Mood music in Iowa

What is it with Clinton and Canadian musicians? First, after an online contest inviting suggestions for a campaign song, she chooses a super-sentimental number by native Quebecoise Celine Dion.

You and I was everywhere Clinton went - "High above the mountains, far across the sea", as the song goes. Until a month ago, when the Canadian abruptly vanished from the Clinton line-up and was replaced by Big Head Todd and the Monsters' Blue Sky. (The Colorado band was the draw for Clinton's New Year's Eve party in Des Moines).

Back-up music is serious stuff for presidential candidates. At his last campaign hurrah in West Des Moines, Mitt Romney, the squeaky clean Mormon with millions in his bank account - even accounting for the huge sums he has spent on his presidential race - a country anthem about vanished diners in a small southern town. You just can't do enough to demonstrate your heartland credentials in Iowa.

So who did Clinton choose for backup music when she entered the stage for her final campaign rally in Des Moines on Wednesday night? That relic of seventies Canadian rock, Guess Who, and their song, Taking Care of Business. True, they are from the midwestern town of Winnipeg and were probably a good match for Clintons' core demographic: middle-aged women and men. But she left the stage with Dolly Parton, and the song Nine to Five ("Tumble Out of Bed and Stumble to the Kitchen / Pour Myself a Cup of Ambition...")