Democrats vying for the White House head to Des Moines starting Thursday for retail politicking at the Iowa State Fair, in an effort to win over party voters before the February 2020 Iowa caucuses.
The agrarian prelude to the quadrennial first-in-the nation political contest includes all kinds of fried food on a stick, rides, live music, and presidential candidate political stump speeches.
In Iowa, contenders will look to raise money, pick up endorsements, and attempt to qualify for the next debate. The pool of 24 candidates slated for the Iowa State Fair is expected to be vastly cut down by the time the caucuses roll around in six months.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, begins his Iowa tour this week on Wednesday in Iowa City. Biden’s presidential campaign history at the Iowa State Fair goes back to 1987, when he debated six primary rivals — former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, Tennessee Sen. Al Gore, Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, and Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois.
During the debate Biden said he was “the first Biden in a thousand generations” to go to college. However, he failed to attribute the line to the then-British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. Reporters dug into the plagiarism charges, which led to a series of negative stories about Biden’s record, including wrongly attributing a citation in a law school paper. Biden’s campaign crumbled and he was out of the race the next month.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had a better experience at the Iowa State Fair during the last election cycle.
In 2015, he drew huge crowds at the event as he expounded on his socialist platform. His campaign gained traction after delivering remarks at soapbox stage, which helped propel him onto the national stage as the main rival against Hillary Clinton.
This time, though, Sanders must compete with a larger pool of primary candidates. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, are likely to echo his own far-Left platform proposals.
Meanwhile, California Sen. Kamala Harris plans a five-day bus tour through Iowa, starting Thursday in Sioux City, her campaign said. Harris intends to meet with potential caucus goers to talk about her “3 a.m. agenda,” which includes issues of housing costs, equal pay for women, and student debt.
