Des Moines Register's Beaumont: Thousands more Iowa independent voters expected to caucus with Dems

Democrats may draw more independents

By THOMAS BEAUMONT • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • January 3, 2008

Thousands more Iowa independent voters are expected to turn out for Democratic presidential candidates than Republicans at today's Iowa caucuses.

If polls and turnout forecasts are accurate, Iowa independents would be following the lead set by their national peers in 2006.

Nationwide, independents backed Democrats heavily in the watershed 2006 elections, in part out of a rejection of President Bush and a loud cry for change that has continued into the 2008 campaign, strategists in both parties agree.
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Recent polls have shown the percentage of Iowa independents planning to participate in the Democratic caucuses is far higher than those who say they will caucus for Republicans. Turnout for the Democrats is projected to be higher than Republicans, perhaps double.

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