US: On the eve of Monday's Iowa Caucus, front-runner Mr Howard Dean will be hundreds of miles away attending services and Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.
This is the church where Jimmy Carter worships, and the Mr Dean is seeking the blessing of the former president to ward off the growing challenge of his rivals.
Mr Carter will offer support for Mr Dean, though not a formal endorsement, his spokesman said. Nevertheless Mr Dean, who has won the endorsements of former Vice-President Al Gore and other figures, will take what he can in the form of favours from the party establishment.
In the contest where the votes count - Iowa on Monday and New Hampshire on January 27th - Mr Dean is feeling the heat from his rivals. In the latest poll, he barely held on to a lead over Congressman Dick Gephardt and Senator John Kerry moved into a dead heat with Mr Gephardt, making it a three-way race.
Mr Dean got 24 per cent (down four points) to 21 per cent for Gephardt and 21 per cent for Kerry, with North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the wild card in Iowa, rising slightly to 15 per cent, according to the Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll.
Senator Kerry is making a late run in Iowa, picking up support from Democrats uninspired by the stolid Mr Gephardt, a local pro-union favourite, and concerned by Mr Dean's brittle temperament and lack of experience.
Mr Dean is also facing a growing challenge in New Hampshire from retired general Wesley Clark, whose decision to stay out of Iowa and concentrate on the first primary election state may prove to be strategically correct. Mr Clark has been drawing support from Democrats, impressed by his military credentials and his potential as a southerner to emerge as front-runner in the more conservative southern states and mount an effective challenge to President Bush on national security.
Wearing a series of different jumpers designed to soften his image, the general has been attracting large crowds in frigid temperatures in New Hampshire. His message is that the Iraq war was a mistake and that he would improve America's standing around the world and use US forces only as a last resort.
The former general has already passed Senator Kerry into second place in New Hampshire, according to a poll by the American Research Group, which shows Dean at 34 per cent, Clark at 20 per cent and Kerry at 11 per cent. Dean had 38 per cent support at the start of the month and his campaign seems to have plateaued.
In an effort to regain momentum, Mr Dean's campaign has begun airing "attack" adverts against his opponents in Iowa and New Hampshire after a bruising debate during which, he said, he was treated like a "pincushion." The adverts feature a voice asking, "Where did the Washington Democrats stand on the war? - Dick Gephardt wrote the resolution to authorise war. John Kerry and John Edwards both voted for the war."
In New Hampshire, Mr Dean intends to raise question about Gen Clark's shifting views on the war and his praise in 2001 for the Bush administration.
A spokesman for Clark said the Dean campaign was getting nervous, that they were "hearing our footsteps, and resorting to the tired, old politics of attacks."