Trump left his Des Moines hotel, but with a warning in effect, the wind chill made it feel like -14. Trump wore his regular wool overcoat, although longtime aide Dan Scavino posted a modified image of the former president bundled up in a parka urging Iowans to get to the caucuses.

Trump had his political surrogates around the state, after a blizzard sidelined his Saturday rally.

Several of them posed for quick videos in front of Iowa‘s snowy terrain, including Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Johnson, who cleared some snow that was blocking a Trump road sign.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is also here campaigning for Trump, posted images along with his wife, Ginger, in Fort Dodge.

Camron Barth, a 37-year-old 911 dispatcher, told DailyMail.com at a DeSantis event in Grimes, Iowa, he is on a ‘political vacation’ and flew to Iowa after a stop in New Hampshire.

The Seattle, Washington, native was at a DeSantis event in Grimes when Republican Rep. Chip Roy started dissing Haley.

Barth interrupted by shouting: ‘We like her too’.

The Seattle, Washington, native is sure of one thing: Haley and DeSantis are a step up from Trump, and he would be ‘delighted’ if anyone else were the GOP nominee.

‘He is very petulant and bad for the Republican Party,’ he said of the frontrunner.

Haley is his favorite, and he believes she is a candidate who millennials will flock to.

Candidates are putting the finishing touches on their caucus night events with 30 minutes until precincts open across Iowa.

Voting will start at 7pm Central Time (8pm ET) in the first official contest of the the Republican primary.

Results from smaller sites could be available in as little as 30 minutes. If Trump is ahead by a wide margin, we could know the winner in a couple of hours.

Gary Leffler owns the ‘Patriotic Tractor,’ and is a Trump precinct captain based in West Des Moines. 

His job is encouraging others to get to their caucus site on Monday night and vote for the former president.

He will be in charge of precinct 118 and speak on behalf of Trump before the votes are cast.

The 62-year-old previously ran for Congress in Iowa‘s 3rd Congressional district but lost in the primary.

He told DailyMail.com last week the Trump campaign has been far more organized in Iowa this year than in 2016 and 2020.

This effort has given Leffler the confidence to bet on Trump winning by up to 30 points.

‘I’ve got a couple of steak dinners on that one. I think I’m going to win,’ Leffler told DailyMail.com at an event for Donald Trump Jr. in Urbandale.

‘Trump’s gonna end up with between 48 and 50 [percent of the votes] and DeSantis is gonna come in right around 20,’ he predicts.

‘Nikki Haley’s gonna come in right around 20 and my surprise guy is going to be Vivek at 15,’ he added.

Concerns are high that Trump’s massive lead in the polls and the life-threatening cold will make supporters want to stay home.

DailyMail.com reporter Katelyn Caralle caught the jab at Ron DeSantis by the former president’s son at a Iowa pub.

‘Who thinks it’s acceptable for men to be wearing high heels while running for the Republican nomination? No one cares if he’s short! You’re so insecure about it that you have to overcompensate? That’s the stuff that gets us into wars.’

Longshot 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he has a ‘shot’ at winning in Iowa tonight.

The Republican hopeful is currently polling at 8 percent, according to a recent survery.

The NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows that it is Nikki Haley who continues her rise, cutting slightly into Trump’s lead and giving her a clear second place with 20 percent.

And Gov. Ron DeSantis received a solid 16 percent, putting Vivek solidly in fourth place.

Trump’s 48 percent lead puts him as the expected winner of the evening.

Nevertheless, Vivek is confident that he could pull out a win in the midwest state.

‘We have a very reasonable shot at winning. I think we’re going to shock, I’m certainly [going to] shock the expectations,’ he said during a NewsNation interview Monday.

Donald Trump writes on Truth Social: ‘Nikki Haley can never win in the General Election because she doesn’t have MAGA, and never will!

‘Ron DeSanctimonious, at least, is MAGA-Lite. Remember, I think MAGA is almost ALL of the Republican Party. The days of the RINOS and non-AMERICA FIRST candidates are OVER!’

Nikki Haley’s husband Michael is deployed in Africa.

He was able to get an email to her telling her he would be out of communication.

Haley says he is like her ‘right arm’ and she hopes to hear from him today.

‘I am so proud of him. He is the middle of a lot of stuff. As pou know the world is on fire.

‘So he hasn’t had access to communicattion for a few days. We pray that he comes home safely. We are going to push through and continue on like every military family does.’

