DES MOINES - Voters in the US state of Iowa on Thursday officially launched the 2008 White House race as they began a complex process to pick their choice for candidates to run for the presidency.
In one of the 1,781 precincts such as school cafeterias, church meeting halls and hotel ballrooms across the state, an AFP correspondent witnessed as political activists began to whittle down the pack to name their Republican or Democrat hopefuls.
The first nominating clash of the potentially historic 2008 election has boiled down to a tense three-way clash between Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and former vice presidential nominee John Edwards.
Most polls indicated a dead heat, although a survey released Thursday before the nominating contests began by the Zogby organization showed Obama with a 31-27 percent lead over Edwards and Clinton falling to third at 24 percent.
Among Republicans, Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, is battling former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for top spot, with John McCain hoping for third place.
bur/jkb/ch
01/04/2008 01:10 GMT