ative to Biden:
Deb Tekippe spent much of this year convinced she would support Joe Biden in his 2020 bid for president, but the more she has seen of him on the stump in Iowa and in debates on television, the less confident she has become.
So, on a recent rainy evening she found herself crammed up against the bleachers in Decorah’s high school gymnasium to see South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. She came away intrigued.
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“I was all in for Joe Biden, but now I’m wondering what happened with him, you know? It’s obvious that he’s fading,” said Tekippe, 63, a retired nurse who now says she won’t caucus for Biden and is strongly considering Buttigieg. “Pete is on his way up. There is a lot of enthusiasm for him, and there are so many people who really want to believe in their candidate, and you have to see him in person to see how impressive he is.”
Tekippe’s experience reflects the new reality in Iowa: Buttigieg has emerged as the major alternative to Biden among moderate voters the former vice president has counted on as the bedrock of his campaign in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Buttigieg in second place in Iowa, a single percentage point behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders in third and Biden in fourth. That followed a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that had Buttigieg with slightly more support than Biden in the state, placing him third behind the more liberal Warren and Sanders.
The Midwestern mayor not only has caught Biden in the polls, but his campaign is better funded, has drawn larger and louder crowds at events, and has shown signs of a more effective ground operation in a state where the former vice president is making his third bid for the White House. The question remains whether Buttigieg can turn that momentum into permanent support ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.
His advantages were on full display in recent days as the top 13 candidates in the field flocked to Des Moines for the state Democratic party’s annual fall fundraising dinner, an event so large this year that it drew more than 13,000 people to the downtown sports arena.
There, Buttigieg’s supporters made up about one-quarter of the crowd, giving their candidate the loudest applause of the night. Biden had the smallest group of supporters among the major candidates — with the exception of Sanders, who drew around 1,000 people to a rally outside but didn’t buy tickets for supporters inside.
The enthusiasm gap between Biden and Buttigieg was even more evident in the hours before the main event.
More than 2,300 people stood in a steady rain for a Buttigieg rally in a downtown plaza where Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Ben Harper performed, and the candidate gave a speech and thanked the “Barnstormers for Pete,” a group of die-hard supporters that travels the country to boost the mayor’s candidacy.
“Well, friends, this is what it feels like when you realize you are definitely going to be the next president of the United States!” Buttigieg said to a loud roar from the poncho-clad crowd moments before he led them in a march through downtown to the arena. “This is what it feels like to build a movement. This is what it feels like to insist on change.”
A block away and a few minutes later, Biden welcomed his supporters in a convention center ballroom that remained a quarter empty. About one-third of the crowd sat on folding chairs in an accessibility seating section filled with seniors as the local cover band Pork Tornadoes played to little applause.
Much more at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/poli...0191107-qdqrz2fb3fd55o4xlkaq2ogzye-story.html
Deb Tekippe spent much of this year convinced she would support Joe Biden in his 2020 bid for president, but the more she has seen of him on the stump in Iowa and in debates on television, the less confident she has become.
So, on a recent rainy evening she found herself crammed up against the bleachers in Decorah’s high school gymnasium to see South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. She came away intrigued.
inRead invented by Teads
ADVERTISEMENT
“I was all in for Joe Biden, but now I’m wondering what happened with him, you know? It’s obvious that he’s fading,” said Tekippe, 63, a retired nurse who now says she won’t caucus for Biden and is strongly considering Buttigieg. “Pete is on his way up. There is a lot of enthusiasm for him, and there are so many people who really want to believe in their candidate, and you have to see him in person to see how impressive he is.”
Tekippe’s experience reflects the new reality in Iowa: Buttigieg has emerged as the major alternative to Biden among moderate voters the former vice president has counted on as the bedrock of his campaign in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Buttigieg in second place in Iowa, a single percentage point behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders in third and Biden in fourth. That followed a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that had Buttigieg with slightly more support than Biden in the state, placing him third behind the more liberal Warren and Sanders.
The Midwestern mayor not only has caught Biden in the polls, but his campaign is better funded, has drawn larger and louder crowds at events, and has shown signs of a more effective ground operation in a state where the former vice president is making his third bid for the White House. The question remains whether Buttigieg can turn that momentum into permanent support ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.
His advantages were on full display in recent days as the top 13 candidates in the field flocked to Des Moines for the state Democratic party’s annual fall fundraising dinner, an event so large this year that it drew more than 13,000 people to the downtown sports arena.
There, Buttigieg’s supporters made up about one-quarter of the crowd, giving their candidate the loudest applause of the night. Biden had the smallest group of supporters among the major candidates — with the exception of Sanders, who drew around 1,000 people to a rally outside but didn’t buy tickets for supporters inside.
The enthusiasm gap between Biden and Buttigieg was even more evident in the hours before the main event.
More than 2,300 people stood in a steady rain for a Buttigieg rally in a downtown plaza where Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Ben Harper performed, and the candidate gave a speech and thanked the “Barnstormers for Pete,” a group of die-hard supporters that travels the country to boost the mayor’s candidacy.
“Well, friends, this is what it feels like when you realize you are definitely going to be the next president of the United States!” Buttigieg said to a loud roar from the poncho-clad crowd moments before he led them in a march through downtown to the arena. “This is what it feels like to build a movement. This is what it feels like to insist on change.”
A block away and a few minutes later, Biden welcomed his supporters in a convention center ballroom that remained a quarter empty. About one-third of the crowd sat on folding chairs in an accessibility seating section filled with seniors as the local cover band Pork Tornadoes played to little applause.
Much more at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/poli...0191107-qdqrz2fb3fd55o4xlkaq2ogzye-story.html
