Veteran Iowa journalist Chuck Offenburger, formerly with The Des Moines Register and now managing his own Web site, Offenburger.com, has long used Sam’s Barber Shop in Aububon as a barometer for politics and other Iowa issues.

With the election only days away, Offenburger has found good news for the Democrats at Sam’s.

Keep in mind that when you’re taking the public pulse here, you’re in a town of 2,274 and a county of 6,479 that is overwhelmingly white and rural. There’s an even split in the county between Republicans, Democrats and independents.

For our Barber Poll to be showing a strong Democratic leaning – and that was reinforced by a half-dozen haircut customers while we talked – it is significant.

We all agreed that this has been the most fascinating presidential election, at least in the 28 years that Sam’s Barber Shop has been serving as my sample precinct in Iowa.