US:The bleachers on one side of the Des Moines vast Veterans Memorial Hall were an ocean of red T-shirts as Barack Obama's mostly young supporters kept up the loudest racket at Saturday's Jefferson Jackson Dinner.
On the other side, it was all yellow and green Hillary Clinton posters and in the middle, a healthy chunk of white-clad supporters of John Edwards.
A lucrative fundraising event for the Iowa Democratic party, the Jefferson Jackson dinner is also an opportunity for presidential candidates to show their organisational muscle and make a pitch to undecided voters.
With about 3,000 supporters, Mr Obama achieved the most impressive turnout, although Clinton campaign officials sniped that many of the Obama people looked too young to vote in Iowa's caucus on January 3rd.
With less than two months to go to the first contest of the presidential primary campaign, Iowa has become a key battleground for the Democrats, offering the last chance for Mr Edwards or Mr Obama to stop Mrs Clinton from wrapping up the nomination without a fight.
Mr Edwards, who has staked everything on a good showing in Iowa, went on first, giving a familiar speech about his poor, rural background and his determination to fight the influence of corporate lobbyists in Washington. Appealing to the partisan sympathies of this Democratic crowd, Mr Edwards took aim at the Republicans.
"I watch the Republican candidates - Giuliani, Romney, McCain - and I what I see is George Bush on steroids," he said.
He was less aggressive than usual in criticising Mrs Clinton but took every opportunity to distinguish himself from the frontrunner. "You're in a place to judge who is trustworthy, who is honest, who is sincere, who can restore that trust [ between the American people and the White House] relationship," Mr Edwards said.
Mrs Clinton's campaign has been on the defensive for the past two weeks, recovering from a below-average performance in a TV debate and having to admit that some questions at "town hall meetings" in Iowa were planted.
Mrs Clinton was in fighting form, presenting herself as a battle-hardened campaigner who could sustain Republican attacks to win back the White House for the Democrats. "Harry Truman said, 'If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen', and I feel really comfortable in the kitchen," she said. "I'm not interested in attacking my opponents, I'm interested in attacking the problems of America and I believe we should turn the heat on the Republicans. They deserve all the heat we can give them."
She did not mention any of her rivals by name but, conscious of Mr Obama's strengthening appeal in Iowa, she suggested that he was not ready to be president.
"Change is just a word if you don't have the strength and experience to make it happen. We must nominate a nominee who has been tested and elect a president who is ready to lead on day one. I know what it's going to take to win."
Mrs Clinton won huge applause, particularly from the floor where local party bigwigs, union leaders and other key elements in the Democratic party machine were seated. The greatest cheer from the bleachers though came for Mr Obama, who entered to the sound of a sports announcer introducing him as "a 6ft 2 in force of change".
Despite his reputation as one of the greatest speakers in US politics, Mr Obama often disappoints at big events and set-piece occasions and his debate performances have generally been poor. On Saturday, he started slowly but soon began hammering out the message that he represented the change America needs, not only from Mr Bush and Mr Cheney but from the careful, poll-driven politics perfected by the Clintons. "That's why not answering questions because we're afraid our answers won't be popular just won't do it," he said. "That's why telling the American people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the American people what they need to hear just won't do it."
Mr Obama pitched his appeal to Iowans who dislike partisan politics and want to see America overcoming the divisions of the Clinton and Bush years - and he reminded his audience that unlike Mrs Clinton, he opposed the Iraq war from the start.
"When I'm your nominee, my opponent won't be able to say that I supported this war in Iraq or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran or that I support that Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to leaders we don't like. And he won't be able to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether it's okay for America to use torture - because it's never okay. That's why I'm in it."