The caucuses and primaries are less than three weeks away, and since Iowa holds the first contest, candidates have been spending the bulk of their recent time in this wintry state.

But with the holidays around the corner, the candidates realize their campaigns are winding down, as Iowa voters do not want to spend their Christmas and New Years listening to campaign attacks. So this week is one of the last full weeks on the Iowa campaign trial, and candidates used this time to appeal to Iowa voters by participating in debates hosted by the Des Moines Register newspaper.

Both of the parties’ debates were considered to be quite cordial and dominated by economic issues. The Democratic candidates seemed to emphasize their interest in bringing change to America. (Read more about Americans’ interest in change here.)

On the Democratic side, there were some noticeable absences. Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel did not meet the Des Moines Register’s guidelines for participating since they do not have at least one full-time campaign staffer working out of an Iowa office.

Americans who watched the Republican debate, most of whom thought there were eight Republican candidates for president, were surprised to find nine people on stage. This is because Alan Keyes, a candidate generally not considered viable, met the newspapers’ guidelines for participation. Keyes is most recently known for moving from Maryland to Illinois to run in that state’s 2004 Senate race – where he lost to now Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.