Did Howard Stern Say He Would Never Vote for a Democrat Again
Biden comes in 4th in unreleased aureate-standard Iowa poll: written report
Unreleased results of the Des Moines Register's closely watched Iowa poll, which was spiked this weekend among concerns it was flawed, showed Joe Biden in fourth place, according to Five Thirty Eight.
The Des Moines Register and CNN announced on Sabbatum that they would non release the highly anticipated and historically prescient survey, after a Pete Buttigieg supporter flagged an issue with the questionnaire.
Read more on the poll here.
Information technology's not just Democrats. The Trump entrada is also in Iowa.
Westward DES MOINES, Iowa — President Donald Trump'south re-elect campaign held a press conference here on Mon afternoon to preview its strategy and talk about the "trial run" nature of the Republican caucuses ahead of the general ballot battle to come.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale said the caucuses would be the "showtime test" of the grassroots army the campaign has built, adding that "it'due south time to take the grooming wheels off." More than lxxx surrogates, including Chiffonier members and former White House officials, will exist fanned out across the Hawkeye state at dissimilar conclave sites Monday evening.
That'south very different from their arroyo last bike when, as Eric Trump, the president's son, said, "We literally didn't know what caucuses were." (Reminder: Trump finished 2d in Iowa in the 2016 master but won the state by ten points in the general election.)
Asked what he thought of the Democrats competing on Mon, Parscale predicted, "I call up Bernie will do well." He maintained the president has no preference for his opponent. "He's prepare" for any of the candidates, Parscale added.
"If Biden doesn't win large, he's probably in a lot of problem," Donald Trump Jr. said, before saying he'd savour the potential matchup. "That is a fight I would pay a lot of money to run into."
"We don't take a single vote for granted," Trump campaign senior adviser and daughter-in-law Lara Trump said. "We accept this election seriously."
Midway through news conference, a protester stood up and identified himself as an "American Jew" who was unhappy with the president and started shouting at Trump Jr. most anti-Semitism. The human being was immediately escorted out by security, as Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., started a "Four More Years!" chant among the surrogates.
"We've gotten used to this," Trump Jr. said, talking over the protester and touting the Trump administration's actions to support Israel, such as moving the diplomatic mission to Jerusalem.
During his remarks, Trump Jr. took shots at Michael Bloomberg's height and Hunter Biden's business dealings with Ukraine.
Trump campaign officials as well touted the president's contempo trade deals and slammed the media'due south "obsession" with the impeachment "sham."
Trump is not facing a serious claiming from either of his chief opponents— former Rep. Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld— but both are still actively campaigning against him.
And then why get through all the effort? Every bit a Trump spokesman put it, "Is there anything we don't get big on?"
Where to find Iowa race results
Caucus doors close — and the action begins — at eight p.m. ET.
We'll take live updates every bit soon every bit results offset coming in, plus maps and county breakdowns, right here.
The view from the Warren camp
DES MOINES, Iowa — For the Warren campaign in Iowa, it's all almost high turnout, a footing game built around a wide engagement of voters, and winning on land delegate equivalents, per a senior Warren adviser I spoke to Monday afternoon.
On turnout: The campaign built its footing game around engaging equally wide a range of voters as possible, never making assumptions about where they'd find those supporters. The senior Warren aide said they could run across turnout as high or college than the record in 2008, simply declined to requite specific numbers.
This plays into the endmost argument we've been hearing from Warren on unity. As one Warren aide told me over the weekend: Amidst those they've identified to caucus for Warren and who also caucused in 2016 carve up evenly betwixt Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
Warren is trying to span the "moderate" and "progressive" lanes that nosotros similar to frame things in, but voters aren't necessarily thinking of information technology that fashion.
This senior adviser also notes the reputation of the Warren organizers, some of who have been on the ground here since March 2019, volition be a large boon. Warren's team sees their people as motivated and energized — with surrogates, like Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., visiting field offices throughout the solar day Monday to keep supporters engaged, among the final become-out-the-caucus canvassing push.
