Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

Hillary Clinton is infusing her final pitch to Iowa caucus goers with the populist fury that helped Sen. Bernie Sanders become a serious challenger for the 2016 Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

In school gyms, college campuses and other venues, the former secretary of State is trying to convince Democrats she is both the heir to President Obama’s legacy and a scrappy fighter who shares their outrage over the struggles of the middle class and the poor.

The balance Clinton wants to strike between pragmatism – she says, unlike Sanders, she can get things done in Washington because she wants to build on Obama’s programs – and her populist message was on display at one of her final campaign stops in Council Bluffs. After praising Obama’s record, Clinton said she’s the candidate most capable of achieving change. “I don’t want to over promise and under deliver,” said Clinton, without mentioning Sanders by name. “I’d rather under promise and over deliver,” she said.

Then she pivoted to a list of national priorities including improving early childhood education, infrastructure and manufacturing jobs. Clinton said she’s been questioned about how to pay for these programs. “We’re going to get it from the wealthy,” she said, “from the people who’ve done very well in this economy even during the Great Recession,” she said.

Clinton is proposing a 30% effective tax rate on annual income over $1 million and a 4% “fair share” tax on income over $5 million. “These guys are geniuses at evading taxes,” sending money through the Bahamas or Bermuda, said Clinton. “That is corrosive to our democracy,” she said. “I’ve been pretty worked up about a lot of this.”

A new poll from The Des Moines Register shows Sanders and Clinton running neck and neck just one day before Iowans hold their caucuses. It also forecasts a smaller turnout of first-time participants than in the 2008 election, something that could benefit Clinton. Yet Sanders has a strong base of enthusiastic supporters who could help him pull off a major victory if they attend.

Clinton holds on to small lead over Sanders

Sanders powered by young people, but lacks Obama advantages

Clinton can still win the nomination if she loses Iowa, but it makes her path more treacherous. Sanders is favored to win in the next voting state, New Hampshire, which borders his home state of Vermont. Clinton is strong in the series of Southern states with populations of black voters that follow on March 1, including South Carolina. Yet if she loses Iowa, it could stretch the competition well into March, an extended fight her campaign hopes to avoid.

John Price, a 49-year-old from Council Bluffs, was among the undecided Democrats in the audience. “We need some significant change and we need it fast,” said Jones. “We are moving in a very bad direction economically in terms of social justice issues. Bernie’s talking very aggressively about that, but the question is who’s going to get it done over the next four years.”

Clinton has deployed an army of surrogates in the final hours of the Iowa battle. Iowa Senate majority leader Michael Gronstal sought to convince voters like Jones that she’s battle tested. “Hillary Clinton has had everything thrown at her,” he said. “But she’s chose to stay and fight,” said Gronstal. Jones said he was "leaning" her way after the speech.

Clinton flashbacks to 2008 may end after Iowa

Clinton is kicking off many of her rallies with professional video highlighting her career history, including a 1995 speech in which she went to Beijing and declared that “women’s rights are human’s rights.”

Joan Wagnon, a 75-year-old former Kansas lawmaker and party chair who drove up to door knock for Clinton, said she is “misunderstood” by younger female voters. “They don’t know she’s been fighting for these issues from the very beginning,” said Wagnon, who worked with Clinton in the 1990s to help orphans get adopted.











