DES MOINES — Democratic presidential candidates scattered across Iowa on Thursday in fevered attempts to energize supporters and make sure they participate in Monday's caucuses -- an intensified pace driven, in part, by polls showing a three-way tie for first place.
The surveys found Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts clustered at the top, and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina close behind.
Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller, a Kerry supporter, termed the contest "the closest, most undecided race I've ever seen in caucus history."
Iowa's complicated caucus system has often made such surveys notoriously unreliable. Still the polls underscored the importance of reaching out to undecided voters, stirring up the enthusiasm of wavering supporters and honing organizational muscle. Such efforts could make the difference between victory and a fourth-place finish.
For all the differences candidates are trying to emphasize, each campaign has one common goal: getting supporters to turn up at the caucuses -- held in living rooms, fire stations and other sites throughout the state.
"The polls don't really matter in the last few days. It's all organization," Dean said at a news conference in Carroll. "It is essentially a four-way tie," he said later on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Dean in the last year moved from unknown to frontrunner, but in the last week has seen his lead nearly evaporate here and in New Hampshire. Thursday, he campaigned with a new supporter, Carol Moseley Braun, the former senator from Illinois who the night before abandoned a presidential bid that that had barely made a dent in the polls.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), another prominent Dean backer, also stumped with him. And Thursday night, Dean was endorsed by former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.
Dennis Goldford, head of the political science department at Drake University in Des Moines, said a key reason for the race's tightness is that many Democrats want to find the candidate with the best chance of defeating President Bush.
"Everybody wants somebody to beat Bush, but they're still not confident they've found that person," Goldford said.
Gephardt, seeking to fire up his support among industrial union workers, arrived at a dinner-time rally in Marshalltown in a caravan of seven 18-wheelers.
