Two of the leading candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, were set to return to the campaign trail Monday afternoon after a few days’ rest. The third top candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, began a three-day swing Sunday across New Hampshire and Maine, emphasizing the concerns of union workers in particular.
At his three events Sunday, Sanders did not once mention Biden, Warren or any of his other competitors. The long weekend had more of a laid-back feel: In Raymond, New Hampshire, Sanders was joined by Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, who joked that a Sanders administration would guarantee “a pint in every freezer and a sundae in every bowl.”
In Iowa on Monday morning, Mayor Pete Buttigieg toured a Cedar Rapids bridge with local officials to discuss climate change and the federal government response to the city’s 2008 flood. Buttigieg was then scheduled to appear at openings of two field offices, the first of 20 new offices his campaign said it will open in the state. And he, Biden and Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Michael Bennet of Colorado were expected to swing by a Labor Day event in Cedar Rapids as well.
The 2020 Democratic nomination remains very much up for grabs heading into Labor Day week, which traditionally marks the start of a fall campaign season when presidential primary fields winnow and more voters start picking favorites.
“These candidates have been going to the fairs and other events with ready-made crowds,” Bret Nilles, an Iowa Democrat who leads the party in the Cedar Rapids area, said after introducing Bennet at an event Sunday. “Now it’s going to be up to them to see how big a crowd they can draw on their own.”
As the Democratic field stands now, 20 Democrats are still running, but only 10 of them are in strong enough shape to qualify for the next debate, on Sept. 12.
Of that group, just three candidates — Biden, Sanders and Warren — have consistently been in the double digits in recent polls. A fourth, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, has dipped in some polls but has shown an ability to achieve breakout moments, as in her June debate performance, and remains a broadly appealing campaigner. Buttigieg and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey are building out ground forces in Iowa, which votes first Feb. 3, and Klobuchar is also making a push in that state.
At the same time, the field’s shape at summer’s end looks not unlike it did at spring’s end. Biden entered the presidential race in late April as the Democratic front-runner; he remains in that position, having withstood summer challenges from second- and third-tier contenders.
But Biden has yet to come under sustained attacks from his closest competitors at this point, Warren and Sanders, who have large numbers of deeply enthusiastic supporters.
In Portland, Maine, on Sunday night, Sanders drew cheers and shouts from hundreds of supporters and admirers like Frank Medrano, whose voice echoed off the walls of the State Theater in the exact cadence of an “amen” or “preach it” called out in a church.
“I am here tonight, obviously, to ask for your very important support,” Sanders said.
“You’ve got it!” Medrano bellowed.
“We are going to take on the power structure of the United States of America,” Sanders said.
“Bring it!”
And, in a moment that made Sanders’ mouth twitch in what might have been a smile: “We love you, Bernie!”
Medrano, 61, a retired actor living in Peaks Island, Maine, seemed to be buzzing with adrenaline in an interview after Sanders’ rally. Although he said he liked some of Warren’s policies and admired her for setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he described Sanders as the only candidate in the race who was truly “beholden to the people.”
“I think to elect anyone else is a foolish venture,” he said.
How Sanders, Biden and Warren compete and contrast themselves with one another is one of the biggest questions of the autumn phase of the campaign. That mini-contest among the leading candidates will also reveal whether there is enough oxygen for any of the 17 other hopefuls to catch fire in the five months before the Iowa caucuses.
Biden’s summer has hardly been a smooth ride. Booker and Harris attacked his record on race. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York did so on gender issues before dropping out last week. Buttigieg, who is 37 years old, has built his campaign on an unsubtle age contrast with Biden, who is 76.
Yet more than four months after he opened his campaign, Biden remains the leader. Few of the Democratic county leaders and party activists who populate Iowa’s political class say they are thrilled with the former vice president, and many say there’s little enthusiasm for his candidacy, yet he remains atop almost all polls of Democrats, in Iowa and elsewhere.
Still, a belief that Biden’s campaign will crater permeates the other presidential campaigns. Eventually, officials with rival campaigns say in private conversations, voters will find Biden an unsteady hand, his gaffes too risky in a contest with President Donald Trump.
None of that has happened yet.
In two weeks, the top three candidates will appear on a debate stage for the first time when the top 10 Democrats gather in Houston. ABC’s moderators are certain to draw contrasts between Biden and Warren, who have clashed on economic issues across the past three decades. Sanders, though ideologically more similar to Warren, shares a base of lower-educated and lower-information voters in the Democratic contest with Biden.
Amid this top-three dynamic, all of the Democratic presidential candidates will find themselves facing new competition for voters’ attention.
Gone are the state and county fairs, with hordes of would-be voters awaiting candidate speeches from soap boxes.
Instead, savvy campaigns are carefully bracketing the Sept. 12 debate with voter-rich events. Most candidates will speak this Saturday at the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, which will be a magnet for party activists and organizers. Then, after the debate, some candidates are bound to be scheduling their weekend Iowa stops around the schedules of the University of Iowa and Iowa State University football teams. Expect to see a few candidates tailgating at the annual Hawkeye-Cyclone game Sept. 14 in Ames.
This article originally appeared in
.