And they debate that Warren was able to stay connected to Iowa despite the impeachment that kept her in Washington through tele-boondocks halls, local TV and radio appearance, and national interviews — and that she was able to establish some momentum, if not in polling consistency, with things similar The Des Moines Register endorsement and backing from notable Iowans.
Iowa precinct leaders study problems with app for reporting results
At least a dozen precinct leaders across Iowa are having issues downloading or logging into a new smartphone application used to study the caucus nighttime results, potentially delaying the counting of the first circular of results.
Chairs of four different counties said they had precinct leaders who experienced issues with the app, from receiving an error that their login wasn't recognized to missing a cutoff time for downloading it. At least one — Laura Hubka, chair of the Howard Canton Democrats — said she declined to use the app.
The app is optional to use just was the preferred method for sending in results, according to the Iowa Democrat Party precinct leader transmission. Those who can't use the app will use pen and paper and call a dedicated hotline to report the results.
Mandy McClure, the Iowa Democratic Party communications director, said in a argument, "The IDP is working with any precinct chairs who want to utilise the optional tabulation application to make sure they are comfortable with it. We've always been aware that many precinct chairs adopt to telephone call in results via a secure hotline, and have systems in identify so they can do so."
Brett Niles, chair of the Linn County Democrats, said eight of his 86 temporary caucus chairs weren't able to log in to the app. He reported hearing of "desultory" issues in other counties.
"You've got volunteers spread out through the entire state. Information technology's tough to make sure everyone does as they're supposed to," Niles said.
Benjamin Pu contributed reporting.
Iowa Democrats await to ease concern about location changes
Iowa Democrats are trying to assuage concerns that around a dozen precinct conclave locations are changing at the last minute.
The political party has been tweeting out various location changes for several conclave sites ahead of Monday dark'due south caucuses, which begin at eight p.m. ET. These sharp changes accept sparked concerns near caucusgoers who may non be enlightened of the changes and therefore will show up at the incorrect identify, along with criticisms online that the changes are happening in an effort to tamp downwards turnout for certain candidates.
Kevin Geiken, executive director of the Iowa Democrats, said on Twitter that these changes are typical for caucuses.
"Caucus location changes are possible due to unforeseen circumstances like chapters reasons, environmental factors beyond our control, and more than," he said. "We will always update yous and the campaigns every bit shortly every bit we know to ensure transparency and accessibility."
There are more than 1,600 precinct sites across Iowa on Monday, every bit Iowans make the first stride toward selecting the presidential nominee.
Klobuchar puts Trump's impeachment trial at center of loftier-stakes endmost pitch
BETTENDORF, Iowa — This isn't how Sen. Amy Klobuchar idea the pb-upwardly to the Iowa caucuses would go.
Instead of long stretches on the road for the kind of grassroots, folksy campaigning she perfected running for office side by side door, in her home state of Minnesota, Klobuchar spent the last two weeks in Washington, consumed by President Donald Trump'south impeachment trial.
In her final, frenzied spin across Iowa over the weekend, the senator offered a simple closing argument: The allegations against Trump — and the furious partisan fights stirred by his impeachment — are exactly why she's running.
"I actually encounter this election and my candidacy equally really an extension of that, because what this is, this ballot, yes, information technology'due south an economic check," she told voters Saturday in a bicycle shop that served equally overflow for the hundreds of people packed into a brewery side by side door. "Simply more than that, information technology is a decency check."
Read the story.
Pressley celebrates birthday in Iowa: 'Y'all know what my wish is'
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., spent her altogether Monday campaigning in Iowa for Elizabeth Warren, as the Massachusetts senator was stuck in Washington for the impeachment trial.
When Pressley stopped into Warren's Ankeny entrada role to rally volunteers before their last round of door-knocking, she was greeted with a altogether cake and candles and a rendition of "Happy Birthday to You."
Pressley said a great gift for her 46th birthday would be to get Warren elected equally the 46th president.
