Their picks for the partys nomination. By 10 00 tonight well be out of our hair. I ask for your support to caucus with me tonight, thank you all very much. Reporter president ial hopefuls make their final pitches to iowans. Im the only one that would balance the budget. Reporter Hillary Clinton visited her desmoines headquarters. Bernie sand ders the same as the two fight. Were going to try to get as many people to caucus as we k. Reporter a new poll shows sanders with a threepoint lead over clinton. This is where we start, this is day one. Country. Reporter that same poll has donald trump ahead of cruz by seven points. We have now been to all 99 counties in the great state of iowa. Reporter and marco rubio the third place. I feel very positive about whats happening here in iowa reporter tonight at stake for these candidates, 44 delegates at the Democratic National convention. 30 at the r. N. C. Aixa diaz, wmur news 9. Jean thanks. Several candidates are counting on a strong showing in iowa. Wmur political director Josh Mcelveen has more on those contenders tonight, hes continuing our live coverage from desmoines tonight. Josh . Josh yes, its hard to believe that after months of campaigning the debates, the town hams, the diner stops, 2016 election cycle gets under way officially with the start of the Iowa Caucuses. For the frontrunners theyre looking for a solid finish to solidify their position atop their respective fields and carry that into New Hampshire. The primary itself of course. But for other candidates it make or break in a washington a lot like Ohio Governor kasich is betting on New Hampshire, putting his focus on the Granite State to do well. There are three candidates and theyre familiar names who are life into what are fading campaigns. I think weve proven our electability over the years, and, against the long odds four years ago. Reporter its been a humbling year for the winner of the Iowa Caucuses, and Rick Santorum is trying to stay this race one vote at a time. So my message to the people of iowa is practice what you preach. Dont compromise. Vote for who you think is the best candidate. Reporter a couple months ago it was dr. Ben carson who was the rising star the iowa, but since then his stock has dropped amid campaign troubles and the fickle nature of voters. Im willing to do what makes sense for our society. Reporter as for mike huckabee, his campaign could be considered lackluster compared to 2008. But even in rare appearances in New Hampshire, he admits that iowa this time around is his focus. After tonight there is a real chance that none of these three momentum or money to move on. Or one could be a surprise heading into New Hampshire. Of course in the big republican field theres also that middle tier of candidates who really just need to avoid a disastrous result in iowa in order to move on, among them rand paul and carly fiorina. Coming up at 6 00 well hear from them and well also show you whats been a very frenzied day here ahead of the Iowa Caucuses tonight. A lot of candidates covering a lot of ground. Josh mcelveen. Back to you. Jean youve been in iowa now for several days. What differences do you see with the candidates campaigning in iowa versus here in New Hampshire . Josh ideologically theres a couple differences, obviously iowa is viewed as a more conservative state, historically going toward the conservative candidate. New hampshire is viewed as more independent. But the biggest difference logistically and strategically is geography. New hampshire. So they spend a lot of times in cars and on the phones rather than being at town halls. And it goes for reporters as well. Jean i bet it does. Well share that same frenzy, thanks, Josh Mcelveen, live in desmoines tonight. News 9 will have put results from tonights caucuses as soon as theyre released. You will also find a special live wire on our website and mobile app tonight with live updates from our crews in iowa. Tom one wild card in iowa tonight is the weather. Part of the state is under a blizzard warning right now. The worst snow shouldnt arrive though in late into the night, but it could cause big problems for candidates hoping to get out of iowa in the morning tomorrow. But theyll be greeted by very different conditions when they arrive in the Granite State. Temperatures were in the 50s today across the southern tier, that plenty plenty of play time in places like Livingston Park in manchester. Theyre still skiing at macintyre, and all those ski to open a little rate this year and ticket sales are off by 20 . Its been a very unusual winter so far. Were in the home stretch, i hope. I looking forward to spring days. Tom so how warm did it get today . Heres mike haddad. Mike so warm this winter season so far, so why not kick off february with close to record high temperatures in spots, 60 plus in some areas including manchester, nashua, rochester and portsmouth all at 60 or above today. 58 in concord, a few shy of the record for the date and thats 61 in portsmouth, five off the february 1st. Even up north it hit the 50s washington. It is beginning to cool down a still above the average for normal daytime highs. You notice the cooler air drifting in through the midwest thats why theyre concerned for blizzard conditions. Across the northeast, by the time this system approaches here by the middle of the week it will be too warm to support anything but rain or maybe just a little bit of a mix early in the morning. Speaking of warmth that we had in the day today, what about the month of january, we all know it was warm, but heres josh with a look at some of those numbers. Josh it really has been a warm january, nobody disputes that, except the numbers tell us something that we might not have expected. This is a list of the top five januaries in terms of temperatures, the highest temperatures ever recorded in january. Take a look at this. 1932, 1818, number three is 1913. Then 1933. And 1917 as well. And 37 rather. Take a look at. That where are we, because the average snowfall all these years below average snow as well. Where are we this month . January 2016, 18th place with an average temperature of 26. 