Donald Trump said he was predicting a ‘trememdous night’ as left his Des Moines hotel on Monday just hours before the Iowa caucus.

‘We’ve won it twice as you know,’ the former president, 77, told reporters.

‘I think we’re going to have tremendous night tonight. The people are fantastic. I’ve never seen spirit like they have.’

Trump lost the Iowa caucuses to Ted Cruz in 2016 and they were a formality in 2020 as he was in the White House.

Supporters have said his campaign presence has been greater than eight years ago, and strategists believe this could give him more of an edge over his rivals.

Donald Trump’s former staffer is vowing to work against his old boss if he captures the GOP nomination.

Scaramucci is most famous for serving as the White House Director of Communications for just 11 days under former president Donald Trump.

‘If Donald Trump is the nominee, I’m a patriot first, Jim, I’m a partisan second,’ Scaramucci said to CNN’s Jim Acosta.

‘This is a battle for the American democracy. This is a battle for freedom. When someone’s telling you they’re going to flex and be a dictator on day one and go after their adversaries, this is against the 200-plus-year experiment of America.’

He went on to say that it might be time to ‘help’ Democrats if Trump is the eventual GOP nominee.

Campaign operatives for Vivek Ramaswamy are taking to social media to lament his complete ‘erasure’ off election results tracking sites, including the New York Times.

Communications Director Tricia McLaughlin took to X to accuse the Times of trying to ’tilt the scales’ by keeping Vivek off their election landing page.

In addition, Vivek slammed Fox News for keeping him off a graphic designed to tally the caucus results in a county-by-county breakdown.

The map only included Trump, Haley and DeSantis.

‘I was in the Fox News studio in Des Moines this morning and noticed something interesting: they forgot one candidate tonight. I’ll trust them to fix it.’

Nikki Haley made a pitstop in a bakery during the frigid conditions with just hours until the Iowa caucuses began.

With a coffee in hand she spoke to workers at The Bread Board in Pella to try and snap up final votes.

She is second in the polls and expected to battle with Ron DeSantis, behind Donald Trump.

A reminder of how the candidates stand in the polls in Iowa.

The widely watched final statewide poll from the Des Moines Register newspaper came out on Saturday night.

Figures for TV advertising show it is Nikki Haley who has spent most down the stretch.

Around $4.6 million has gone on p[ro-Haley adverts.

That’s well over doble what has been spent on DeSantis and Trump ads.

The Florida governor posted a caucus day photograph with some of his volunteers

Lake has been mentioned as a possible Trump running mate.

Donald Trump ally Kari Lake has urged Iowans to remember the former president’s booking photo from his arrest in Georgia when they caucus on Monday night.

The Arizona Republican, who has just launched a Senate run, has been in the Hawkeye State campaigning and drumming up support.

She wrote on Twitter: ‘When you go to Caucus later today, REMEMBER this photo. Remember everything this man endures for US. Remember everything he’s done to Save America before & just IMAGINE all he will do to Save Her again.’

DailyMail.com political reporter Katelyn Caralle is in Iowa waiting for Donald Trump. Jr and fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle to speak to supporters, just hours before the caucus begins.

Shelley and Abe and Kat Cunningham showed up donning the white ‘Trump Caucus Captain’ hats the MAGA faithful are looking to get their hands on.

They enjoyed a drink in Whisky River, a bar in Ankney decorated with moose heads and bras hanging from the ceiling.

Caucus captains have been picked to drum up support for their candidates during the crucial voting process this evening.

Shelley and Abe are captains for Trump in Pleasant Hill.

Kat is in Johntson and said Trump’s campaign has been ‘more organized and enthusiatic than ever’ this year.

The former president is expected to deliver remarks to supporters after a winner is declared in the Iowa caucuses.

The voting will begin at 7pm Central Time (8pm Eastern Time) in the first official event of the GOP race for the White House.

Donald Trump enters as the favorite with a resounding 28-point lead in the latest poll.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will fly straight to South Carolina after Monday’s Iowa caucuses instead of heading to New Hampshire, which holds the next primary, in an effort to vanquish rival Nikki Haley in her home state.

It’s a brazen move for the 2024 hopeful who has found himself in a tight battle with Haley for second place in the Republican primary field, which former President Donald Trump still dominates.

DeSantis will fly to Greenville, South Carolina, a GOP-heavy part of the state, on Tuesday.

He will then head to New Hampshire Tuesday evening for an event with Never Back Down.

The candidate clarified during an appearance on Fox News Friday night that he would still be focusing on New Hampshire.