"Y'all know what my wish is," she said before bravado out the candles.
Caucusing while married
Editor's notation: The author, a writer at "Dateline NBC" with Lester Holt, is a friend of Laurie Sands and David Busiek and will follow what happens to them and the residuum of the caucusgoers at Hoover High School in Des Moines for NBC News' alive blog. Tune in for more posts as the day progresses.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Like a lot of couples across America this primary flavour, Laurie Sands and David Busiek are supporting different candidates. Just in a caucus country, that means heading out to your local high school gym and very maybe competing against your spouse in real time all evening, trying to persuade friends and neighbors to back up your called candidate — and not your partner's.
Sands is supporting former S Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Busiek is backing Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
Sands, a former Des Moines school board member, has caucused every presidential ballot year since 1979. She says she supports Buttigieg because, "His values are values that unite u.s. equally a country. He'south all well-nigh inclusivity. When you volunteer for him, you lot follow '10 Rules of the Road' for how we care for each other and those from other campaigns."
She adds, "He'southward 38 simply his age doesn't reverberate his feel, wisdom and creativity. Thomas Jefferson was 33 when he wrote Proclamation of Independence!"
Busiek, a former news director at the CBS affiliate in Des Moines, was never able to air his political views publicly, but now that he is newly retired, he's attending his first caucus.
He called Klobuchar "bright, articulate and calm," adding that she was "very good" during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Courtroom Justice Brett Kavanaugh, "very much the adult in the room." He added that he likes her "experience, age and accent on practical solutions" and that she'south a "Midwesterner."
Sands says she wishes they were supporting the same candidate and adds that she hopes they don't wind up going caput-to-head for the exact aforementioned voters Monday night. "That would exist tough."
"We do and so many things in alignment, and this is so important," she said. "Then, to me, this is stressful."
For Busiek? Not and then much. "Our candidates are not and then far apart," he said. "We're ultimately working for the aforementioned things."
Analysis: Caucus game theory
Past Tuesday morning, information technology should be obvious whether any of the Democratic campaigns struck deals to partner up — or merely executed a superior strategy — on caucus night.
The permutations of conclave game theory are countless. Merely hither are a few things to think about as you watch tonight, and one big reason to be skeptical that the invisible hands of political operatives are able manipulate the process.
At each of the caucus locations across the state, there'southward a first round of candidate selection. Candidates who receive 15 pct support are considered viable and those who don't are considered not viable. The caucusgoers who sided with nonviable candidates are then allowed to realign, if they choose, in a second round. They can realign to boost the score for an already viable candidate or friction match up with a group of other caucusgoers to endeavour to make a nonviable candidate viable.
Because it's a multiround public voting system in which neighbors actively effort to persuade each other to join the cluster for i candidate or another, in that location's potentially a lot of room for dealmaking.
But information technology's all complicated. A entrada that appears to be twisting arms as well hard or that conspires with a second campaign to stab a third candidate in the back for its own do good may see the tactic backfire on caucus night or in subsequently stages of the nomination fight.
Then, campaigns have to decide whether to deploy whatever strategy beyond just persuading caucusgoers to back their ain candidates, decide which other candidates the campaign would want to help or injure, and judge which adversaries make expert targets for potential dealmaking. And the answers to those questions might fluctuate depending on the caucus site and beyond the state as results from virtually i,700 locations start to go clear.
That is, all the players are processing a lot of information at once, which means a bad motion could be worse than no move at all. It'due south a picayune less complicated if there's a articulate alignment between candidates on ideological grounds — say, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who both represent the progressive wing of the Democratic electorate. But those candidates are likewise in competition with each other.
Former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who won the Iowa caucuses in 2004, told NBC News on Sun that in that location'due south commonly a lot of talk but not much actual activity.
"There are some conversations, only I think likewise much is made of the capacity to execute considering people in Iowa are very contained," Kerry said. "They don't desire to be mass-moved."
