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RADIO IOWA NEWS – Seven presidential candidates seeking support in the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses campaigned in Iowa Sunday. At 7 tonight, Caucus-goers will start having their say.
The three U.S. Senators running for president — who were sitting as jurors in President Trump’s impeachment trial last week — rushed to the trail. Late Friday night, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren showed up to greet supporters who’d been waiting for her at a Des Moines bar.
“There is no one I would rather be in this fight with than you because this is the moment when we will dream big, fight hard and win,” Warren said, to cheers.
Minnesota Sentor Amy Klobuchar left her campaign bus behind this weekend and boarded a plane to rallies in eastern, western and central Iowa.
“We have been everywhere in Iowa,” Klobuchar said. “I am trying to make up for being gone for 10 days, in two days.”
On Saturday night, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders attracted a crowd of 3000 at his campaign’s Vampire Weekend concert in Cedar Rapids. ”
The reason we are going to win here in Iowa, the reason we’re going to win the Democratic nomination is because we are a campaign of us, not me,” Sanders said., to cheers.
Pete Buttigieg held his final Iowa campaign rally in a high school gymnasium in Des Moines and he spoke to about 2009 people.
“I’m here one more time to look you in the eye and to ask you for your support, so that we can bring to turn the page and bring about a better day in this country,” he said, to cheers.
On Sunday evening, former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to more than a thousand people and this was his closing pitch.
“Not because I am running, but because of the man who’s president, you’ve never had a greater responsibility,” Biden said. “…We need you. We need you. We need you.”
Andrew Yang released a campaign video this weekend titled “Longer than Long Shot” and rallied with a big crowd at a Des Moines hotel.
“We think we’re going to surprise a lot of people,” Yang said.
Yang and California businessman Tom Steyer are planning a couple of public appearances on Caucus Day. Several of the candidates reminisced a little as the end of the Iowa Caucus campaign season drew ever closer. Warren reminded Iowans her first town hall forums were in Iowa.
“You’ve asked me hard question and you’ve pushed back. You’ve given me notes in line to read,” Warren said. “…Over this year you’ve made me a better candidate and you’ll make me a better president.”
Buttigieg talked about being an unknown to most Iowans a year ago.
“It is difficult to believe how far we have come from a year ago when we first turned up at a coffee shop in Ames, thrilled because there were literally dozens of people there,” Buttigieg said, with a laugh, “although most of them were there just to get a cup of coffee.”
Klobuchar said sitting in the senate last week as a juror gave her time to think.
“That the people of Iowa would understand that it is important to have a candidate for president who is in the arena, who is pursuing the truth, who is doing her job and that you would see that as a positive,” she said, to cheers.
Sanders, as he spoke to the concert crowd Saturday evening, re-stated some of the themes from his 2016 campaign.
“We are taking on the entire political establishment — the Republican establishment and the Democratic establishment…and the whole damned 1%,” Sanders said, to cheers.