9. These are all much higher than that and we have 8 inches of snow. It was mild, well above average and lower snow than average, but we came in at 18th place overall. Tom thank you very much. Right now an active investigation is norway in rochester after an assault at a sports bar there, it happened early sunday morning, and as wmurs Jennifer Crompton reports, the victim remains in serious condition. Reporter garys sports bar and lounge in rochester was quiet monday afternoon, employees not saying much. About an incident there called in to police about 1 30 sunday morning. I came in, there was a disturbance in the parking lot. Reporter the victim was taken portland in serious condition. Police are not confirming whether or not the people involved had been patrons or if they knew each other. It was a physical fight, cant disclose whether there were weapons involved. Reporter police would like to speak with any witness hose might have left before they arrived. At this point weve identified many of the key involved participants in this incident, so we do have our identities, we have several witnesses and were still actively investigating this. Tom that was Jennifer Crompton reporting. Police arent calling anyone a suspect just yet. But they dont believe that the public is in any danger. Jean lets turn to the traffic watch and see how our ride home is shaping up as we start a new work week here in february. Live pictures in manchester, this is 293 near exit 5. With a look at the evening commute. Hi, tom and jean. One problem to our south in massachusetts on 49 r5 northbound, a rollover accident between exits 50 and 51. Just took place aa while ago, so use calling through that stretch. 495 northbound pretty much from the, up to route 110 is slow as youre approaching the state line. Once you get past that its a good ride on 93 all the way up to 293 in manchester and no problems around the city. Slight slowdowns in concord. The everett turnpike building volume between nashua up to merrimack and 101 west, your usual slowdowns at the light at 114. No problems to the seacoast and the spaulding turnpike is starting to get heavy in both directions. The reports being brought to you by dunkin donuts. Im peggy james for 95. 7, wzid. Jean thanks, peggy. All eyes on iowa tonight but several candidates have already tom up next, why several white house contenders decided to hampshire. Mike after a warm one today, a bright and cooler tuesday follows. Jean another charge against a man accused of assaulting students as they walked to school, Police Suspect more victims to come forward. Tom and a key step forward in the trial of a man accused of a so, let me get this straight u. S. Cellular has the phone youre looking for, a network thats built to give you coverage way out here where the other guys dont, and 6 gigs for only 40 a month. Thats a lot less than verizon and at t. So, why on earth would you ever go with one of those other guys . Switch to u. S. Cellular now and get 6 gigs of data for 40 a month plus get 300 back. Tom commitment 2016 again, the Iowa Caucuses begin in a couple hours. But some candidates have already left the Hawkeye State to campaign here in New Hampshire. Jean bush, christie and kasich are all here tonight. Wmurs Heather Hamel spent the day with kasich who has made it clear hes counting on the Granite State. Reporter governor kasich says he had to use his time wisely and he felt in a smaller state like New Hampshire he had a better chance of meeting more people. And thats exactly what he was doing again today. Theres our new logo, looks pretty good. Very nice. I want to thank the academy, wayne to thank my family. Reporter laughing and joking as kasich took on his 88th town halle vebility in greenland monday. This is not like going to the dentist. We try to make sure people enjoy themselves when they come to these. Reporter speaking on his tour bus, he said a strong ground game is key. Im not a celebrity candidate, im just the governor of ohio. So this is a place where we thought we could really gain traction, and we are. Reporter he says one of the contributing factors may be his positive approach. Monday even poking fun at some of the negative ads targeting him. Look at all the good pictures of me, these are good pictures, wow, my gosh, im in every gosh darn one here. Look at this. I sided with obama, argh. Reporter he says he was upset this morning when he found out a super pac who supports him planned on airing an ad featuring senator ayotte and blasting marco rubio. His campaign fired back and the ad was pulled. Everybody take your negative stuff off the air, tell people what you want to do and dont spend your time trashing somebody else. Reporter kasich is focusing on getting all the support he can. If i get smoked here im going to ohio and thats the end of it, but i dont think thats going to happen. Reporter if all goes as planned kasich will reach 100 town Hall Meetings in New Hampshire come this friday. Jean Chris Christie is holding a town hall in hopkinton right now. These are live pictures from that event as it happens, and when its over hell be heading south for another town hall and a rally tonight in nashua. Tom jeb bush is also back in the Granite State tonight, he has a town hall in manchester starting at 6 30. The republicans will debate each other in New Hampshire before our primary next week. Saturdays debate will be held at st. Anselm college. You can watch it right here on wmur. New hampshires primary is one week from tomorrow. To narrow down your choice. On wmur. Com our conversations with the candidate delve into policy and things get personal cafe. Youll find one on one interviews and campaign signal says and closeup and primary source. And follow the twitter hash tag, wmur politics. For Team Coverage as the candidates con verge on New Hampshire one last time. Mike those temperatures today running close to where they normally would be, late april, early october. 