Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he isn’t endorsing a presidential candidate in the state’s first-in-the-nation Caucuses, but Grassley is predicting who will win — in both parties. On the Republican side, Grassley agrees with the national polls in forecasting it’ll be a solid Mitt Romney victory.
Grassley says Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, is "doing a state-by-state campaign so he’s not worried about his national standing like, let’s say, (Rudy) Giuliani is always first in national standings but not so high in Iowa and other states. Romney’s got a lotta’ people on the ground and organization’s what Caucus is all about. He’s willing to spend the money."
Grassley predicts former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will finish a strong second in Iowa, saying Huckabee’s somewhat been flying "under the radar" but has continued to work hard in Iowa and will continue to rise in popularity. In third place, Grassley predicts it’ll be Giuliani, the former mayor of New York.
Grassley says: "Giuliani knows you don’t want to make a McCain mistake, meaning McCain in 2000 when he didn’t spend any time in Iowa. Giuliani’s learning from that so I think his extra efforts here is going to pay dividends." Grassley recaps his top three predictions, then mentions a few other Republicans he thinks will be "also-rans." He says: "I put Romney number-one, Huckabee number-two and Giuliani number-three. I was also asked about Fred Thompson. I think he got in too late and I was asked about John McCain and I think he spent his money too quickly."
On the Democratic side of the Caucuses, Grassley, a Republican, predicts the winner will be New York Senator Hillary Clinton, followed closely by Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Grassley says: "Clinton, because of the glitz and the name, and Obama, just about beating her because of the glitz that he has, not necessarily the fame although he’s getting that fame pretty quickly. It’s going to be considered a real victory for Obama even if Clinton comes out on top. That’s going to really make that a horse race through February the fifth but I think it’ll be decided by February the fifth."
Iowa’s Caucuses are slated for January 3rd, about six weeks away.