Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Steve Sovern had low expectations for a recent event he hosted to support Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign. Iowans are legendary for expecting to meet White House hopefuls in person — multiple times — and the candidate wasn’t going to be there, represented instead by California Rep. Katie Porter.

“Surrogates are usually not much of a draw,” Sovern said.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden will have Iowa virtually to himself in the coming days as several of his top presidential rivals decamp to Washington to participate in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. But as Biden seeks to leverage his freedom with a final campaign blitz in the critical early voting state, he and his advisers know that the proceedings in Washington could overshadow any closing case they try to present.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates spent the weekend grappling with how to address questions surrounding sexism and gender bias as they sought to balance support for women against concerns of a political blowback.

After his wife went public with her own experience of sexual assault at the hands of her doctor, businessman Andrew Yang said that “our country is deeply misogynist.” Other White House hopefuls, however, didn’t go so far. Billionaire Tom Steyer said that while systemic sexism exists, he “hopes” half of America is not misogynistic.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Saturday the Oval Office benefits from the perspective of a wartime veteran, a niche he occupies exclusively among top-tier candidates in his party’s race for the 2020 nomination.

During an interview on Iowa PBS in suburban Des Moines, Buttigieg was asked if there’s value in a president who had faced hostile fire.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden has called for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign to “disown” what he calls “doctored video” that some Sanders supporters say shows the former vice president endorsing Republican calls to cut Social Security and Medicare.

“There’s a little doctored video going around ... put out by one of Bernie’s people,” Biden told supporters Saturday in Indianola, Iowa, referring to a 2018 speech in which Biden discussed then-House Speaker Paul Ryan saying rising deficit demanded action on the popular entitlement programs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Two of the first three states to vote in the Democratic presidential race will use new mobile apps to gather results from thousands of caucus sites — technology intended to make counting easier but that raises concerns of hacking or glitches.

Democratic Party activists in Iowa and Nevada will use programs downloaded to their personal phones to report the results of caucus gatherings to the state headquarters. That data will then be used to announce the unofficial winners. Paper records will later be used to certify the results.

DES MOINES (AP) — Some key takeaways from Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, the final forum before the Iowa caucuses:

CIVILITY AND SUBSTANCE OVER FIGHTING AND FRICTION

After the United States’ killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Democrats were bracing for fights over foreign policy. Instead, a whole lot of substance broke out.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Elizabeth Warren made a forceful case for a female president and stood behind her accusation suggesting sexism by progressive rival Bernie Sanders Tuesday night in a Democratic debate that raised gender as a key issue in the sprint to Iowa’s presidential caucuses.

Sanders vehemently denied Warren’s accusation, which threatened to split the Democratic Party’s left flank -- as well as the senators’ longtime liberal alliance -- at a critical moment less than three weeks before voting begins.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Cory Booker dropped out of the presidential race Monday, ending a campaign whose message of unity and love failed to resonate in a political era marked by chaos and anxiety.

His departure now leaves a field that was once the most diverse in history with just one remaining African American candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who is struggling to register in the polls amid a late entry into the race.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Amy Klobuchar is banking on a strong showing in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest on Feb. 3 to jump-start her path to the party’s nomination.

The moderate U.S. senator from Minnesota, who is polling in fifth place with Iowa voters, squeezed three town halls and a 10-hour side trip to early voting state Nevada into 32 hours over the weekend as she raced to raise her profile.