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With Iowa days away, candidates hunt for undecided voters

(CNN) — The presidential candidates began the new year making their pitches to undecided voters and working hard to motivate their supporters to get out and participate in Thursday’s Iowa caucuses.

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Tuesday shows both the Democratic and Republican races to be tight, with Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama essentially tied for the lead in the Democratic race in Iowa and Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee neck-in-neck in the Republican race in the Hawkeye State.

But with a quarter of all Democratic voters and nearly half of all Republican voters still making up their minds at this late stage, almost anything can happen Thursday night in the first contest for the White House.

The Iowa contest could prove decisive in the tight Democratic contest. Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York wins the most support, with 33 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers backing Clinton and 31 percent supporting Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

But taking into account the survey’s sampling error of 4.5 percentage points in the Democratic race, the race is virtually tied. Watch CNN Bill Schneider analyze the new poll

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is in third place in the poll at 22 percent.

Campaigns were working had to finalize massive get-out-the-vote efforts to get their supporters to the caucuses.

The Clinton campaign was distributing hundreds of shovels to help clear the sidewalks of supporters which may be key to getting the first-time caucus goers to the polls. The Clinton camp hopes to get women over age 45 — a key demographic for them — to the caucuses. The Obama camp is organizing baby-sitting services for its supporters.

On the campaign trail, the two Democratic front-runners in Iowa returned to the messages they have being consistently emphasizing the last couple of weeks.

Speaking to supporters in Ames, Iowa, Clinton said she was ready to face the unexpected and unpredictable challenges and opportunities that the next president will face.

As far as I’m concerned we are the people who are best at solving problems, meeting challenges, being prepared for whatever the future holds, she said. So, I am running for president to renew America’s purpose, to provide that kind of positive change that Americans deserve in their own lives, in their country and the world, and to have a new beginning for America.

While telling Iowa voters that their first-in-the-nation caucus give them extraordinary privilege, Obama emphasized to Iowa voters that he would be a candidate that would bring about a new style of politics.

I decided to run because I was positive the American people were hungry for … a politics that delivered common sense instead of PR and spin, Obama told voters during a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa. The Illinois senator was joined on stage by his wife, Michelle, and his two daughters.

While all of the Democratic candidates were in Iowa on New Year’s Day, the Republicans were more spread out across the country, possibly reflecting the fact that the Iowa contest has come down to a race between Huckabee and Romney.

In the battle for the GOP nomination in Iowa, Huckabee leads with the backing of 32 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers, with Romney at 26 percent, McCain at 13 percent and Thompson and Paul at 9 percent, according to the CNN/Opinion Research poll.

The race between Romney and Huckabee has become heated in recent weeks, with Romney airing commercials attacking Huckabee for his record on immigration and tax policy.

On Monday, Huckabee planned to respond with a commercial criticizing Romney’s record but later announced during a press conference that he had decided to pull the ad, saying he wanted to remain a positive campaign. Watch Huckabee explain why he pulled the ad

If a man gains the whole world and loses his own soul, what does it profit him? Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher, said. I decided — even the presidency as important as it is — if I can’t do it with self respect and with decency, it ain’t worth doing if it’s not done right.

The pundits think I’m crazy, he continued. They may be right. Thursday night I’d like you to prove the pundits are wrong and that principles matter.
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Pakistan elections postponed, sources say

ISLAMABAD (CNN) — The Election Commission of Pakistan will delay parliamentary elections for at least a month, sources in the commission told CNN Tuesday.

The delay comes amid unrest following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The government plans to make a formal announcement Wednesday, the sources in the commission said Tuesday. The elections, originally scheduled for January 8, will take place some time in February, they said.

Bhutto’s party and another major opposition party had urged the government not to delay the elections.

But various provincial government representatives had suggested that the government hold elections after the Muslim holy month of Muharram, Commission Secretary General Kanwar Dilshad said at a press conference Tuesday. The holiday, which follows a lunar calendar, will begin around January 9 and end about February 6. Watch more on the crisis in Pakistan

Before news broke of the delay, Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he is confident the Pakistan People’s Party — which he has taken control of since Bhutto’s death — will be victorious in the parliamentary vote. His party urged that the government go ahead with elections on January 8.

Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party, told reporters that he believed Musharraf intended to delay the vote because his party would not garner enough seats in parliament to rule.

The United States had kept its distance from the issue, saying it was up to the Pakistanis to decide the timing of the elections.

A U.S. Embassy official based in Pakistan, speaking on the condition of anonymity, had said the United States wants to see the election held, but that we would not object to a postponement.

Our greater concern would be if the elections are postponed indefinitely, he said.

The commission has said it was looking at reports from provincial governments about the prevailing law and order situation while making its determination, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Election offices in 13 districts of Sindh province were destroyed after Bhutto’s assassination, Dilshad said. Sindh is Bhutto’s home province and was the main base of her support.

Bhutto, 54, was killed Thursday in an attack that involved a gunman and an explosion in Rawalpindi, outside of the capital Islamabad. Her party and the Pakistani government dispute the cause of her death.

The ensuing violence caused more than $200 million (12 billion Pakistani rupees) in damages and claimed at least 44 lives.

Pakistan’s government described colossal devastation to the country’s infrastructure after looters burned more than 150 train cars and wiped out telecommunications lines along the north-south railways, preventing goods and services from getting to all parts of Pakistan. Rampaging demonstrators ransacked banks, police stations, and factories.
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Hodgson sees Fulham squander lead

LONDON, England — New Fulham coach Roy Hodgson saw his side squander a one-goal lead as they slipped to a 2-1 home defeat against west London neighbors Chelsea.