‘Some media was saying we weren’t doing New Hampshire at all,’ the Florida governor told Fox’s Laura Ingraham.

‘That’s not true. We’re going to do an event in Greenville on Tuesday morning, and then we’re going to fly to New Hampshire and do a town hall on CNN later that night.’

Senate hopeful Kari Lake is launching her first broadcast and cable ads in Arizona as she is in Iowa working to get out the vote for Donald Trump tonight during the caucuses.

‘With President Trump, we had a secure border, but Joe Biden and his enablers Kyrsten Sinema and Ruben Gallego destroyed that security,’ the script for the ad goes.

‘When we take back the U.S. Senate, we can fix it,’ the ad continues.

Lake has been on the ground in Iowa to campaign for the former president.

‘Everybody that’s ever worked for me or worked with me, no one ever questions my toughness,” Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN on Sunday.

‘He’s saying this because now he knows he’s in trouble. Now he knows this is becoming a two-person race. So I know that he knows the truth. It doesn’t bother me at all,’ she continued in an interview with Dana Bash.

She went on to call Trump’s comments ‘comical because when I was at the UN, he always used to tell people, ‘don’t mess with her. She’s tough.”

Trump told a crowd of adoring supporters Sunday that Nikki is ‘not right to be president.’

‘And honestly she’s not tough enough. She’s not tough enough,’ he went on.

‘These are tough people we’re dealing with,” Trump said about foes of the U.S.

On January 10, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley took part in a head-to-head debate in Iowa.

Exclusive polling for DailyMail.com showed viewers reactions to what they saw.

This is what they thought of Ron DeSantis:

And this is what they thought of Nikki Haley:

President Joe Biden raised more than $97 million in the final three months of last year for his re-election campaign as he prepares to make his case to voters for a second term.

The amount was more money than the $68 million that former President Barack Obama raised during the same period of his reelection but it was dwarfed by the $154 million that former President Donald Trump raised for his.

Biden’s war chest was boosted by a series of star-studded fundraising events, including one in Boston that featured singer-songwriter James Taylor, and three days in California for gatherings with Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Shonda Rhimes, Rob Reiner, and David Geffen.

The Biden campaign pointed out that Trump and his top primary competitors have already spent $100 million on advertising in Iowa alone.

The first votes for the Republican nominee will be cast on Monday when Iowa citizens attend the state’s caucuses.

An average of polls showsTrump far ahead.

Iowa Republican strategist David Kochel has told CNN said the ‘painful’ and ‘dangerous’ conditions could keep voters at home – and produce a ‘surpirse’ result in the caucus.

Last week he estimated that 150,000 voters would show up, but since then the life-threatening cold has upended his predictions.

He now thinks turnout will be lower, and could spark an unexpected finish.

‘It’s not just cold. This is painful, this is dangerous.’

‘In rural counties where, you know, they don’t get plowed as quickly, you know you go in the ditch — your car’s not coming out; your battery might be dead.’

Candidates have been telling Iowans to get to their precincts and have been doing everything they can to make sure it is safe to travel.

Turnout will be key to victory.

As they forge across the frozen expanses of Iowa some of them have icicles slowly sprouting on their eyebrows and beards, others are wrapped in blankets on top of their winter coats.

These are the Hawkeye state’s die-hard caucus-goers, who refuse to be cowed by the worst nature can throw at them.

It is currently so cold in Iowa that coffee freezes instantly when you spill it. Back-to-back blizzards have turned roads into ice rinks. Hundreds of flights in and out have been canceled.

Iowans are supremely passionate about their role as the first state to have a say in the presidential nomination contest. Their job is to examine and winnow the field; they are determined to do their duty.

Despite the elements some have repeatedly driven hundreds of miles to see Republican candidates speak, their knuckles turning white from gripping the steering wheel to stop sliding in the snow.

DailyMail.com has spent a week traversing Iowa and spoken to those who will ultimately decide who wins the caucuses.

Nikki Haley told supporters in Iowa this morning: ‘Today is the day we make history because we tuned out the noise of the media, the noise of the politicians.

‘And we raised the voices of the American people who say “We want a better day.”

‘We are going to make it happen.’

The Republican from Georgia stood next to a snow bank nearly taller than her in the post on X.

She arrived Sunday in order to help get out the vote in support of Donald Trump.

‘When [Trump] was president, I supported his policies,’ DeSantis told CNN on Monday ahead of the caucuses.