Debunked claims about Iowa voter fraud pushed by conservative activists
Allegations of impending voter fraud in Iowa, pushed by conservative activists with debunked evidence, are being shared widely on Twitter ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
The viral claims originated Sunday with a tweet by Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch.
"Large: 8 Iowa counties have more voter registrations than citizens old enough to annals," Fitton posted, aslope a YouTube video of him interviewing a Judicial Lookout man attorney.
On Twitter, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate called the claim "fake" and posted a link to the county-by-county voter registration totals.
"They are updated monthly and available online for everyone to see," he wrote.
Fitton, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, has previously posted claims that independent fact-checkers have rated simulated and has claimed without evidence that Democrats want "to steal elections."
Fitton's tweet has been retweeted more than 6,000 times and gained virtually ix,000 likes. But it was Charlie Kirk'southward tweet — which copied Fitton's text without attribution — that went viral, earning almost 40,000 retweets and more than 56,000 likes. Kirk is the president of the conservative grouping Turning Signal U.s..
"Don't let voter fraud steal the 2020 election," Kirk added, urging users to retweet for a national Voter ID.
Allegations of voter fraud are ane of the well-nigh popular topics in voter misinformation campaigns. Concluding calendar week, Twitter announced a new tool that lets users study tweets with misleading information well-nigh how to participate in the election.
"We're seeing a recent uptick in activity spreading false info almost widespread voter fraud," tweeted David Becker, the executive director of the Eye for Election Innovation & Research, a nonprofit dedicated to election security and accessibility. "Again, the information on this is clear and conclusive — voter fraud is extremely rare, bookkeeping for peradventure dozens of votes out of hundreds of millions."
Iowa will exam whether Steyer's spending strategy works
DES MOINES, Iowa — With voting set to start in the 2020 Democratic presidential contests, billionaire Tom Steyer is about to face a critical test: whether the prodigious spending that has thus far buoyed his candidacy will win over plenty voters to propel it into the adjacent stage of the contest.
The 62-year-one-time one-time hedge fund managing director is besides sharpening his bulletin, casting himself as an uncompromising progressive in hopes of capitalizing on the distaste and discomfort a distinct coalition of voters feel toward the political establishment. But Steyer, well backside in nigh polls both nationally and in early on voting states, needs to turn out more than than just a handful of voters tired of the political system.
By portraying himself as a leader with experience outside the Beltway, Steyer, in the final sprint through Iowa and other early on states, aims to turn out voters who don't always participate in elections — highlighting his investment in normally disregarded communities.
Read more here.
Bloomberg: 'No question' that Trump is 'worried most me'
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Quondam New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there'south "no question" that President Donald Trump fears running against him in a general election, afterward a feud between the two New Yorkers escalated over the weekend.
In an sectional interview with NBC News in California, Bloomberg looked past his Democratic rivals who are competing in the Iowa caucuses Monday, insisting his own futurity in the race won't exist afflicted by the results of the caucuses. Instead, Bloomberg said, he's "running against Donald Trump."
"I remember in that location's no question that he's worried most me, because otherwise he wouldn't respond," Bloomberg says. "Donald doesn't desire to run against me considering he knows I've taken him on, and every time, I've beaten him. I'm trying to tell the public what I did and what I will do and non get into a empty-headed contest. He can't run on his record."
Read more than hither.
Buttigieg: 'Everything'southward come downwards to today'
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg gave volunteers some last words of encouragement Tuesday afternoon.
"Everything's come down to today," Buttigieg, who has bet big on Iowa, said to volunteers at a Westward Des Moines field part as they prepared to knock on doors in the concluding few hours before the caucuses.
"Know that you are part of an absolute force that is sweeping through the state of Iowa right now," Buttigieg continued.
Buttigieg thanked his volunteers for their hard piece of work, and took a moment to celebrate that, after "all of the debates, all of the appearances, all of the conversations," conclave day was here.
