IOWA CITY, Feb 2 — As the large field of Democratic presidential candidates feverishly criss-crossed the small rural state of Iowa yesterday, the outcome of its first-in-the-nation vote in two days remained highly uncertain.
Three of the leading candidates seized on a brief break from their duties as jurors in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in Washington to rush to the state for a flurry of last-minute campaign events, part of the primary process to determine the party’s eventual presidential nominee.
The senators — self-styled democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, progressive Elizabeth Warren and moderate Amy Klobuchar — all had two or three events planned for yesterday.
The impeachment trial — only the third in US history — created an unprecedented situation by limiting key senators’ ability to campaign in Iowa in the closing days before that state’s presidential caucuses.
Monday’s crunch vote is headed to a photo finish, with leftist Sanders holding a narrow polling lead over former vice president Joe Biden, as the Democratic candidates battle to take on Trump in the November election.
Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar have to return to Washington tomorrow, along with Senator Michael Bennet who trails badly in the polls, as the trial resumes.
Senate leaders have scheduled a vote for Wednesday that appears virtually certain to end in Trump’s acquittal on the impeachment charges of abuse of power and contempt of Congress.
Iowa has traditionally served as a vital launching point — or burial ground — for presidential campaigns.
A good result there can propel a candidate to new victories in the states that come hard on its heels, starting with tiny New Hampshire eight days later. A poor showing can signal the end of the road.
Eight of the 11 Democrats still in the race were in Iowa yesterday.
Sanders, at 78 the oldest Democratic candidate, has seen his candidacy buoyed by enthusiastic support among young voters.
His staff organized concerts at his weekend rallies with indie groups Bon Iver and Vampire Weekend, who performed at his events four years ago as well.
“We must defeat and we will defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” the Vermont senator said at a rally in Indianola.
The best against Trump
Just as in every presidential year, thousands of volunteers fanned out across the Midwestern farm state of just over three million inhabitants to try to convince neighbours or passers-by to vote for their favourite.
Surprisingly at this late date, nearly one Iowa voter in two claimed to still be undecided.
In a home in Iowa City that Warren supporters were using as a base, people streamed in and out, looking for more posters to put up on lamp posts or in yards, or for lists of doors that still needed to be knocked on.
“In the last campaign I was a Hillary supporter,” said Carol Clark, 72, a retired teacher. “It’s about time we had a woman, don’t you think?”
Monday evening, at 7:00 pm (01H00 GMT Tuesday), the state’s more than 600,000 registered Democrats are invited to take part in caucuses in some 1,700 venues — schools, theatres, churches — to publicly express their choice by standing under one candidate’s banner.
If one thing has brought them together, state Democratic chairman Troy Price told AFP, it is that “people want to defeat Donald Trump.”
That is the number one argument being made by Biden, former vice president to Barack Obama.
“We need a president who is ready on day one,” the 77-year-old political veteran has been saying throughout his campaign. Biden leads in nationwide surveys but trails Sanders in the latest Iowa polling.
New faces
Iowans take their politics seriously. They hold their role as first-in-the-nation voters to heart, and often, even in the smallest cities, have the chance to meet candidates in person.
Like Biden, 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg took advantage of the absence of rivals stuck in the Senate to lay on a heavy schedule of campaigning.
A former consultant, army reservist and onetime mayor of a small Indiana city, “Mayor Pete” portrays his youth as a reason voters should prefer him over the greying Biden. As for Sanders, his politics are too divisive, Buttigieg implies.
His is not the only new face to emerge during the campaign.
Klobuchar, a previously little-known senator who is 59, has climbed slowly but steadily in voter polls. She is hoping for a surprise on Monday, boosted in part by the fact that her home state, Minnesota, borders Iowa.
Maria Watt, 42, was leaning toward “Pete” until she decided to switch to “Amy.”
“Either way, we’d be happy to have it be a young person or a female,” the Iowa City voter said yesterday.
“Anyone but an old white guy.” — AFP