‘He was under assault from the left and the media. I was happy to do that, because he was our chance to get things done in a positive direction.’

The Florida governor went on to say he’s ‘happy’ for Republicans who do well.

‘When you’re in a primary situation, I want Republicans to do well. If someone’s endorsed me, great. If they haven’t, if they’re doing a good job, I’m happy for that.’

‘I want our party to do well. Donald Trump is not that way. He wants to trash Gov. [Kim] Reynolds who is gold here in Iowa, simply because she’s on my team.’

Mary Weston, chair of the Iowa Young Republicans, says young voters will brave the elements.

She says: ‘For those of you from the South that might be laughing at us, it is actually dangerously cold. Ten minutes exposure to the skin can cause frostbite.

‘But I do encourage all Iowans listening, please get out and caucus bundle up. We have prepared way too long for this to not show up tonight and support our favorite candidate.’

She added: ‘As much as policies are important we talk a lot in our meetings and our get togethers about the term electability.

‘You know, who is that nominee that’s gonna go and beat Joe Biden, who’s the nominee that’s going to reach out to the independents and the moderates and make sure that, you know, they defeat Joe Biden in November?’

‘Nikki just said on Fox & Friends that she’s up in the polls, but I’m beating her by 57 points. What’s up?’ former President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social.

The latest Iowa primary poll released Saturday showed Haley moving into second place with 20 percent.

However, Trump maintains his iron grip on the nomination race at 48 percent in the poll.

Although he commands 48 percent support in the poll, he is down three from December, while with Haley rose four points from 16 percent to 20 percent.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was on 16 percent (down three) from December.

The former president also referenced a recent CNN poll from last week showing that Haley is closing in on Trump’s lead in New Hampshire at 39% to 32%.

It was the second time a poll shows Haley within single digits of Trump in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, a Suffolk University/Boston Globe/USA Today puts Haley 19 points behind Trump in New Hampshire – 27 percent to 46 percent respectively. The poll showed Christie in third and DeSantis in fourth.

‘Fox & Friends is giving DeSanctimonious & Haley one last shot. They are working hard, even using an old CNN Fake Poll, which shows I am only up on Birdbrain by 9 points in New Hampshire (all other polls say 20 to 25 points up!).’

‘Why are they using CNN polls? That’s why! Nikki is using an old poll to show she’s beating Crooked Joe. She’s not. Almost all new polls show she is being decimated by him.’

‘I am beating Crooked Joe, by a lot, in the polls. MAGA!’

Temperatures are not expected to get above zero in Iowa until after the caucuses, the National Weather Service said on Monday morning.

‘Frigid conditions are expected to continue, with coldest conditions today as highs remain below zero,’ the NWS posted on X.

The roads have been turned into ice rinks and at least one person has died in the state as a result of the brutal cold.

The cold is expected to let up by midweek, when the focus in the Republican race shifts to the New Hampshire primary.

Nikki Haley was working hard to get crucial final caucus votes on Monday morning as she greeted customers at the Drake Diner in Des Moines.

The former U.N. Ambassador said Americans want to talk about the economy and fixing the border and not ‘whether somebody’s MAGA or not’.

She was referring to Donald Trump accusing rival Vivek Ramaswamy of not being part of the MAGA movement.

This is not what Americans want to be talking about. They’re wanting to know why economy’s high, why inflation’s high, why everything’s more expensive, they want to know why we aren’t focused on getting our kids reading again, they want to know how we’re allowing the lawlessness at the border, it’s out of control, not whether somebody’s MAGA or not

She told Fox and Friends that die-hard Iowans are not deterred by the brutal cold and will be out supporting her.

They need to layer up and bring photo ID and stay for a bit. They are ready to do it. This is their responsibility to set the tone for the country.

The former South Carolina governor is behind Trump in the polls and in a battle for second with Ron DeSantis.

She exuded confidence that she can perform well and even beat Joe Biden in the general election, if he makes it that far.

We can’t have a President Kamala harris. Our country won’t survive it. We can’t have a nail biter of election. If you elect me today, I will defeat Joe Biden and get our country back on track.

The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines was surrounded by snow on Monday morning with just hours until the caucues.

Forecasters predict wind chills as low as minus 35 degrees as the state deals with the Arctic blast sweeping most of the country.

The sub-zero temperatures are set to persist until around Tuesday at noon, when we may already know which Republican candidate was victorious.