Bernie Sanders has edge in Google searches alee of caucuses
More than people searched on Google for Bernie Sanders in the Des Moines area in the 30 days leading up to Monday night's caucus than whatever other candidate, information from the company shows.
Sanders, who has seen a surge in the polls, outpaced Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg in the past months, according to Google Trends. Joe Biden came in fourth.
The data looks at search volume on a relative footing. Des Moines residents showed a detail interest in search for Sanders on Saturday, the latest day for which information is bachelor.
Bloomberg campaigns in California equally the residue of the field focuses on Iowa
While the 2020 presidential candidates focus their attention on Monday's Iowa caucuses, former New York Metropolis mayor and man of affairs Michael Bloomberg is candidature in a state with x times the number of delegates at pale: California.
Bloomberg, who vowed to skip the early voting states that have traditionally been the starting point in the nominating procedure, is visiting California for the fourth fourth dimension encouraging people to participate in the state's mail-in and early voting periods that start this week.
More people are expected to vote early on in California than are expected to participate in the Iowa caucuses Monday. Iowa determines just 1 percent of the delegates to the Autonomous National Convention.
Bloomberg's counterprogramming to the Iowa caucuses highlights his unconventional campaign and his strategy to focus on delegate-rich states that vote afterward in the primary season.
California votes on Super Tuesday, March three, one month afterwards Iowa.
Bernie Sanders raised more than online from Iowans than residue of Dem field
DES MOINES, Iowa — As the clock ticks closer to Mon dark's Iowa caucuses, new federal election filings from the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue provide the latest glimpse as to each candidates' fiscal forcefulness in the Eagle State.
That new data shows that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., raised more coin online from Iowans, $703,000, than his Democratic presidential rivals in all of 2019.
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raised the second most with $519,000, followed past Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren'southward $418,000, former Vice President Joe Biden's $251,000, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's $185,000 and businessman Andrew Yang'southward $142,000.
Read more here.
Trump urges Iowa Republicans to 'get out and Caucus today'
Conspiracy theories swirl over canceled Iowa poll, pushed by Sanders and Yang supporters
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Andrew Yang pushed imitation conspiracy theories on Twitter over the weekend tied to the canceled Des Moines Register poll, effectively commandeering a trending hashtag to convey the idea that their candidates are more successful than the public has been led to believe.
The Des Moines Register poll, a closely watched indicator of the Iowa race, was canceled after at to the lowest degree one interviewer apparently omitted Pete Buttigieg's name from the randomized list of candidates the surveyor read. The political website Axios reported that the reason for the error was that an interviewer increased the font size of the questionnaire on a computer screen, leaving the lesser choice invisible.
But supporters of Sanders and Yang decided, without evidence, that the reason for the poll's cancellation had to be that their candidates had high poll numbers, which the paper or the polling company wanted to suppress for some reason. (The Des Moines Annals poll is actually one of the most respected polls in the state, known for its integrity and accuracy.)
Read the story.
For Iowa Chiefs' fans, caucusing comes after long night of Super Bowl celebration
CLIVE, Iowa — Outset, your adopted home team wins the Super Bowl. Then, the very next day, your land officially kicks off voting in the 2020 ballot.
For Kansas City Chiefs-loving Iowa Democrats, Monday morning will bring the highest of highs. Merely for many of them, it will also come with a nasty hangover; the product of having had a few too many watching their favorite team win a championship the night before.
Just, at The Other Place, a dedicated Chiefs bar in Clive, about 15 miles w of Des Moines, Democratic-voting Kansas Metropolis Chiefs fans from Iowa, of varying levels of inebriation, vowed Sunday night that they'd caucus the side by side day, no matter the outcome of the game — and no matter how hungover they might be.
Read the story.
Election Confessions, Iowa edition: What Iowans have to say about the presidential candidates
Since 1971, Iowa'southward voters have had the get-go say in who might be president, giving Iowans what some call an outsize influence on the presidential election.
