OFF TO THE RACES: It’s Caucus Day!
The Des Moines Register's preview of the big day: "Celebrity Caucuses, Season 1, has its big finale Monday night in Iowa."
Please follow along with updates through the day on our NBCNews.com liveblog.
How did we get here? Our walk down memory lane.
The final Quinnipiac Iowa poll shows the Iowa GOP race at Trump (31%), Cruz (24%), and Rubio (17%). For Dems, it's 49 percent for Sanders and 46 percent for Clinton.
The New York Times: "The campaigns are activating the final stage of their ground games, which they have spent months, in some cases years, building in the hope that a victory or a strong showing will give them momentum for the next round of contests. With a winter storm expected to bring snow to the state late Monday, operatives will be monitoring the forecast out of fear that bad weather could reduce turnout."
MSNBC.com's Benjy Sarlin previews the GOP race.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Iowa officials are worried anew that they could lose their first-in-the-nation role.
CLINTON: How's she planning to go after Trump? From POLITICO: "The emerging approach to defining Trump is an updated iteration of the “Bain Strategy” — the Obama 2012 campaign’s devastating attacks on Mitt Romney’s dealings with investment firm Bain Capital, according to a dozen Democratic operatives and campaign aides familiar with the accelerating planning inside Clinton’s orbit. This time, Democrats would highlight the impact of Trump’s four business bankruptcies – and his opposition to wage hikes at his casinos and residential properties — on the families of his workers."
CRUZ: Dante Chinni writes why the Texas senator shouldn't be counted out.
RUBIO: The New York Times has a deep dive into how top Republican donors have split into factions backing Rubio and Cruz.
SANDERS: "The senator, who can come across as testy and stubborn under the best of circumstances, has grown even more so in the final days of the Iowa campaign. He has lashed out at his critics and laced his campaign speeches with more talk about raw politics than he did during his ascent this summer, when thousands of people came out to hear his policy prescriptions for rebuilding the middle class," writes the Washington Post.
The Wall Street Journal offers a big graphical takeout on How Bernie Sanders Happened.
TRUMP: The Koch Brothers' political network isn't quite sure what to do about The Donald, NBC's Leigh Ann Caldwell finds.
On the TODAY Show, he wouldn't predict a win in Iowa.
POLITICO on "How Trump Did It" : "It couldn’t have worked for anyone else. Everything that explains the first-time candidate’s mind-blowing success—his uncanny ability to read and react to people and to bait his foes into positions of weakness, his eagerness to accept risk, and, above all, his ability to trust his gut to navigate the race while eschewing professional guidance—is the result of an entire career in the public spotlight and the ruthless worlds of New York real estate, media and politics."
He's actually put some real money of his own into the campaign, Ari Melber and Katy Tur find
His campaign is emphasizing that ballots at the GOP caucus are secret, notes the New York Times.