Sub-zero temperatures aren’t stopping 2024 Republican candidates from deploying their families to campaign alongside them in the middle of a winter storm the days before Iowa‘s caucuses.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have had their wives and young children join them on the campaign trail for large chunks of the primary cycle.

But some other family members are also jumping in for Hawkeye State events now that the primary contest is nearing – this includes Donald Trump Jr. as well as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley‘s two adult children.

Ramaswamy, 38, travels with his wife Apoorva – a 34-year-old throat surgeon – and their two children Karthik, three, and Arjun, one.

Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, 43, has consistently been on the road with her husband from the start, along with their three kids: Madison, six; Mason, five; and Mamie, three.

At least one Iowan has been found dead due to subzero temperatures in Iowa.

A man was found outside of a convenience store in Urbandale, Iowa, on Saturday as the 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls made their last pitches to voters across the state.

Law enforcement authorities are still working to identify the man and said the extreme cold likely played a part of his death.

The bitter temperatures could impact tonight’s GOP caucuses as voters must meet in-person to elect their primary candidate.

On Sunday, Donald Trump told Iowans preparing to caucus that ‘if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.’

As the state battles life-threatening cold before the crucial Monday vote, the former president told his passionate supporters in Indianola, Iowa on Sunday that they can’t ‘sit at home’.

Wind chills are as low as minus 18 degrees and residents are warned they could get frostbite outside if they expose their skin for 10 minutes.

The 77-year-old imagined a couple getting ready to head out in the sub-zero temperatures to show their support during his rally remarks.

‘If you’re sick as a dog, you say, darling — even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it,’ he said to some laughter from supporters who braved the frigid weather to hear him speak.

‘Remember, if you’re sick, if you’re just so sick, you can’t, darling, I don’t think…

‘Get up,’ Trump says, playing the part of the partner in his made-up conversation.

Trump said his supporters would be safe if they caucus for him.

‘You’re going to be safe,’ he added. ‘And again, it’s going to be all indoors.’

The caucuses are a huge operation, and some candidates have plans in place to make sure supporters are driven to precincts amid warnings of low temperatures with intense wind chills.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting his ‘underdog’ status heading into tonight’s Iowa caucuses and hit Donald Trump for ‘trashing’ Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds after she snubbed him and endorsed DeSantis.

‘I always like being the underdog. I mean, that’s been true,’ he said on Fox News in a final interview ahead of the kickoff of the caucuses at 8 p.m. ET.

The Florida governor told host Steve Doocy on Fox & Friends this morning that he wants ‘all Republicans’ to do well.

He referenced the last minute endorsement by former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in support of his rival Nikki Haley.

‘I want all Republicans to do well. There is a Republican governor that’s endorsed another candidate, but they are doing well. I’m not going to trash them,’ he explained.

‘I’m glad that they are doing it. I think every Republican should look at governor Reynolds and say, ‘you know what? She is getting the job done.”

‘I think with Trump that’s not how he sees it. She didn’t endorse him, so he trashes her,’ lambasted DeSantis.

‘You can’t build a movement like that, you have got to have, you know, a strong tent and you have got to have anyone that’s polling in the right direction, they need to be supporting,’ the governor continued.

I’m glad she is supporting me, I think it’s going to make a difference,’ he added.

‘You talk speeches at the caucus sites. Governor Reynolds has said I’m one of the most effective leaders she has ever seen. That’s going to matter for these folks.’

A deadly Arctic blast that has put 100 million Americans under a weather warning is sweeping across the U.S. as Iowans head to their caucus sites on Monday night.

The bitter cold has already killed four people, including an Oregon woman who died when a fire spread from an open-flame stove after a tree fell on to her RV.

In the Dakotas and Montana, forecasters predict a wind chill of minus 70, which can cause frostbite almost instantly.

Officials have implored members of the public to remain home. Similar temperatures will be felt from the Northern Rockies all the way to Kansas.  In the northeast, blinding snow has brought the region to an almost standstill.

In Buffalo, New York where snowfall of 1 to 2 feet was forecast, severe conditions saw thundersnow – a bizarre phenomenon in which thunder and lightning occur during a snowstorm.

‘The tone at the top matters. The ability to get things done matters,’ Haley told Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy.

‘We don’t need to have four more years of chaos,’ she continued.

‘I’m an accountant, I know what it takes to get the economy back on track. I’ve been a two-term governor that took double digit unemployment state and turned into a power house.’

