Go Backstage With Hillary Clinton on Her Final Push Through Iowa: 'We're Making It!'

The Iowa caucuses begin on Monday

Photo: John Locher/AP

Hillary Clinton‘s high-stakes closing argument to the voters of Iowa this weekend, ahead of the state’s Monday night presidential nominating caucuses, was a family affair.

Former President Bill Clinton and daughter, Chelsea Clinton joined the candidate on the stump and PEOPLE and TIME were there, backstage, for the photos, handshakes, autographs and even the quiet moments as mother and daughter held hands before stepping to the stage.

With polls showing a neck-and-neck contest between the former Secretary of State and rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton repeatedly asked volunteers backstage in Ames, Iowa, “How’s it looking?” and “How are we looking?”

And she seemed to draw energy from their assurances. “We’re making it!” Clinton said.

As the Democrat posed with some of the volunteers at Iowa State University, she advised, “We have to take a stand on a lot of things.”

Later in the clip, reporters worked away on their laptops while traveling on the Clinton press bus and the 68-year-old eventually took the stage to speak to rally attendees alongside former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a gun safety advocate who survived a shooting in Arizona five years ago.

Clinton will face off against Sanders and Martin O’Malley in the first Democratic contest on Monday. They will later battle it out on Tuesday, Feb. 9, in New Hampshire.