Some in the state, with its 2.4 1000000 voting-age adults, accept confessed what they claim to be their inner thoughts on the core of presidential candidates at NBC News' Election Confessions.
"I cannot vote for whatsoever of these!" one wrote. "I wish he would have got into the race before," another wrote nearly now-departed candidate Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana.
More than than 7,000 people from across the U.S. accept shared around sixty,000 confessions about the candidates, the country and its condition.
Hither are some of the more notable confessions from the get-go-in-the-nation voting state.
Iowa caucuses : 5 things to watch every bit voters brand their choices
DES MOINES, Iowa — We've finally arrived at the end of the beginning of a primary procedure that has been under way for over a year as Iowa Democrats take the first existent vote on Monday night in choosing a candidate to face off against President Donald Trump.
The Democratic slate started as the biggest presidential field in history and the contest has been amidst its near volatile, making the caucuses and trajectory of the race that will come up out of them particularly of import — and difficult to predict.
Xi candidates are notwithstanding in the running, though but 7 take actively competed in Iowa.
A poor showing could abruptly terminate the hopes of not only some long-shots, but one or more than of the leading candidates as well, almost of whom are counting on an victory in Iowa or a strong showing to help power (and fund) the residue of their campaigns.
Here's what you need to scout Mon night when the caucus doors close at 8 p.thou. ET.
What we learned from the Q4 candidate filings
DES MOINES, Iowa — Fri's new batch of campaign finance reports gave u.s. one more await under the campaigns' hoods before Monday'south Iowa caucuses.
Some candidates already pushed out their top-line numbers from the fourth fundraising quarter, but the full reports give a comprehensive look at the financial wellness of these campaigns.
Hither are some takeaways from the NBC Political Unit.
Yang turns to large number of out-of-state supporters in Iowa bid
DAVENPORT, Iowa — Andrew Yang has a lot of ground to make upwards in his ground game.
In a state with a quirky voting organization where organizing is essential, presidential campaigns spend months recruiting and training local precinct captains beyond the state, who can make-or-suspension a candidate's take chances of success on Monday in the highly personal caucus system.
Only as many as half of Yang's precinct captains are not Iowans — an unusually high percentage, according to a Democrat familiar with the campaign'southward strategy.
That could go far hard for Yang, who is running his first entrada for function, to hit the high bar he has set for himself in Iowa'south first-in-the-nation caucuses. Polls show him at roughly sixth place.
Read the story.
Warren works to at-home ascension electability fears pre-Iowa
Elizabeth Warren and her surrogates are working to calm growing fears most her perceived ability to defeat President Donald Trump as she falls behind in surveys to national front-runner Joe Biden and an dominant Bernie Sanders in the final stretch before the Iowa caucuses.
Warren'southward dip in national and early on-state polls comes as she loses footing gained in the autumn on the question of "electability," a major factor for Democratic primary voters.
A Quinnipiac poll released last calendar week institute that just seven percent of Democrats believe Warren has the best risk to defeat Trump, down from 21 percent in October. Sanders was viewed past 19 per centum of Democrats equally the virtually electable, up from 7 percent in October. Biden led both with 44 percentage, steady since he launched his campaign in April.
Hosting a tele-boondocks hall with Iowans on Tuesday evening, Warren was asked by a supporter what the primary point backers should use to encourage others to caucus for her. She apace evoked electability.
Read the story.
Iowa anxiety: Caucusgoers say the force per unit area to become information technology 'right' has never been college
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Marty Wartick likes Pete Buttigieg, but she likewise likes the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.
On one hand, she was convinced the former mayor of South Curve, Indiana, was the all-time person to win dorsum the Midwest. On the other hand, she worried he could fall flat afterward Iowa, when voting moves to more than diverse states where Buttigieg polls in the single digits.
"I worry that he doesn't poll equally well in other states — and I know some people are looking for reasons to take the conclave abroad from us," the retiree from Cedar Falls said at a University of Northern Iowa event for Buttigieg earlier this calendar month.
