DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Bickering to the last, Democrats traded insults Sunday as they reached for the finish line in a close and caustic Iowa caucus race, the first step toward picking President Bush’s rival.

“We are going to win,” said Rep. Dick Gephardt, the same five-word refrain used by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards in a contest utterly impossible to call.

While four candidates raced between Iowa’s state lines, Dean sought to regain the political initiative with a trip to Georgia, where former President Carter answered campaign critics of Dean and a surprise guest, upon his return. After months in the political shadows, Dean’s wife Judy was making her first appearance on the campaign trail.

Democrats agree that Dean and Gephardt have the strongest organizations, traditionally a key in the complicated caucus system, but Kerry and Edwards had the momentum in the race’s final week.