Dems Jockey for 2nd in Iowa

Two days before the Iowa caucuses, the leading Democratic candidates are looking to exploit unusual rules that allow supporters of candidates who get less than 15% of first-round ballots in a precinct to switch their votes in a second round. Of the top three, the LA Times reports, John Edwards ranks highest as a second choice among supporters of Joe Biden and Bill Richardson.

Even as they vie for a few crucial extra points, Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton are coming to accept the possibility that the race may end in a three-way tie, effectively settling nothing, the New York Times reports. "It would be like a six-month trial and a hung jury," said a top Obama aide. (More Barack Obama stories.)