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On the campaign trail: Big crowds, Super Bowl watch parties cap Democrats' final Iowa push


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On the campaign trail: Big crowds, Super Bowl watch parties cap Democrats' final Iowa push

By Simon Lewis

 

2020-02-02T163401Z_1_LYNXMPEG110JF_RTROPTP_4_USA-ELECTION-SANDERS.JPG

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders greets supporters after speaking at a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S., February 1, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar

 

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The final countdown to the Iowa caucuses is on.

 

Ahead of Monday night's caucuses, which kick off the state-by-state nominating process to pick U.S. presidential nominees, Democratic candidates are making their closing pitches in earnest around the state.

 

Public opinion polls show a close race among the top of the 11 contenders vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden are neck-in-neck for first place, with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg not far behind.

 

Here is what is happening in Iowa on the campaign trail:

 

'BERN-CHELLA'

A confident Sanders, riding high in the polls in Iowa, drew a crowd of 3,000 people Saturday night at a star-studded event at Cedar Rapids' U.S. Cellular Center.

 

Many of the mostly young attendees who make up the 78-year-old Sanders’ enthusiastic base wore “Bernie” T-shirts, while others were clad in apparel of the band Vampire Weekend, arguably the true headliners of the event.

 

Along with a gig Friday night in Clive that featured the folk musician Bon Iver, the weekend rally was informally dubbed “Bern-chella," after the Coachella music festival.

 

Sanders’ warm-up acts included activist and academic Cornell West, filmmaker Michael Moore and a raft of progressive politicians.

 

“The reason we’re 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, after Vampire Weekend played him onto the stage.

 

The campaign said the crowd was the biggest yet for any candidate in Iowa this cycle.

 

Some attendees Reuters interviewed were from out of state and therefore unable to caucus on Monday.

 

Tyler Martell, 28, a teacher from Wisconsin, said he was trying to catch several of the Democratic candidates this weekend in Iowa. He said Sanders’ brand of Democratic socialism would be a tough sell in a general election against Trump, who drew an estimated 6,000 people to the same venue in 2017, after taking office.

 

“I think he would be the least electable out of all them,” said Martell. “I’m not saying Bernie can’t win, but if Democrats want a sure thing, they should go with somebody else.”

 

SUPER BOWL WATCH PARTIES

Some of the candidates were to cap their super-charged schedules on Sunday by joining Iowans to watch the Super Bowl.

 

Sanders’ campaign is hosting a “big game watch party” in Des Moines, while Warren plans to drop by a party hosted by a liberal activist group in the same city.

 

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will chat with football fans during halftime at a bar in Johnston, Iowa. Buttigieg’s campaign said he planned to visit a few Des Moines-area bars during the game.

 

The senators might not be able to stick around for the final score. All three are due back in Washington by late morning on Monday, when closing arguments begin in Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.

 

(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Tim Reid and Jarrett Renshaw; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Tom Brown)

 

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-03
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27 minutes ago, Tug said:

Busy time and lots and lots of angry folks just itching to ditch trump after the senate shameful performance lots and lots of folks yup it’s getting interesting 

 

Most of us are glad it is now in the rearview mirror. The only people on the planet that vote now and impact the electionare in the rust belt. 700,000 six figure jobs in fracking. No matter how you work the EC math it isn't good for socialism inc. LLC

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3 hours ago, Tug said:

Busy time and lots and lots of angry folks just itching to ditch trump after the senate shameful performance lots and lots of folks yup it’s getting interesting 

In your dreams. MAGA! Trump in a landslide. Bernie is nothing but a warmed over Mao/Stalin. America will NEVER elect a communist.

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