ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa - Jackie McCarty is torn. A 46-year old homemaker and substitute teacher, McCarty is trying to make up her mind about whom to support in Democratic Iowa caucuses that will begin the presidential voting in January.

I met McCarty at a volunteer fire station in Rock Rapids, where Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards was holding a rally.

McCarty is a well-dressed woman who looks as though she should be president of the Junior League. Her husband is the Democratic chairman in heavily Republican Lyon County, and he is planning to hold a fundraiser for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Guess who will doing the cooking for the Clinton event? Jackie McCarty quips.

But while McCarty will be cooking for the Clinton fundraiser, she is not sure whom she will actually vote for.

"I think Hillary is the best candidate, but I question her electability," McCarty said. "I like John Edwards. I think he is more electable."

"I think Hillary is very intelligent, and I like the fact that you get Bill, too," she said. "But there are a lot of Clinton haters out there."

Iowa voters are known for making their decisions late in the caucus. For Iowans, the presidential contest is like a North Carolina sheriff's race. They get to hear the candidates and ask them questions -- often multiple times -- as they try to make up their minds.

Which is why public opinion polls in Iowa mean very little this early. At the same time in last election cycle, the polls showed Richard Gephardt with 27 percent, Howard Dean with 26 percent, John Kerry with 16 percent, and Edwards with 8 percent. Kerry won the caucus with Edwards coming in a close second.

The conventional wisdom is that many Iowans won't make up their minds until the holidays. The Iowa caucus is scheduled for Jan. 14, but it will likely be moved up to the first week in January.

Phil Montag is another undecided Iowa voter.

Montag, 31, a salesman from Douds, Iowa, showed up at the Edwards event with his copy of Edwards' autobiographical "Four Trials" to get it autographed.

"His book reads like a novel," Montag said.

But Montag is leaning toward Barack Obama, whom he finds a fresh new face who represents change.

But he also likes Edwards' promise to attack poverty and push through Congress a plan for universal health-care insurance.

"The one thing I'm not fond of is his position [in favor] on partial birth abortions," Montag said. "It's alienating a lot of Iowans. I'm pro-choice, but not at 9 months."

Jim Jordan, 54, an engineering technician from Atlantic, Iowa, is also still shopping. His preference is Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, because of his experience in foreign affairs. But his next choices are Obama and Edwards, which is why he showed up at an Edwards rally.

He has ruled out Clinton, calling her "politics as usual."

Jordan sees Edwards as a president who has the skills to bring the country together.

"I think," Jordan said, "we have a quality field of candidates."