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Booker, Gillibrand Try to Reboot Struggling Campaigns in Iowa

Booker, Gillibrand Try to Reboot Struggling Campaigns in Iowa

(Bloomberg) -- Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand raced across Iowa over Memorial Day weekend, seeking to keep their campaigns alive and distinguish themselves in a crowded field of Democratic candidates.

Booker, a senator from New Jersey, and Gillibrand, a senator from New York, barely score in the low single digits in national polls, far behind the top-tier of candidates led by former Vice President Joe Biden, and Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California.

The stakes are high for both Gillibrand and Booker as they try to avoid being relegated to also-ran status when the Democratic debates begin next month. The next few weeks could be critical for the two East Coast senators as they try to light a fire with voters and donors.

In Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation nominating contest next February, both pursued strategies that they hope will help them reboot.

Booker traveled across the state in a rented RV to address sometimes packed-in crowds in homes, union halls and community centers. His pitch: the country needs more "love" and unity in campaigns and government rather than the rancor and division promoted by President Donald Trump.

“When did we mistake being tough with being mean? Being strong with being cruel?" he said Sunday to a group of 55 people gathered in a former school turned community center in Clinton. "You can’t campaign wrong and then think you’re going to govern right."

He insisted that outlook wouldn’t prevent him from being tough when necessary, citing his tenure as mayor of the politically embattled city of Newark, New Jersey. He also held up his harsh questioning of Brett Kavanaugh during the Supreme Court justice’s Senate confirmation hearing.

‘Elevate the Society’

“If you want someone who will fight fire with fire -- I ran a fire department, it’s not a good strategy -- you can support that person in this primary,” Booker said. “But if you want somebody that wants to elevate the society to the best of our values to take on demagogues and hatred and bigotry the way the best of us did in the past. That’s the person I’m going to try to be.”

For Gillibrand, the most immediate challenge is to reach the threshold of 65,000 donors needed to participate in the Democratic candidate debates. Her campaign has made "huge progress" and was "very close" to meeting the donor goal, she said in an interview in Waterloo on Friday.

Booker, Gillibrand Try to Reboot Struggling Campaigns in Iowa

Gillibrand originally built her campaign on being a standard-bearer for the #MeToo movement, counting on the surge of women as candidates and voters who helped Democrats win control of the House last year. In Iowa she expanded her message beyond women’s issues, which haven’t made her stand out in a Democratic field that includes high-profile female candidates such as Warren and Harris.

She gave detailed answers to questions on her policies on climate change, health care, special education, income inequality, Social Security, immigration, taxes and outsourcing jobs.

Campaign Finance

She also addressed gun control. She said that combating the National Rifle Association would require rewriting campaign finance laws, a recurring theme in her talks across Iowa.

"The way to take on the NRA, which is really critical to this presidency, is you have to have publicly funded elections," she said. "You’ve got to get money out of politics."

Booker, Gillibrand Try to Reboot Struggling Campaigns in Iowa

Both Gillibrand and Booker are running behind in the race for campaign contributions. She raised $3 million in the first quarter of 2019, and he brought in $5 million. That’s far less than Sanders, who raked in $18.2 million, and Harris, who raised $12 million. Biden entered the race after the first quarter deadline for reporting fundraising but said he raised $6.3 million in the 24 hours after announcing his candidacy.

The candidates say there’s still time to build support, and a lot of Iowans agree.

“She’s pretty good but everyone we’ve seen has been refreshing compared to what we have,” Roger Hade, 73, said of Gillibrand. “We’ve just got to whittle down the field somehow or other when the debates come around.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Waterloo, Iowa at ekinery@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Max Berley

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