Iowa, as always, is a critical stop for candidates seeking their party’s nomination to run for President. The Iowa caucuses, to be held on February 3, 2020, will be the first chance voters can speak out on their preferences in a historically wide and diverse field.
This past week, nearly all of the top two dozen Democratic and Republican candidates crisscrossed the state holding public events and meeting potential voters. Most spoke at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Wing Ding dinner in Clear Lake, and sixteen of them spoke at a Presidential Gun Sense Forum in Des Moines on August 10.
The Democratic Party fault lines were on full display.
“I am caught in a quagmire—do you want to go with progressive or do you want to go with safe?” asked Kevin Cavallin of Ames, Iowa. “We are not gonna win with just Democrats. We are going to have to pull in some Republicans and independents. I fear we will scare them away with someone too progressive.”
Iowan Kirk Bragg is planning to caucus for Kamala Harris. “It would take a lot to change my mind,” he told The Progressive. “We need someone to stand up to a bully. She’s a prosecutor and I think she could do it. She also is very likable. She’s real.”
Twenty-one of the candidates spoke at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox during the first four days of the eleven-day-long Iowa State Fair.
Joeff Davis
Former Vice President Joe Biden came early to the fair and, at his address to the crowd on August 8, seemed confused about the amount of time he had been given to speak. The Soapbox allows each candidate twenty minutes, but Biden said he thought he had only five, and kept checking his watch. In an at times halting speech Biden added to an ever-growing list of gaffes.
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After their speeches, each of the candidates moved to “The Gaggle,” a small tent filled with reporters, cameras, and microphones to answer questions from the media.
Norman Stockwell
In the Gaggle after his speech, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to a question about the recent death of financier Jeffrey Epstein: “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but something’s way too convenient here, and we need to get down to the bottom of what happened.”
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Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro with his four-year-old son, Cristián Julián, appreciating the Iowa livestock.
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Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, whose “Freedom Dividend” offers a universal basic income to every American, samples a barbecued turkey leg.
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Yang was challenged to a corn-dog eating contest by Gregory Whytman, a fictitious presidential candidate created by the Stephen Colbert television show. Whytman, played by actor Brian Stack, says his signature campaign issue is elevator safety.
Norman Stockwell
Candidate Alan Howe did not make the list of recognized contenders invited to speak on the Soapbox stage, but spent some of his time working in the booth for the Iowa Democratic Party.
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Senator Kamala Harris of California stopped by one of the Fair’s 200 food booths to speak with Iowa Pork Queen Jordan Travis, and try her hand at the grill.
Norman Stockwell
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper also stopped by the Iowa Pork Producers Association booth, but after some discussion with staff about the process, no meat made it off the grill.
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Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a vegan since November 2014, reportedly managed to locate a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich—among many “items on a stick” featured at the fair.
Norman Stockwell
Billionaire and activist Tom Steyer recently entered the race in July, after telling The Progressive in an interview that he would not. He spent much of his time at the fair talking directly with voters. The exchanges were not always comfortable; here he addresses a small business owner and a livestock farmer with concerns about paying family members a $15 minimum wage.
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Governor Jay Inslee of Washington promised his audience he would “beat Donald Trump like a two-dollar mule.” Although, he continued, “we know that mules are different than the current occupant of the White House, because I’ve never met a mule that lies every five minutes.”
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Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, in a reference to Sarah Palin’s comments about Russia during the 2008 campaign, began her talk by letting Iowans know that she could see their state “from her front porch.”
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U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, who served in Iraq with her National Guard unit (she is now headed off to two weeks of active-duty training in Indonesia), has been especially critical of military spending. “Everyone of us, as Americans, has paid the price for war,” she said.
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Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts drew a large crowd for her speech on Saturday. “Two cents, two cents,” the crowd echoed as Warren described her plan for a wealth tax of 2% that would apply to people with more than fifty million dollars in net worth.
Norman Stockwell
At this speech on Sunday afternoon, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont listed a number of progressive issues that were once considered “wild and extreme” but now are being taken up in city after city, state after state. “So thank you Iowa for helping to lead the way,” he said.
Norman Stockwell
A straw poll (or really a “corn kernel poll”) was hosted by local TV station WHO. The winner by far was Donald Trump who, by Sunday evening, had more than three times the number of kernels cast for his closest rival, Joe Biden.
The Iowa State Fair continues through August 18 with appearances scheduled for three more of the Democratic candidates. Only one Republican candidate addressed the fairgoers—Bill Weld, former governor of Massachusetts. President Donald Trump apparently feels he does not need to explain himself to the people of Iowa, he has not scheduled an appearance at the Fair.