With just days to get before the caucuses, Iowa voters like Wartick say they are struggling to go Iowa "right." Many describe feeling anxious and pressured. These voters feel they demand to remainder electability against Trump with electability in the Autonomous primary — qualities that some run across at odds with each other.
Read the story.
Assay: With Iowa on the line, Biden bets on what he doesn't believe
WAUKEE, Iowa — Voters usually want to know what a presidential candidate believes. Joe Biden is defining himself to Iowa caucus-goers by what he doesn't believe.
"I do not believe we're the dark, angry nation that Donald Trump sees in his tweets," the onetime vice president said equally he unveiled his stretch-run pitch in a schoolhouse gym here Thursday morning.
"I don't believe nosotros're the nation that rips babies from the arms of their mothers and thinks that's OK. I don't believe we're the nation that builds walls and whips up hysteria virtually an invasion of immigrants that'due south going to practice terrible things to us. I do not believe nosotros're the nation that embraces white supremacists and hatred, as he has done."
Finding himself at an unusual crossroad — the leading contender for the Democratic nomination in national polling but at risk of being hobbled by poor showings here Monday and in New Hampshire on Feb. eleven — Biden chose the day the president arrived for a rally in Des Moines to fully drape his candidacy in the theme that has more subtly animated him since he entered the race in Apr.
Biden is running as the antidote to Trump — no less and footling more.
Read the full analysis.
With live music and booze, Sanders draws massive oversupply to party-like Iowa campaign rally
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Fans danced gleefully to music while guzzling beer. Smiles abounded and deafening cheers arose without warning. And, in the restroom, someone was smoking what smelled like marijuana.
Yes, information technology was a concert. Yes, it was a party.
But it was too a rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the critical early voting state of Iowa, where Democrats will concur their start-in-the-nation caucuses.
The massive rally — the Sanders entrada said 3,000 people were in attendance — underscores the groundswell of support, peculiarly from immature voters, that Sanders has received during his 2020 presidential run and suggests he's in prime position for a strong finish in Monday night's caucuses.
Read the story.
Iowa still bars ex-felons from voting, frustrating Democratic caucusgoers
DES MOINES, Iowa — With the first nominating contest of the 2020 ballot a day away, Democratic voters here are voicing frustration that their starting time-in-the-nation conclave state is the only one that all the same outright bans onetime felons from voting without prior blessing from the governor.
Under Iowa law, people with felony convictions who have completed their prison sentences cannot vote unless they apply directly to the governor for the correct to be restored. Voting rights advocates — and Democratic voters — say it's a major blemish on a state that prides itself on helping the nation pick its presidential candidates.
Read the story.
Biden on the bus: Within the old vice president's terminal Iowa pitch
NEWTON, Iowa — Riding through Iowa in Joe Biden's "Soul of the Nation" bus can be a disorienting experience. The same solid blueish exterior that makes his rolling campaign headquarters conspicuous on the route makes information technology most impossible for those inside to see anything outside. 1 passenger this week described information technology as similar to beingness on a dark airplane, shades downwards, endlessly taxiing just never taking off.
It's a sensation that simply deepens the feeling of uncertainty almost the entrada'southward future. 9 months later on Biden launched his tertiary White Business firm bid, his entrada is well aware of how the trajectory of the campaign could change in an instant at the caucuses here Monday night — a stiff finish accelerating his path to the Democratic nomination, or a disappointing finish suggesting the get-go of the end of a distinguished career in elected office.
In an sectional interview with NBC News this week as he rode between stops, Biden himself remained upbeat well-nigh his chances here even as he stressed it'southward just the first step of what he expects to be a long nomination fight.
Read the story.
For Warren, 'unity' is more than a talking bespeak
IOWA CITY, Iowa — As she makes her closing pitch to Iowa voters, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has increasingly stressed the need for party unity.
"I've been building a entrada from the beginning that'southward not a entrada that'southward narrow or not a campaign that says the states and nobody else," Warren said at a rally in Cedar Rapids Sat. "It'southward a entrada that says, 'come on in because we are in this fight together. This fight is our fight.'"
