… After a year of campaigning, and with less than a month to go before the first and therefore most important single contest in the Democratic nomination fight, few if any are confident of the outcome. At least four candidates are seen as having a shot to win Iowa, or, alternatively, to suffer a crippling result that could hobble their campaigns going forward, especially if there is a late surge by a lower-tier contender.
The result, according to interviews with top campaign strategists and local Democratic officials, is a hotly contested sprint to the Feb. 3 causes — a struggle that could either propel a clear winner into the next voting states with momentum or open a months-long fight for the delegates needed to secure the party’s presidential nomination. …
A dearth of public state polling results since mid-November, when former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg led a bunched field, also has added to the confusion, as the campaigns fly partially blind. Voters face what strategists describe as the electoral equivalent of a chicken-vs.-egg problem: Iowans want to pick the candidate best able to defeat Trump but are holding off picking a candidate until it becomes more clear who others are backing. CONT.
Michael Scherer, Washington Post