It was a familiar enough sight for the Fulham supporters who have now watched their team fail to win 10 games in which they have opened the scoring this season.

The defeat left Fulham, who have picked up only two wins in the Premier League this season, second-bottom of the Premiership with only Derby County below them.

Chelsea’s victory leaves them six points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal and four behind second-placed Manchester United, who both won at home.

Aston Villa climbed to sixth with a 2-1 victory at home to Tottenham.

Hodgson’s team made an encouraging start against a depleted Chelsea and had a 10th minute boost when Moritz Volz was tripped in the area by Joe Cole and Danny Murphy scored from the spot.

Fulham again proved vulnerable when leading, however, and nine minutes after the restart Alex headed a Shaun Wright-Phillips corner back across goal and Salomon Kalou headed home.

Eight minutes later Chelsea were in front when Clint Dempsey was penalized for tugging Michael Ballack’s shirt in the penalty box and the German, captaining the team, converted the spot-kick.

Ballack revealed that Chelsea manager Avram Grant had plenty to say to them after their lackluster first-half display..

It was a little bit loud in the dressing room but we needed this result, Ballack said. We couldn’t keep playing like we did in the first half so we changed a lot. We put pressure on Fulham and it was better for us.

It’s a great pleasure for me to captain Chelsea but it’s more important we come through this difficult period because we have a lot of injured players.

Reading were forced to play for 87 minutes with 10 men after the early departure of Ibrahima Sonko for a foul on Portsmouth striker Benjani Mwaruwari in the area.

Niko Kranjcar fired the penalty kick against the post but Pompey went on to win 2-0 at the Madejski Stadium, with goals from Sol Campbell and John Utaka.

Everton bounced back from their defeats against Manchester United and Arsenal by winning 2-0 at Middlesbrough. Andrew Johnson and James McFadden were on target in the last 23 minutes.

Martin Laursen’s 84th-minute winner gave Aston Villa a 2-1 win at home to Tottenham.

Olof Mellberg put Villa ahead when he rose unopposed to head home Ashley Young’s free-kick five minutes before the interval.

Spurs equalised in the 79th minute when Jermain Defoe finished acrobatically after Dimitar Berbatov set up the chance but Laursen headed the winner for Villa from Gareth Barry’s corner kick. E-mail to a friend

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O’Donnell died from heart failure

GLASGOW, Scotland — Motherwell captain Phil O’Donnell died of heart failure, according to a post-mortem examination.

The 35-year-old collapsed while being substituted near the end of Motherwell’s 5-3 Scottish Premier League win against Dundee United on Saturday and later died in hospital.

Robert Liddle, Motherwell’s club doctor, said on Tuesday: The post-mortem revealed that Phil had suffered left ventricular failure of the heart.

O’Donnell’s funeral will take place at St Mary’s Church in Hamilton, near Motherwell on Friday.

His wife Eileen, speaking on Tuesday for the first time since her husband’s death, said she had been overwhelmed by messages of support.

Mrs O’Donnell, the mother of the couple’s four children, who on Monday visited a makeshift shrine of scarves and photographs at Motherwell’s Fir Park ground, said: Although he achieved so much in football the most important thing for him was his family.

He would like to be remembered as a family man and we were all so proud of him, she added.

We are all devastated by what has happened.

We hope we will now be given peace and time to grieve but we are overwhelmed by the messages of support we have received. E-mail to a friend

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Gunman kills U.S. diplomat, driver in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) — A gunman on Tuesday killed an American diplomat and his Sudanese driver in Khartoum, U.S. and Sudanese officials said.

The victim was identified by his family as John Granville, 33, a U.S. Foreign Service diplomat from Buffalo, New York. A family statement said he was part of a team trying to negotiate peace in the Sudan.

U.S. officials are working with Sudanese authorities to determine whether the diplomat’s car was targeted or if it was an isolated incident, said Walter Braunohler, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.

At this point we’re not ruling anything out, but we don’t know, Braunohler said.

Granville was rushed to a hospital, but later died from his injuries, Braunohler said. Watch I-Report video of shooting scene

The Sudanese Interior Ministry identified the driver as 40-year-old Abdel Rahman Abbas and said the car was heading to a western suburb of Sudan’s capital, The Associated Press reported. He was employed by the U.S. Embassy, Braunohler said.

Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali As Sadeq downplayed the idea that the diplomat had been targeted, saying the pre-dawn shooting was the result of a street argument.

He said the streets of Khartoum were packed with cars leaving New Year’s celebrations and an argument broke out between people in two cars, one of which was carrying foreigners.

The argument escalated and one of the Sudanese fired on the car carrying the foreigners, resulting in the casualties, he said.

Sudanese security forces are searching for the gunman, Sadeq said.

Granville’s family said he became passionate about Africa after helping build a school in a rural Cameroon village as a Peace Corps volunteer.

John’s life was a celebration of love, hope and peace, the statement said. He will be missed by many people throughout the world whose lives were touched and made better because of his care.

He is survived by his mother, sister, nephew and nieces.

Jane Granville told CNN that her son was aware of the dangers in the countries where he worked.

John said, ‘Mom … if anything happens to me over there … just know that I was doing what I loved in helping those people, she said.
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