Candidates were scrambling — and failing — to make it to campaign events in Iowa this week amid a particularly nasty winter storm, with some opting for radio call-ins to keep themselves and voters safe from slippery roads.
 
There has been plenty of talk about the role weather might play on Jan. 3, when turnout at caucuses could determine who wins in Iowa and takes with them the momentum to the next contest.
 
If elderly voters stay home, will that hurt Hillary Clinton? Do urban voters have an edge in bad weather, since they have less distance to travel to the nearest caucus?
 
Voters who came out in the freezing sleet on Saturday to attended the Oprah-Obama-palooza event in Des Moines sounded off about what January weather might means to them come caucus night:
 
“If you’re an Iowan, come on, a little snow is not going to keep you away,” said Laura Cole, a grad student and precinct captain for Barack Obama in Nevada, Iowa. 
 
“If I really want to caucus, I’ll caucus,” agreed Norma Mack, 57, a claims specialist.
 
But Des Moines homemaker Patricia Cook, 46, wasn’t so sure. “If the roads are bad it could make it intimidating for some people. But if you’re already pumped up, you’ll do it.”
 
Her brother, Dan Haggerty, 44, said he only had to go a couple of blocks to caucus — so couldn’t speak for those who had to drive a long way between frozen cornfields to vote.
 
“It’s not at all a concern for me, but I bet it is for some people,” said Haggerty, an engineer.
 
But retired professor Bill Theisen, 69, scoffed at the talk about bad weather.
 
“This is Iowa. I do not organize my life around the weather.”

– Photo credits: Reuters/Jason Reed