DES MOINES, Iowa â Approximately 13,000 Iowa Democrats descended upon downtown Des Moines to hear from 13 candidates seeking their partyâs nomination for President.
The Iowa Democratic Party held their Liberty and Justice Celebration at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday night showcasing their elected officials, federal and state candidates, and presidential candidates.
I originally wanted to video the event, but there wasnât space on the media risers. So I then planned to live blog the event, but the wi-fi provided and my cell providerâs data plan was too slow to do that as the event started. So Iâm providing an informal recap of the event from a conservative perspective instead.
I have to say I felt like a unicorn at the event, I believe I was the only writer there from a conservative outlet and I do appreciate the Iowa Democratic Partyâs willingness to give me press credentials. They certainly didnât need to do that.
The presidential candidates hosted pre-event rallies downtown and their supporters rallied outside the venue as well. The event reminded of the Republican Party of Iowaâs now defunct Iowa Straw Poll.
Something unique about this event that I have never seen at a Republican event, it was a banquet, but with spectators. Those on the floor paid more to get in and got a meal, and then you had spectators in the arena seats watching the program. The different campaigns provided attendees with tickets and, presumably, those who attended without a ticket from a campaign paid less.
The event started later than expected. We got through the National Anthem without anyone taking a knee (that I saw) and the invocation.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Tony Price encouraged Democrats to take time to get to know candidates and ask a lot of questions. He also encouraged them to âwork like hell.â
Price attacked Republicans to the applause of those in attendance. U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and President Donald Trump were favorite targets.
âLetâs make sure we send Steve King out on his rear end,â Price said about the Republican incumbent in Iowaâs 4th Congressional District.
He later said he wants Democrats to beat Trump and âsend his ass back to Russia.â
What? Ok then.
He also said that the IDP employees are now organized under the Teamsters. Ok, props to putting their money where their mouth is on this issue, but I can see this coming back to haunt them down the road.
DNC Chair Tom Perez spoke next and did a great job being a partisan hack because that is what party chairs generally do and typically donât see their own hypocrisy when they do it.
Perez then said this coming election is the âmost important election in our lifetime.â
Until the next election that is, and then that election will be the âmost important election in our lifetime.â Republicans say this as well, itâs lame.
The order of candidates who spoke was determined by a random drawing that took place on October 18th. Amazingly, all of the top-tier candidates ended up in the first half of the program.
Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., spoke first and he also had the most supporters there.
He offered sharp criticism of Trump that played well with the base, but then called for unity.
âI am not here to end the era of Donald Trump. I am here to launch the era of what comes next,â Buttigieg said.
âI am ready to gather up an American majority that is ready for change and tired of division,â he added.
Heâs attempting to run in the establishment lane of the party. Some like to call this the âmoderateâ lane, but heâs not truly moderate. Heâs just not as far left as some of the other candidates.
He promotes universal health care, but doesnât want to take private options away. He promotes âMedicare for All for all who want it.â He also touts gun control âeven in red states.â
It was clear to me that Buttigieg has some momentum among Iowa Democrats, and recent polling demonstrates that as well.
Joe Biden
âThe very character of America is on the ballot,â Vice President Biden said.
I really, really hope not because how depressing.
âVladimir Putin doesnât want me to be president, and Donald Trump doesnât want me to be the nominee,â he boasted.
Biden made a point that was echoed throughout the night. Winning wasnât enough, Democrats had to win big.
âItâs not enough for us to beat him, but we must beat him soundly,â he said. âI will beat him like a drum if I am the nominee.â
Listening to Bidenâs speech was like trying to follow his stream of consciousness, it was all over the place. He also had a senior moment mixing up Andrew Johnson for Andrew Jackson, but one expects these kinds of gaffes with him.
Reform health care, but canât do Medicare for All. Bash Wall Street, uplift the middle class and unions. Beat the NRA, and rejoin the Paris Accords. Call for free community college and student loan debt relief.
He checked off the issues the base cares about.
âThe next president is going to face a divided nation and a world in chaos,â Biden said.
If the next President canât bring the country together âwe are in real, real, real trouble,â he stated.
Biden is still a top tier candidate, but there just didnât seem to be as much enthusiasm for him as other candidates.
But, hey, heâll beat Trump like a drum, he said again at the end of speech as if we didnât hear him the first time he said it.
Andrew Yang
The tech entrepreneur from California had a loud following at Wells Fargo Arena and I think they were all sitting behind me.
I have to say Yang was, bar none, my favorite candidate tonight. Not because I agree with everything he says, but he is just so darn likable and heâs talking about things I havenât heard from other candidates.
He also has a very active social media following. The Yang Gang blew up my Twitter notifications on Friday evening.
He made some solid points about Iowa.
âI love campaigning in Iowa because this is one of the only places where democracy still works as it is intended,â he said.
He also said that he did the math â one Iowans = 1000 Californians. Iâm not entirely sure how that works, but ok.
I think he might have a better handle on why Trump won in 2016 than the rest of the field. He pointed out the loss of manufacturing jobs.
â(W)e blasted away 40,000 manufacturing jobs in Iowa and those towns went from blue to red,â Yang said. He then pointed out the rust belt states that saw the similar results.
Yang brought up the 4th industrial revolution. He and U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., are the only politicians Iâve heard talk about the coming economic shift and more should.
