Democrats Make Pitch at Iowa Event Where Presidents Are Made
Democrats Make Pitch at Iowa Event Where Presidents Are Made
(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic presidential field will descend on Des Moines on Friday for the last big party gathering in the state, where in fewer than 100 days caucus-goers will have an outsize say in deciding who the party’s nominee will be.
The Liberty and Justice Celebration, hosted by the Iowa Democratic Party, is expected to draw more than 12,000 people from around the Hawkeye State for an exceptionally large slate of 14 presidential candidates to make their pitch.
The event, formerly known as the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, marks the final sprint to the caucuses, the first contest on the primary calendar.
Iowa will play a critical role in winnowing the field and determining which candidates ultimately continue on in the primary cycle. In the past, the state’s caucus-goers have knocked off front-runners and elevated lesser-known candidates who ultimately went on to win the nomination, most recently with Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
Polls show the race in Iowa continues to tighten, and political strategists in the state say it is not too late for candidates to break into the top tier. Whereas Joe Biden held the lead in the state for months, Elizabeth Warren overtook him during the summer. Now, according to Real Clear Politics polling average, Warren leads in the state with an aggregate of 22.7%, followed by Biden with 17.7%, Pete Buttigieg with 16.3% and Bernie Sanders with 13.3%.
Sue Dvorsky, a former chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, says the event is always “an inflection point in the campaign season, when the attention really turns national,” but this year could have added significance.
“There is nothing about this entire cycle that is small or normal or run of the mill,” said Dvorsky, who supports Kamala Harris. “It’s all oversized, so is this L.J. event. This is going to be the biggest one ever because it’s all the biggest one ever.”
To make their mark, campaigns are investing heavily in programming around the dinner, looking to signify their strength in a state where robust organizing and political outreach are key to success.
Most of the candidates are having rallies outside the Wells Fargo Arena, where the dinner is held, with their supporters. Sanders will join supporters in what is billed as a “March to End Corporate Greed.”
Harris will hold a pre-event block party with a Des Moines drill team and drum corps. Andrew Yang is hosting a concert featuring the lead singer of the band Weezer at his rally, which he is calling Yangapalooza. Bringing in celebrities for the event is not without precedent. In 2015, Katy Perry performed for Hillary Clinton and her supporters.
But it is the performance of Obama in 2007 that most candidates are seeking to emulate. His speech at the dinner that year made waves throughout the state and the country, and many said it was a turning point for his campaign, leading him to win the Iowa Caucuses.
“It was the first time that I thought, “It’s gonna happen. It could actually happen and turn this around,” Jon Favreau, Obama’s speechwriter, wrote in New York magazine in 2016 when reflecting on Obama’s speech at Jefferson-Jackson dinner.
For Dvorsky, who was an early backer of Obama in 2007, the speech reaffirmed why she supported the then-senator from Illinois. And she remembers a friend being “bowled over” by it.
After an Iowa spring and summer filled with required visits — the Hall of Fame Dinner, the State Fair, the Polk County Steak Fry — Friday’s dinner is likely the last chance most candidates will have to address thousands of Iowa Democrats. And it could have a crystallizing effect.
“This will be part of how they make a decision,” Dvorksy said of the undecided attendees. “In that sense, the stakes couldn’t be higher.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Tyler Pager in Des Moines at tpager1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, John Harney
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