‘I dealt with Russia, China, North Korea everyday. This is a chance to reset. We can do this. If you will join with me and caucus, I promise you, our best days are yet to come,’ she said in a direct appeal to Iowan voters.

Trump is still on course for a record-breaking win. He commands 48 percent support in the poll (down three from December), with Haley on 20 (up four points), and DeSantis on 16 percent (down three).

Haley is intent on a strong second place finish. She is challenging Trump in the next state, New Hampshire, and she and DeSantis are fighting for the right to be crowned the best alternative to the former president and knock the other out.

2024 hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy ran into a ditch while en route to Des Moines.

‘Just got back to Des Moines after a 5+ hour drive in snow from northwest Iowa,’ he wrote on X.

‘Got stuck in snow ditch on the way. 5 of us tried to push SUV out, finally got it done with extra help from a good Iowan. Our next 7 events will continue as planned, starting at 9am in Coralville,’ he said on the social media platform.

The candidate made a final pitch to caucus goers on Fox & Friends Monday morning saying he will ‘fight corruption’ and ‘speak the truth.’

‘If you want somebody who will shut down that deep state and revive national identity for next generation, I am asking you to brave the cold and caucus for me tonight and save this country and we’re grateful for this process.’

The Biden campaign is already gearing up for a general election battle and will be ‘closely’ watching the results of the Iowa caucus.

Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said the campaign was ‘excited for the fight ahead’ during an appearance on CNN This Morning.

Tyler said the campaign is ‘eady to provide the American people with the stark contrast between the president, who’s fighting for more freedom and more democracy, and these MAGA extremists led by Donald Trump, who want to tear down the fabric of American democracy.

‘We’ve been gearing up for that fight since launch in April 2023, and we’re scaling up our operation right now, to meet the moment meet the challenge presented by Donald Trump and the threat that he represents to American democracy.’

Donald Trump said backing Vivek Ramaswamy in the Iowa caucus would be a ‘wasted vote’ as he ramped up attacks on his Republican rival.

The former president has changed his tune on the biotech entrepreneur, who is running fourth in the polls.

He has accused Ramaswamy of ‘deceitful campaign tricks’ in the build-up to the first Republican primary contest.

On Monday monring, he sent out an all-caps message on Truth Social.

A VOTE FOR VIVEK IS A WASTED VOTE. I LIKE VIVEK, BUT HE PLAYED IT TOO “CUTE” WITH US. CAUCUS TONIGHT, VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP, BUILD UP THE NUMBERS!!! IN NOVEMBER, WE MUST TAKE OUR VERY TROUBLED NATION — A NATION IN DECLINE — BACK FROM CROOKED JOE BIDEN AND THE RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS AND THUGS WHO ARE DESTROYING IT. MAGA!!!

A foot of snow and sub-zero temperatures are not going to stop Eli Weltman from knocking on his 22,385th door of the campaign.

His Ariat cowboy boots disappear into the fresh snowfall as the 20-year-old Californian makes his way from sidewalk to doorstep in Marion, a small city in eastern Iowa.

Laura Scherbaum, 39, opens the door and listens to his 30-second pitch, describing how he is working for Never Back Down, an independent group backing Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary.

It is a win. She fills in one of his ‘commit to caucus’ forms and says she will turn out on Monday to give her support to the Florida governor as he seeks the Republican nomination to take on Joe Biden in the presidential election.

It seems a long time ago that DeSantis was a rising star and the frontrunner to win the race. In Iowa, the first state to choose its preferred nominee, polls now put him about thirty points behind Donald Trump.

But the super PAC Never Back Down is all in. If it can’t win the state for DeSantis, then it is trying to use its huge fundraising machine and ground game to deliver him to a strong second place finish, cementing him as the best alternative to Trump.

And with more snow coming and temperatures forecast for as low as minus 7F on Monday, anything could still happen if people stay home.

Do Iowa’s voters actually predict who will become president?

Since the caucuses got their modern start in 1972, they’ve only correctly predicted who would win the presidency three times when an incumbent wasn’t on the ballot.

The first time came in 1976, when a peanut farmer turned Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter won the state for the Democrats.

Carter wasn’t well known, but his efforts in Iowa catapulted him to the White House, where he served one term after beating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford, who took over after President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

The only time the caucuses picked a Republican president happened in 2000, when Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush, handily won the Iowa caucuses.

Iowans tend to vote for more conservative candidates – like Bush – so the candidate who became the Texas governor’s chief rival, Sen. John McCain, focused more of his attention on winning the New Hampshire primary, which he did.