(Bloomberg) -- Sprung from President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in Washington, the U.S. senators running for president jetted right back to the trail Saturday, seizing precious hours to meet voters face to face.
Newly minted front-runner Bernie Sanders implored his supporters not to assume he’ll finish at top. He urged them to not only show up and support him at the presidential nominating caucus Monday, but to bring a friend.
“If the voter turnout is low, we are going to lose,” Sanders said at Simpson College in Indianola. “Simple as that.”
Elizabeth Warren spoke of tweaks and changes she’s made to her much-touted plans as she met voters, a nod to critics who say her detailed proposals leave the impression she’s inflexible and entrenched.
“I’ve heard from you. You’ve pressed notes into my hand,” she told a crowd in Cedar Rapids. “You’ve whispered dreams into my ears, you’ve told me about your lives, about issues, about ideas about how we could make things better. In this year you’ve made me a better candidate, and you will make me a better president.”
More Milk Bones
With the crucial caucuses days away, Warren even abandoned her famous “selfie line,” where supporters line up for photos taken by her staff, but she left her golden retriever Bailey in her place.
“You may have heard, I’ve been caught in Washington for a long time now. We’re trying to get around the state as much as we can, so I cut a deal with Bailey for extra Milk Bones,” Warren told the crowd in Iowa City Saturday. “He’s going to stay and do the selfie line afterwards.”
Amy Klobuchar’s pitch to voters Saturday night in Cedar Falls was that her record shows she’s the candidate who can get things done.
Precinct captains for Klobuchar in the crowd of 200 at the Cedar Falls Women’s Club wore shirts in her signature Kelly green that listed accomplishments like “ranked most effective Democratic senator” and “passed 100+ bills as lead Democrat.” On stage, Klobuchar reminded voters she’s won every race she’s ever competed in.
“I have done it not by selling out -- no, no,” Klobuchar said. “I have done it by going not just where it is comfortable but where it is uncomfortable. I’ve done it by looking people in the eye and telling them the truth and then going back and getting things done for them.”
Sanders Turnaround
Sanders has had a remarkable turnaround since a heart attack in October threatened to doom his second presidential bid. Now, buoyed by endorsements from some of the Democratic Party’s newest progressive stars, Sanders is in a good position to potentially win the Iowa caucuses.
His rise to front-runner has worried many in the Democratic Party, who are unsure someone who identifies as a democratic socialist -- and who isn’t a party member -- can beat Trump. On stage with him, Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota pushed back on those critiques, dismissing those who call Sanders “radical” and “divisive.”
“These are the same attacks the status quo has used throughout history to demonize multiracial, working-class movements,” she said.
Later on Saturday, Sanders was to campaign in Cedar Rapids at a concert with indie rock band Vampire Weekend.
Warren stressed that she welcomed supporters from any other camp.
“I have the best team in Iowa,” Warren said in Cedar Rapids. “But part of that team, understand, didn’t start out as Warren supporters. That’s not a campaign that’s narrow. It’s not a campaign that says, ‘It’s us and nobody else!’ It’s a campaign that says, ‘Come on in because we are in this fight together.’”
(DISCLAIMER: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)
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