Grassley predicts Clinton will finish third in Iowa

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R), who has represented the state in the Senate for 26 years, predicted Tuesday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will finish third in the Hawkeye State’s Jan.3 caucus.

{mosads}The GOP senator said the race between the top three Democratic candidates would be close but he believes that the caucus system favors Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). Grassley pointed out that supporters of candidates who do not surpass an initial threshold of 15 percent in the Iowa caucuses either leave or support a secondary candidate.

“I think those people are more inclined to go for [former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards] than to go for Clinton,” Grassley said on MSNBC.

The senior Republican said it would be “crazy” for Clinton supporters to support Edwards to prevent Obama from winning.

“That would kind of be a Waterloo for [the] Clinton people, I think, because it would show that you’re throwing in the sponge,” Grassley added. “And I don’t think anybody that’s in a position of national leadership, as Sen. Clinton is with about 45 percent of the vote nationally, would dare do that in Iowa.”

Grassley has not endorsed a Republican in the race and again refused to do so Tuesday. However, he said he would be comfortable with three candidates in the GOP field. When asked about who those three are, Grassley said, “That's just like endorsing three, and I'm not that silly.”

The senator is standing by his prediction that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would win the GOP caucus in Iowa due to the strength of his organization.