DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 race for president on the day of the country’s leadoff Iowa caucuses (all local times):
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12:14 p.m.
Donald Trump says evangelical Christians “really do get me.”
He’s bragging about his support from the group also pursued by rival Ted Cruz just hours before the leadoff Iowa caucuses.
Trump says at a rally in Waterloo Monday morning that “the evangelicals have been unbelievable to Donald Trump.”
“Boy do they understand me. They understand me better than anybody,” he adds.
The thrice-married Trump may seem an unusual fit for the conservative Christian voters that play a large role in Iowa. But he has won the support of many, including Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell Jr.
Trump said Monday that if he’s president, he’ll “protect Christianity,” which he says is under siege. He also says believing in God “so important” to happiness.
Trump spoke to a smaller-than-usual crowd at the Ramada Waterloo Hotel and Convention Center, where many seats were left unfilled.
Supporters may have been dissuaded by the heavy fog that blanketed local roads all morning.
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12:13 p.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says that win or lose in Iowa, he’s planning for a long campaign.
Sanders says in a brief availability with reporters on his campaign bus that if Clinton “ends up with two delegates more of many, many hundred delegates, you tell me why that’s the end of the world?”
Sanders adds, “This is a national campaign. We are in this to win at the convention. We’re taking this all of the way.”
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11:50 a.m.
Donald Trump is telling Iowans that rival Ted Cruz “will destroy your ethanol businesses, 100 percent.”
Those are fighting words in the agricultural state that voting on presidential nominees at Monday night’s caucuses.
At a morning rally in foggy Waterloo, Iowa the billionaire real estate developer said Cruz is controlled by his donors, including big oil companies.
He says, “Your ethanol business if Ted Cruz gets in will be wiped out within six months to a year. It’s going to be gone.”
Cruz has advocated phasing out ethanol subsidies over time — a position that is deeply unpopular in the agricultural state.
In contrast, Trump says, “I’ve been consistent, I’ve been solid, and I’m a supporter and I always will be a supporter.”
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11: 45 a.m.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is imploring his volunteers and supporters to help him claim victory in Iowa’s caucuses.
Sanders says, “We’ve got a tie ballgame – that’s where we are.”
Sanders is predicting that his campaign will win tonight if the voter turnout is high. He says, “We will struggle tonight if the voter turnout is low. That’s a fact.”
He’s rallying his supporters, saying, “Let’s go get ’em!”
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11:30 a.m.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley says he doesn’t know Donald Trump well, though he thinks any of the Republican candidates will “govern in a much more conservative way than (President Barack) Obama.”
At an event hosted by Bloomberg Politics Monday, the longtime Republican senator says Trump is “responding to the frustration of the American people.”
Asked about the Republican frontrunner’s past proposal to impose a massive tax on goods from China, Grassley said such a move would be a mistake, likening it to the increase in tariffs before the Great Depression. But he said he was not convinced such a thing would really happen.
“You eventually reach a common sense solution,” Grassley said.
The Republican presidential contender told The New York Times several weeks ago that he’d “tax China on products coming in” to the U.S. and “the tax should be 45 percent.” But since then he has said he doubts the tariff would be necessary at all.
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10:55 a.m.
Hillary Clinton is stopping by a campaign office in south Des Moines to rally her troops ahead of Monday night’s Iowa caucuses.
Bearing iced coffee and doughnuts, Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, are mingling and snapping selfies with several dozen volunteers.
“I had to stop by and tell you how much I appreciate your hard work,” Clinton is saying. “I thought I’d bring you some unhealthy snacks!”
Nearly 9,000 campaign volunteers for the campaign knocked on 186,000 doors in Iowa over the past three days, according Clinton’s staff.
“I’m so excited tonight. I’m feeling so energized!” Clinton says.
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10: 15 a.m.
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst says she can’t answer whether Donald Trump is a true conservative.
At an event hosted by Bloomberg Politics Monday, the freshman Republican said this was a question for the GOP front runner. She said that a few years ago, “I would not have agreed he is a conservative.”
Ernst noted that there was little record to judge Trump on. But she stressed that she would support the eventual Republican nominee.
Ernst has not endorsed a candidate in the crowded Republican field, though she has appeared at events with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
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7:31 a.m.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she has no regrets having endorsed billionaire Donald Trump for president over his rival Ted Cruz, who she endorsed during his run for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Speaking to NBC’s Today on the morning of the Iowa caucuses Monday, Palin said her support “added some momentum” to Cruz’s campaign and as the senator from Texas, he has gone on to fight for the American people.
“I want to keep him in the Senate and I want Donald Trump to be our president,” she said.
Palin also defended comments she made at one of Trump’s rallies when she blamed her son’s behavior on President Barack Obama for not doing more to help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Palin insisted that America needs a new president who she says will not “kowtow, allow the enemy to be poking at us.”
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7:09 a.m.
Presidential candidates vying for their party nominations are toning down their attacks against rivals opting instead for messages of reflection on the morning of the country’s leadoff Iowa caucuses.
Speaking to NBC’s Today on Monday, billionaire Donald Trump declined to predict the outcome of the caucuses, noting that fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is “a talented guy.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America, Trump is admitting: “You have to be a little bit nervous,”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also praised the drive of rival Cruz, with whom he’s repeatedly clashed on a range of issues, saying Cruz “has a very strong ground game.”
Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton praised her campaign staff and said that rival Sen. Bernie Sanders has run the campaign he wants to run, noting, simply, “we have differences.”
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