DES MOINES — Democrats face a bigger question in their Monday caucuses here than which candidate to support: How much change does America want?
The field is cleaved between those who seek sweeping reform to the nation, led by Sens. Bernie Sanders
Bernie SandersTlaib boos Clinton at Sanders event, says 'haters will shut up on Monday when we win' Iowa Clinton: Sanders and supporters did not do enough to unify party in 2016 Final impeachment vote postponed to Wednesday amid internal GOP spat MORE (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Ann WarrenAlexander supports Trump's reelection despite 'inappropriate' Ukraine call Final impeachment vote postponed to Wednesday amid internal GOP spat Overnight Energy: Top EPA political staffer leaves for coal lobby | House committee gears up for vote to subpoena Interior | EPA re-approves key Roundup chemical MORE (D-Mass.), and those who favor a much more incremental approach, including former Vice President Joe Biden
Joe BidenPelosi calls senators who voted against trial witnesses 'accomplices to the President's cover-up' Senate rejects impeachment witnesses, setting up Trump acquittal Poll: 44 percent say Trump should be removed from office MORE, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Peter (Pete) Paul ButtigiegOvernight Energy: Top EPA political staffer leaves for coal lobby | House committee gears up for vote to subpoena Interior | EPA re-approves key Roundup chemical Bloomberg spent more than 8 million in fourth quarter Davis: My take ... as I leave for the Iowa Caucuses MORE (D) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean KlobucharFinal impeachment vote postponed to Wednesday amid internal GOP spat Davis: My take ... as I leave for the Iowa Caucuses DNC drops donor requirement for debates, opening door for Bloomberg MORE (D-Minn.).
The divide is getting starker by the day in the final sprint to the caucuses, where several candidate have a realistic chance of prevailing.
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The contrast could be seen clearly in two events on Friday, as Biden campaigned in the rural eastern Iowa town of Fort Madison and three congresswomen — Reps. Ayanna Pressley
Ayanna PressleyWarren co-chair Pressley says primary order should 'absolutely' change Sanders endorses 9 progressive House candidates The DCCC's 'blacklist' protects a white male political status quo MORE (D-Mass.), Katie Porter (D-Calf.) and Deb Haaland
Debra HaalandImpeachment throws curveball in Iowa to sidelined senators Haaland, Davids included in 'Jeopardy' clue for historic first as Native American congresswomen Pelosi announces Porter, Haaland will sit on Oversight panel MORE (D-N.M.) — rallied Warren supporters in Des Moines.
Biden and his backers sought to soothe rather than incite.
“We are going to heal this nation,” Biden promised.
His central argument is that electing him would mark a return to business as usual after President Trump
Donald John TrumpSenate Democrats outraise Republicans, but GOP has cash edge Comey op-ed: US democracy won't 'come apart' if Trump isn't removed from office Protesters flock to the Capitol after Senate impeachment votes MORE.
For Team Warren, as with Sanders’s supporters, business as usual is the problem — and a more fundamental shift is required.
“We have a president who is a tyrant,” said Haaland, setting the fiery tone for much of what followed.
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Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack
Thomas James VilsackUSDA: Farm-to-school programs help schools serve healthier meals OVERNIGHT MONEY: House poised to pass debt-ceiling bill MORE (D), campaigning with Biden, told The Hill after the Fort Madison event that people who view the former vice president as too mild in his outlook and rhetoric are missing the point.
“People say, ‘Well, he needs more energy.’ No, actually he needs to provide a contrast to President Trump,” said Vilsack. “President Trump has plenty of energy but people are saying, ‘Too much, too much.’ We want someone who is a statesman, who is calming.”
Hours later, in Des Moines, Pressley took the mic to wild cheers and praised “change-makers and disruptors…activists and agitators.”
The difference was apparent, too, in the tenor and make-up of each crowd.
In Biden’s case, the audience was largely old, the numbers modest — a generous estimate would be around 150 people — and the atmosphere sedate.
For Warren, the crowd was noticeably younger, bigger — and louder.
Passion and intensity are crucial in caucuses — as then-Sen. Barack Obama
Barack Hussein ObamaClinton: Sanders and supporters did not do enough to unify party in 2016 Houston rodeo to hold carnival day with fewer lights and sounds for guests with sensitivities Republicans: Want to reelect Trump? Vote for Bernie MORE (D-Ill.) proved 12 years ago when he won convincingly over more centrist figures including Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonTlaib boos Clinton at Sanders event, says 'haters will shut up on Monday when we win' Iowa Clinton: Sanders and supporters did not do enough to unify party in 2016 Hillicon Valley: Senate report on Russian interference expected next week | Facebook targets coronavirus misinformation | FCC says wireless carriers broke law by selling location data MORE and Biden himself.
But older people are among the most reliable caucus-goers, and previous candidates who relied heavily on young support — such as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) in 2004 — have come up short in the end.
There is also measurable polling evidence to suggest that Democrats prize the ousting of Trump above all else in selecting a nominee.
For example, a Gallup poll late last year indicated that 60 percent of Democratic voters would prefer a nominee with the best chance of defeating the president, over 38 percent who would prefer a nominee who agrees with them on most of the issues they care about.
Vilsack said Friday that Biden is “the most electable because he speaks to the broadest spectrum of voters.”
But progressive activists have long argued that the choice between idealism and electability is a false one, insisting that Democrats win when they offer inspiration rather than compromise.
On Friday in Des Moines, Haaland made a version of the same point. She did not name Biden when she criticized those who favor “small ideas and short-sighted solutions”— but she hardly needed to do so.
Warren supporters like Rebecca Cohen, a graphic designer who came to Iowa from Portland to canvass for the senator, take a similarly ambitious view.
Warren, in Cohen’s view, “has made it her life’s work to fight the corruption and imbalance that keeps working families down and disadvantages us to the benefit of the richest people…It’s about more than defeating Trump — though that’s the first step.”
Biden, preemptively defending himself from such criticism, said in Fort Madison that his opponents were wrong to call him naive, insisting that he had been able to work constructively with Republicans as recently as the end of the Obama administration.
“The old days — three years ago!,” the former vice president told the crowd wryly.
The return to normalcy promised by Biden is clearly just what some Democrats are seeking.
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Jeraine Hofer, an 81-year-old from Fort Madison, said of the former vice president “I hope he gets it…He’s cool and calm. He doesn’t holler out too much.”
But whether Iowas in general want more to feel the balm or— in Sanders’ famous slogan — to feel the Bern remains to be seen.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily forced on Donald Trump’s presidency.
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