As expected, he also touted his freedom dividend which I think is insane and not sustainable.
Elizabeth Warren
âOur democracy has been hijacked by the rich and powerful,â the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts said to applause.
She calls for big, structural change and said she has accomplished such change. Though the example she gave did not inspire confidence that she actually has experience doing that as an executive.
Then again, I donât want big, structural change. No thank you.
âWe know how to make government work for the people,â she said. Ironically, she still canât explain how she pays for her Medicare for All plan.
âIf we are going to meet the challenges of our time we need big ideas,â Warren said.
She also said whoever takes on Trump needs to be ready to fight.
Warren is right, but I doubt sheâs the candidate to do that.
She seemed flat to me. Ideology and policy aside, I just donât see what people see in her. Sheâs not a compelling candidate, in my opinion, and has loads of baggage.
Kamala Harris
âThis is the moment we need to fight for the rule of law, our sense of justice, and our very democracy,â the junior U.S. Senator from California said.
Harris saying we need to fight for the rule of law is rich since a number of her proposals are lawless.
She touted her record as a prosecutor and I kept thinking about âKamala the Cop.â Speaking of beating like a drum, that is what U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, did during a July debate over her criminal justice record and she still hasnât recovered.
She keeps up the âjusticeâ them. âIn 2020, justice is on the ballot,â Harris said.
To prove her point Harris then attached the word âjusticeâ after every campaign issue â economic justice, health care justice, education justice â you get the idea.
âI do believe that when we overcome these injustices, we will unlock the promise of America and the potential of the American people,â she added.
Harris just seems to me to be trying hard to be Obamaesque and cool, but what she really comes off as is desperate.
Tom Steyer
âWe know we need a big change, we need to turn the page, but we are not going to be able to do that until we break the corporate stranglehold in Washington, DC,â he said.
This was a theme throughout the evening with several candidates as well.
Hereâs Steyerâs campaign: Trump sucks, climate change, term limits, bad corporations, and Trump sucks so letâs impeach him.
If he had supporters there I didnât see them.
Bernie Sanders
The U.S. Senator from Vermont was the only candidate to use a podium. He didnât look good.
He said that Trump doesnât understand the rule of law or the constitution. I agree he doesnât, but neither does Sanders.
âDemocratic Party must become the party of the working class of this country, not of super PACs, not of special interests, not of their lobbyists,â Sanders stated.
Unless itâs money coming from the left. Soros, Planned Parenthood, and unions are just fine in that case.
He goes through his fantasyland, socialist wish list.
âGood policy is good politics,â Sanders said. Iâm still waiting for good policy to come from him.
Michael Bennet
Heâs another candidate running in the establishment lane and has zero traction in Iowa.
He just fell flat tonight. He notes that Medicare for All is a âbig idea,â but there are better ideas.
He wants to overturn Citizens United which is the bogey man of the left.
JulĂan Castro
The former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development said that his campaign âhas marched to the beat of its own drummer.â
He noted that Democrats canât just focus on the middle class. âWe need to fight for the poor, and those who have the least, those who suffer the most, and that is what this campaign has been doing,â he said.
He noted toward the end of his speech, âI donât want to make America anything again, with one exception, I want to restore integrity and decency in the Oval Office because itâs been missing.
Castro didnât have many supporters present.
Amy Klobuchar
The U.S. Senator from Minnesota said she can see Iowa from her house which is a neat trick since she lives near the Twin Cities.
He speech was unremarkable. She just seemed abrasive. She made a comment that annoyed me. âDemocrats made the House the peopleâs house again,â she said.
The U.S. House was the peopleâs house when Republicans had the majority and it is the peopleâs house when Democrats have the majority.
Partisan nonsense.
âWe can not just change our politics, but change the tone of our politics,â she said.
She should start with the tone of her speeches, she sounds abrasive.
Cory Booker
The U.S. Senator from New Jersey breathed new life into the event. He was the only candidate after the break to animate the crowd, but it took awhile.
The start of his speech was inspirational He is a good storyteller. He called for unity. He talked about loving one another.
Then he shifted to all the ways he believes we are under attack which wasnât very inspiring.
âThis election wonât be defined by what we are against, but what we are for,â Booker said.
I havenât seen much evidence of that.
John Delaney
âYoung people in our country is the first generation of Americans that will not do better than their parents,â the Congressman from Maryland said.
Itâs true, and there are a lot of reasons for that.
Delaney is probably the most moderate candidate in the race which is why he is not getting any traction.
The item from his speech that stood out for me was his promise to infest in our infrastructure. He pledged $2 trillion to launch âthe largest infrastructure program in the history of this country.â
Another thing that stood out is how the audience thinned out before his speech.
Steve Bullock
The Governor of Montana was the last to go. Which for an event that lasted almost five hours is not a great position to be in. The audience really thinned out.
Heâs unique in that heâs a Democrat who won twice in a red state. He noted that in 2016, President Trump won Montana by 20 points, but he won re-election by four points.
He said Democrats âhave got to show upâ and âfight for everyoneâ
He then said they donât need to sacrifice their values.
âIâm a pro-choice, pro-union, progressive populist,â he boasted.
Somehow I doubt he emphasized that or lead with it when he ran for Governor. Had he not moderated himself itâs unlikely he would have won re-election.