Seeking Momentum Before Caucuses, Campaigns Face Crippling Weather in Iowa

The blizzard sweeping across Iowa on Friday and the subzero temperatures expected to follow and then linger through Monday’s caucuses threaten to put the race for the Republican nomination in a deep freeze just when Donald Trump’s leading rivals need movement the most.

Trump, the front-runner and former president, stands to gain the most from an Iowa dynamic stuck in place. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has the most to lose, since he has invested so much in the nation’s first caucus.

His bitter rival, Nikki Haley, started late and, despite having increased her presence in Iowa, is banking more on the nation’s first primary, Jan. 23, in New Hampshire.

And other candidates, such as Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson, who need a blitz of events to make up for a lack of advertising, face even more difficult conditions. Even if Iowans make their own town halls and rallies, the number of people willing to brave temperatures forecast to hit minus 16 could be sparse.

In an interview Thursday night on Fox News, DeSantis put the best face on his closing weekend, even as he underscored his predicament. He emphasized a ground game that will rely on door knockers and a late get-out-the-vote drive, as weather services told Iowans to stay inside.

“With this weather, I think the organization is going to matter even more,” he told Sean Hannity, “because going out in negative 20 degrees, unless you’re really committed to voting, that’s an easy reason why you wouldn’t want to go.”

DeSantis went ahead with an early-morning campaign breakfast despite heavy snow, but his super political action committee canceled four events Friday, in Clear Lake, Marshalltown, Pella and Coralville, and moved a rally with his volunteers to inside his Des Moines headquarters.

Haley held virtual events only, with no audiences present. And the Trump campaign canceled an appearance by a high-profile surrogate, Kari Lake, who is running for Senate in Arizona after a failed bid for governor.

Here’s what to know:

— In New Hampshire, where temperatures were above freezing, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the conservative Democrat who will retire this year, stoked speculation that he could run as part of a centrist “unity ticket.” Asked at a “Politics and Eggs” forum in Manchester what he would do in November if President Joe Biden and Trump are the nominees, he said matters of character would come into play and urged Americans to vote for the person, not the party.

— Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has one event planned Friday night, is nowhere in the polls. He is running on principle — and on fumes, financially speaking.

— A viral video shared by Trump that praised him in starkly religious, almost messianic tones was criticized by faith leaders in Iowa. “There is only one God, and it’s not Trump or any other man,” said the Rev. Joseph Brown of the Marion Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, Iowa.

— Biden’s reelection campaign is expected to dispatch some of its top surrogates to Iowa on Caucus Day. The figures include Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul and a co-chair of Biden’s campaign; Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, who is a member of the campaign’s national advisory board; and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .