AMNA NAWAZ: With six months before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, more than 20 presidential
hopefuls descended on the Hawkeye State this weekend.
As Lisa Desjardins reports, voters were navigating crowds of people and the crowded candidate
field.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA DESJARDINS, PBS NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to the Iowa state fair, a mix of
high political stakes and high blood sugar all on a stick, or on a soapbox.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello, Iowa!
JOHN DELANEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have a very important choice to make.
SEN.
CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It’s going to be a test for all of us.
SEN.
BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the moment we bring our
people together.
REP.
TULSI GABBARD (D-HI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's why I’m here asking for your
support.
LISA DESJARDINS: The soapbox, where candidates each get 20 minutes, has never held more
presidential weight.
Twenty-three contenders, including one GOP challenger to President Trump, will
come and go throughout the fair.
And with each one comes a walking mosh pit of press attention.
None more so than former Vice President Joe Biden, who barely had room at his own press
conference.
Biden has been here before, in failed runs in 1988 and 2008.
But he's never had the lead in Iowa until now.
And it's a large, nearly ten-point lead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go Joe!
LISA DESJARDINS: His supporters feel they know him.
They trust him.
LASHA ROBERTS: I like Joe Biden.
I enjoyed him when he was with Obama and stuff, and so I think he
would definitely be a good candidate for sure.
LISA DESJARDINS: But opponents question if Biden sparks enough passion.
How do you do that?
JOE BIDEN: Look at the polls.
So far, so good.
I do it by being me.
Look, no one's ever including reporters cover me all the time.
No one's ever doubted I mean what I say.
The problem is sometimes I say all that I mean.
MATT PAUL, IOWA DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It’s everything.
LISA DESJARDINS: Matt Paul has deep roots with the Democratic Party in Iowa.
He ran Hillary Clinton's winning Iowa campaign in 2016.
Despite Biden's early lead, Paul says the state is still up for
grabs.
MATT PAUL: He's popular here, but he has work to do.
He's got to be here more.
I think he's got to talk about the future.
LISA DESJARDINS: Some voters are more blunt about Biden.
TAYLOR WYSS: If he was the primary candidate, I would still vote for him.
But I don't want him to be the candidate.
I want someone new and fresh.
SEN.
KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning, good morning.
LISA DESJARDINS: Among those angling as new and fresh is California Senator Kamala Harris,
third in Iowa polls.
Her staff is energetic and her fair crowd was large, but she dipped in the last poll
here, and admits she's still building.
KAMALA HARRIS: We have over 65 staff in Iowa.
And, you know, there are people in this race who
have had national profiles for many years.
I’m still introducing myself to people.
SEN.
ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 2020 is our big chance.
LISA DESJARDINS: Quickly surging here is Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, now second in the
Iowa polls, and captain of what many see as the best organized ground game in the state,
with fired-up volunteers like Joie Otting.
JOIE OTTING: I think it's important that we just take a new, almost radical -- not to
call Elizabeth Warren radical -- but take a big change in direction.
LISA DESJARDINS: This is a problem for Bernie Sanders.
BERNIE SANDERS: Let me make a major announcement: pretty good.
LISA DESJARDINS: The Vermont senator is still popular in Iowa, but losing the most ground
to Warren.
Over one million people will come to the Iowa state fair.
And that is a prime political audience, especially for the many Democrats trying to break into
the top tier.
The problem: there are just so many candidates.
And they're seemingly everywhere -- flipping pork,
pouring beer, and counting corn kernels.
Voters are overwhelmed.
MISSY PRICE: I’m a registered Democrat.
I’m an open-ticket voter, but I have no clue what I’m going to
do.
UNIDENTIFIED MAE: Buttigieg.
Biden.
GRANT WALLER: Biden.
I like Beto, but we'll see how it goes with that.
KEVIN CAVALLIN: I agree with what Biden has to say.
But I also agree with Warren and what Sanders has to say.
So, I’m right now, I’m kind of conflicted.
LISA DESJARDINS: And thus, candidates are self-separating in groups.
The Midwesterners.
How do you break out?
SEN.
AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think you do it the old fashioned
way.
You just keep reaching out to people and you meet people.
REP.
TIM RYAN (D-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When people hear what I have to say,
especially coming from Ohio and being in Iowa, it's very similar culturally.
LISA DESJARDINS: Those focused on personal contact.
SEN.
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I’ve had a lot of town halls,
lots of events at breweries, and it makes a difference because people can get to know
me, I can get to know them, make sure I’m lifting up their voices.
TULSI GABBARD: I’m really focused on is do what we're doing out here today really
getting down into communities here in Iowa and New Hampshire
and other parts of the country.
JULIAN CASTRO (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that as the race gets smaller and
smaller, people pay more attention to the candidates.
LISA DESJARDINS: And the I-can-get-it-done policy folks.
ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The way we break out is by just keep
hammering the message the American people that we need solutions not sound bites, and
that it's not their imagination.
JOHN DELANEY: When the field shrinks, they're going to start focusing on ideas, who's got
the best ideas, who's the best person to beat Trump.
And that's when I think I can break through.
JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I’ve just got to keep finding fresh ways
to talk about what we did in Colorado, and most importantly, how we brought people together.
LISA DESJARDINS: And then there's New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who says he's already
rising in less-noticed metrics like endorsements and
staff.
CORY BOOKER: The people that have gone on are people more like me, the people like Jimmy
Carter or Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, are people who
were considered long shots this far out.
But what were they were doing was they were building incredible
organizations here in Iowa.
LISA DESJARDINS: There's another issue for Democrats in Iowa, beating President Trump
in a state he won by nine points.
DAN PUTNEY: I like Trump.
I like Trump.
He's just...
He's just a guy.
He's not a politician.
He's just a guy like -- like me.
LISA DESJARDINS: Here, the move by Democrats to the left for the primary is pushing some
away.
PATRICIA PUTNEY: They're so liberal.
They just don't even want to move on in this world.
They want everything to be socialism.
They want everything to be calm and nice and everybody loves everybody.
But you know sometimes you got to get out and get a little aggressive.
LISA DESJARDINS: At the Iowa state fair this week, scenes of whirling Americana, rows of
fried foods and some 40,000 prize ribbons.
But, for candidates -- far less reward.
Traditionally, just the top three finishers in Iowa are thought to have a real
shot at the nomination.
The fair marks the end of summer for the state, but it's the beginning of the real
heat in the race for president.
For the “PBS NewsHour”, I’m Lisa Desjardins at the Iowa state fair in Des Moines.