Second-tier Democratic presidential candidates might offer their support to Barack Obama, who surpassed Clinton in the latest poll in Iowa, if they have to suspend their bid in the state, news and blog reports said on Thursday.
The latest poll by Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby shows a very close three-way battle, 31-27-24, among Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton, leaving the second-tier candidates' single-digit supporting rate possible to tip balance.
The possibility comes from the special procedure and rules that Iowa Democratic party has practices for decades, in which candidates must receive an initial 15 percent support from participants to go onto second-round voting.
Supporters of non-viable candidates are given the opportunity to realign and support another candidate or abandon the process.
According to The New York Times "The Caucus" blog reports, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has worked out a plan with Obama that they would ask their supporters to caucus for each other should one of them not meet viability.
Fox News on-line report also cited an Iowa Independent blog as saying that Richardson's campaign organizers have been instructed to redirect support for the Illinois senator, which, however, denied by the Obama and Richardson campaigns.
Another political blog at the Washington Post, "The Trail," reported earlier Thursday that Delaware Senator Joe Biden's campaign is also discussing to redirect its supporters to Obama should Biden not meet viability.
Biden's campaigns also denied the reports, officially.
Among those of the second-tier candidates, only Dennis Kucinich's campaign has already indicated that it would redirect its support to Obama should the Ohio Representative fail in the first-round vote on Thursday night.
Seen from the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll, Richardson was fourth with 7 percent and Biden was at 5 percent. Kucinich, who is in his second bid for the White House, remains under 1 percent, indicating all three can hardly surpass the viability requirement.
Source: Xinhua
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