Scenes from Iowa state fair: Surging Warren, Harris draw big crowds

[nitpicker]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/457036-scenes-from-iowa-state-fair-surging-warren-harris-draw-big-crowds

Scenes from Iowa state fair: Surging Warren, Harris draw big crowds

By Reid Wilson - 08/12/19 06:00 AM EDT


DES MOINES -- Six months before Iowans will caucus on a cold February night, the race to earn their support kicked off in earnest this weekend as candidates descended on the state fair and two different forums amid an uncertain race.

Iowa Democratic voters take their role in kicking off the voting process tremendously seriously, and few are willing to commit to a candidate with certainty. Those candidates are adjusting their strategies and tactics after an initial period of trial and error.
(snip)

Interviews with almost two dozen Iowa voters this weekend provide a clear snapshot of the contours of the race ahead that have begun to emerge. The frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, maintains a shaky and shrinking lead. At least four other candidates have built formidable teams and earned substantial support in Iowa, and several more beyond that are preparing to seize their own moments.

Biden has led in all but one public poll in Iowa conducted over the last seven months, but his chief rival has changed. At the beginning of the contest, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was polling in second place. Though he retains loyal backers, his poll numbers have slumped, as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) have surged.

Illustrating their rise, both Warren and Harris drew larger and more enthusiastic crowds when they appeared at the Des Moines Register's Soapbox stage at the Iowa State Fair than did Biden -- though Biden spoke Thursday, a weekday, and Warren and Harris spoke on a Saturday.

"We underestimate our capacity so, so badly. We've never lived up to it, but America is an idea. It's the most unique idea in the world," Biden told Iowans. "It's time to remember who in God's name we are."

A hundred feet away, voters casting their corn kernels at an entirely unscientific poll conducted by WHO-TV favored Biden by a slim margin, but few of those who voted for him said they were enthusiastic about his candidacy.
(snip)

Biden's biggest strength is the perception that he is the candidate most capable of beating President Trump -- and that, beyond any other issue, is what Democratic voters are thinking about.

"The first three issues that they think about when they're evaluating candidates is, can you beat Trump, can you beat Trump, and can you beat Trump," said Jeff Link, an Iowa Democratic strategist who does not work for one of the candidates this year.
(snip)

[Celerity]

1. the telltale quote

Burt Bibbons stopped by the state fair while visiting his adult kids in Des Moines, where he voted for Biden.

"I've always been a policy person, but this particular year, it's who can beat Trump. If you don't win, it doesn't matter what your policies are," Bibbons said. "My number one priority is to win."