60s for some today and out there at Newfound Lake through the time lapse a lot of open water still to be had out there at Newfound Lake. The breeze kicking up, driving in some waves and no ice to be had in that shot. So you really have to watch it, the ice is still quite thin. The high in concord today, 58 degrees, well above that of the record 62. Notice sunset time, 4 58, two more days we hit 5 00 as the day light hours continue to stretch out each and every day. Radar scopes nice and quiet. There was a cool front slipping to the south, so temperatures are beginning to fall off. But having said that we still remain well above the norm at least through the next several days. That means the next storm that moves on in here much more in the way of rain as opposed to a mix or even wet snow. Right now down at 16 atop mount washington, upper 30s near 40 in the great north woods. 40s for many, still a couple of low 50s in manchester, nashua and portsmouth for the next few minutes before you dip down into the mid to upper 40s. Fair skies, cool tonight, but still above the norm. The average low this time of rear around 12 or 13. Again well be well above that by early tomorrow morning, near 20 north to around 30 in southeastern New Hampshire. Now, there is some cooler air building in, but not we dont have any arctic air at weekend. That means the next storm that is producing snow in parts of the plains states and eventually will split iowa with heavy snow and blizzard conditions in the Northwest Side and rain to the southeast of the capital, that system by the time it gets in here will be mostly in the form of rain. Early wednesday morning, there could be a touch of wet snow north and a slight chance of an icy mix near the morning commute on wednesday in central and southern New Hampshire. Sunshine tomorrow. A little light snow early wednesday. Anything that falls prior to 9 00, 9 30 could be sleet or freezing rain in central, southern New Hampshire. But take a look at that wall of heavy rain that builds in for the midday and afternoon and into the early evening before it moves off to the east by later wednesday night. Clearing, cooling down tonight, near 20 north, lower 30s south. Heres a look at the next seven days, quite a few changes with the rain maker coming in here on wednesday, it colors out wednesday night. Thursday looking good. Cooler, we get to the weekend, it will be an arctic front that moves in, right now looks like the high temperatures sunday will be early in the day and temperatures fall off during the afternoon, a snow shower late saturday up north, anywhere saturday night early sunday morning, just a flurry or brief snow squall. Monday for the most part quiet there. Could be rain or snow coming in monday night or tuesday, but that is still a weak out. Tom a political storm could be abrewing, we know thats for sure. Coming up next, candidates weigh in on how to bridge the political divide in washington. Jean and at 5 30, the issue of jean in more commitment 2016 coverage we ask the candidates what their number one priority will be in the white house. Obviously the white house first responsibility is to keep america safe, and i think iran is the principal one we have to be concerned about. And creating opportunities for working families to do better, you know, create opportunities for american workers. You do those three things, america is going to be a much better place. Im going to repeal obamacare and replies it with something great. Were going to strengthen up the border, were going to have a absolutely powerful border where only people who are legally allowed to come into the country can. Im going to take care of our vets, build up our military. And maybe the easiest and the one i will do so well on is jobs and the economy and bringing trade where you have these horrible trade pacts made with other countries, bringing them into line, bringing them into order. We will bring jobs become into jobs. The economy will boom and every single poll says by a factor two of and three and four times, not just a little bit up, trump is the the best on the economy. Economy. The number one priority is to restore confidence that our country can grow again ask that we can be safe. Across the spectrum of policy we knee to focus on that. We need to declare war on the overreach of regulations and freeze in place or eliminate rules so that the entrepreneurial spirit of our country rises again. We need to restore americas leadership in the world. I would on the very first day i would announce that we were closing the embassy in havana and opening the embassy in jerusalem to send a signal to our friend, we got your back, were back. To our enemies, you have to earn our support and our respect. We want to make sure we live in a peaceful world, but oh were not going to unilaterally concede things just because we think youre going to change. You have to change first before you improve your relations with the United States. Key priority is saving the next generation. Were about to destroy them with debt. And Thomas Jefferson said its immoral to pass debt onto the next generation. If we could bring him back to the day he would stroke out doing. Im not willing to increase the budget by one penny. For the next three years. If you just did that one thing alone you would have a balanced budget. In addition to that, you know, cutting back, you have 4. 1 million federal employees, tens of thousands that retire each year dont rehi