Biden: No Deal

One of the most-chased angles going into tonight's caucuses is whether some of the lower-tier candidates might strike a deal with one of the front-runners to urge their non-viable supporters to caucus with a Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. In caucus locations where supporters of a candidate do not meet a threshold level (usually 15 percent), they must either organize with another candidate or remain in a group of uncommitteds. In 2004, Dennis Kucinich prodded his non-viable supporters toward John Edwards. This year, he's publicly asked them to support Barack Obama.

In an attempt to put to rest some of that speculation, Joe Biden's Iowa State Director Danny O'Brien released the following statement this afternoon: "There are no discussions underway and there will be no deal with any campaign. We believe Sen. Biden is strong enough on his own. Everyone knows that Sen. Biden is a popular second choice for the supporters of all the other campaigns. We remain confident that Sen. Biden will surprise folks this evening." Yesterday, Chris Dodd voiced a similar sentiment, telling reporters, "I want every other campaign in this state to know: Don't make the call, I won't listen. Iowans ought to be offended by it. This is not an auction block; it's not a bidding war going on here. This is a very serious process that Iowans take very seriously."

The Biden campaign statement followed this report in the Washington Post about a possible deal between the Delaware Senator and the Obama campaign.