Her comments come up later a surrogate for Bernie Sanders pointedly joined in with a group of the Vermont Senator's supporters to boo Hillary Clinton Friday night.
Merely Warren'southward push is more than just a reactionary motion, there'due south some data behind it likewise.
Make or intermission: Why Iowa matters in the Democratic race for president
Past now, the ritual is familiar. Democratic presidential candidates traverse Iowa while their campaigns assemble and unleash grassroots armies to pursue voters i past i. Reporters from all over the country, fifty-fifty the globe, track all of it and expect on every new poll for a sign that someone is surging or stumbling. National television networks prepare for caucus night, when they'll devote hours of live coverage to the results — results that will bolster some and devastate others.
The outsize ascendancy of the Iowa caucuses, on Feb. 3 this twelvemonth, has everything to practice with a quirk of history that put the land at the caput of the Democratic line in the 1972 nominating process. Since so, the caucuses evolved into the national political/media miracle nosotros know today. This twelvemonth is the 11th competitive race for the Autonomous presidential nomination since '72, and Iowa one time once again stands to play an enormous role in winnowing the field and clarifying who is — and isn't — a legitimate contender.
The 2020 edition of the caucuses, though, features more dubiety than usual.
Read the story.
Texas immigration legal services grouping erects cages effectually Des Moines
John Kerry overheard discussing possible 2020 bid amid business organisation of 'Sanders taking downwardly the Democratic Party'
DES MOINES, Iowa — Erstwhile Secretary of State John Kerry — i of Joe Biden's highest-contour endorsers — was overheard Dominicus on the phone at a Des Moines hotel explaining what he would have to practice to enter the presidential race amidst "the possibility of Bernie Sanders taking down the Autonomous Party — down whole."
Sitting in the anteroom eating house of the Renaissance Savery hotel, Kerry was overheard by an NBC News analyst proverb "maybe I'm f---ing deluding myself here" and explaining that to run, he'd take to pace downwards from the board of Banking company of America and give up his ability to make paid speeches. Kerry said donors like venture capitalist Doug Hickey would accept to "heighten a couple of 1000000," adding that such donors "at present have the reality of Bernie."
Asked about the call later Sunday, Kerry said he was "admittedly not" contemplating joining the Democratic main race. He reiterated the sentiment in a tweet after, saying "whatever report otherwise is f---ing (or categorically) fake." Minutes later, he deleted the tweet and reposted it without the expletive.
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Iowa Conclave 24-hour interval: A 2020 Iowa argue timeline and how we got here
The 2020 Democratic presidential race has been off and running for more than a yr, although it'south been largely overshadowed by the Russia investigation and President Donald Trump'south impeachment.
From the presidential announcements and fundraising reports to the debates, conflicts and departures, here's a look at the key events that have helped define and shape the contest heading into the Feb. three Iowa caucuses.
Looking back: A 2020 entrada timeline.
How practice the Iowa caucuses work?
The Iowa caucuses, the showtime nominating competition of the 2020 election bike, begin this week. Hither's what you need to know:
When are the Iowa caucuses?
Monday, February. 3, starting at eight p.thousand. ET (7 p.yard. local).
Who participates?
Eligible voters who will be at least 18 by Election Day can participate in the caucuses. To participate in a Democratic or Republican caucus, y'all must be registered with the appropriate party; same-twenty-four hours registration is available at precinct conclave locations.
Where does it all happen?
At that place are a total of 1,679 precincts that will meet to caucus. The Democratic Party in Iowa will also hold a number of "satellite" caucuses (60 in state, 24 out of state and three international — in Tbilisi, Georgia; Glasgow, Scotland; and Paris, French republic) for those who are unable to travel to a caucus location.
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Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/live-blog/iowa-caucuses-live-updates-2020-democrats-make-their-final-pitches-n1128596/ncrd1129276?featureFlag=true