our washington correspondent, philip crowther, has more. philip: the next two election contests on the democratic side will be in nevada and south carolina. minorities ofe black communities and latino communities. that has not been the case so far. both iowa for the caucuses and new hampshire for last week's are predominantly white. that is why sanders and clinton to the talk african-american and latino populations of those respective states, and more states coming up in more primary elections over the weeks and months to come. hillary clinton, in theory, and according to the latest polls and the polls over the last few months, has a clear advantage. she is popular with african-americans and with latino voters in the united states, as was her husband, bill clinton, when he was running for president and for reelection. that is where bernie sanders, the senator from vermont, has to make up for lost time through that is why we heard from both candidates on the debate stage tonight, both of them talking about criminal justice reform. they both b

genie: philip crowther reporting for us from des moines. moines --ry in des oliver farry took a closer look at the republican field in iowa. : five years ago ted cruz was largely unknown outside of his home state of texas. in 2012, he grabbed the national spotlight, becoming one of the greatest hopes of the right-wing tea party movement. 2013,pearheaded the shutdown and the republicans' resistance to obamacare. speaking to congress in 2013, even fitting in a bedtime story to his two young daughters. cruz: "do you like green eggs and ham? i do not like them, sam i am. i do not like green eggs and ham." ted cruz often alienated even fellow republicans. texas, he became a naturalized american in 2005. having served in george w. bush's administration, he was then texas' solicitor general and a litigator. ted cruz has an almost evangelical belief in america's redemptive powers. thecruz: we have faced to abyss, and the american people rose up and we pulled this country back. we have done it before. we can do it again. we can bring back that last

i enjoyed by philip crowther. good morning to you. very early there, just after 6:00 a.m. voting does not take off until after 8:00 p.m. tonight. other still campaigning today? philip: they can. there are no laws keeping them from campaigning across iowa, across the state on this last day, the the actual day of the iowa caucuses. 6:00 a.m. local time, but that does not meet the candidates are not stirring at this point, trying to get as many media appearances in as they possibly can on this final day, and as many campaign events as they can because they have to get in touch, be it over the airwaves or in person, with as many voters as possible. upfew people actually end voting in these iowa caucuses, it can be around the 200,000 to 300,000 mark altogether, both parties combined. personal contact is so important. that is why over the last three days we have spent in iowa, we have seen so many republican and democratic candidates trying to shake as many hands as possible, imploring voters and supporters who already -- to commit to caucusing for them, voting for the candidate

philip crowther, our correspondent from des moines. we can look a bit closer at the significance of those votes in ofa with a professor political science at hospira university in new york. -- hofstra university in new york. the candidates are combating the socks off but iowa is one of 50 american states. can you tell us why today's so very important? >> this is the first in the nation contest, first time that candidates go head-to-head, and the public is actually able to respond by voting. , theerson who does well candidates who do well, who meet or exceed expectations set by the media, they tend to get a bounce from they tend to get momentum that hopefully will carry them through subsequent states. catherine: speaking of subsequent states from starting off and i were the next vote will happen in new hampshire -- starting off in iowa, the next vote will happen in new hampshire. these are small state operations that are not ethnically representative of the wider united states. considering that, why do they get to go first and why should