'You need to get out there': Joe Biden meets Iowans, takes advice while on 'No Malarkey' tour

Stephen Gruber-Miller | The Des Moines Register

AMES, Ia. — Kathleen Delate had some advice for Joe Biden about how to improve his standing in Iowa. And she wasn't shy about it.

"The whole thing about Iowans — and I can speak as one — is we’re very fickle. And we need to press the flesh," the Iowa State University agriculture professor told the former vice president at a town hall in Ames on Wednesday.

Delate told Biden he needs to campaign hard in Iowa, as she said some of his rivals, including South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have done to great effect. Buttigieg jumped to first place in Iowa in a November Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll with 25%, while Biden is tied for third with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, at 15%. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren came in second in the Iowa Poll, with 16%.

Buttigieg, Sanders and Warren have all had more Iowa events this year than Biden, according to the Des Moines Register's candidate tracker.

"I think that’s the reason why Mayor Pete surged ahead … he’s spent a lot of time here talking to everybody," Delate said. "He was the shiny new thing, so that’s what people see. And so you need to get out there."

Biden was quick with an answer.

"I'm going to start off by shaking your hand and saying, 'I need your vote,' " he replied.

The one-on-one interaction was typical of Biden's eight-day, 18-county "No Malarkey" bus tour across Iowa, where he has tried to give Iowans the individual face time they demand and assuage fears about a downward slide in the polls. The campaign swing was Biden's most extensive to date, although he left the state mid-week to attend fundraisers in New York City and Chicago.

Afterward, Delate told reporters she thought Biden did a great job with his answer. But while she's considering supporting him, she still hasn't made up her mind which candidate she will support in the Feb. 3, 2020, caucuses.

Campaign highlights experience

Biden used the trip to highlight his concern for rural areas and to heavily emphasize his experience and readiness to serve as president.

The former vice president got a boost Thursday with an endorsement from former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a colleague of Biden's in the U.S. Senate and in President Barack Obama's administration.

"When you caucus in February, don’t just send a message. Send us a president. Send us a man who can put the world back together. Send us Joe Biden," Kerry told a crowd in Cedar Rapids on Friday while campaigning for Biden. He also joined Biden on stops in Elkader and Decorah.

Biden's campaign also released a digital ad Wednesday featuring a viral video of several NATO leaders seeming to mock Trump. The ad claimed the "world is laughing" at Trump and said, "We need a leader the world respects."

Biden said in an interview with Iowa reporters after his Cedar Rapids event that he talks about foreign policy and working with allies because he thinks successful experience in those areas is necessary to repair the damage he said Trump has caused.

"Not every presidential election requires the same assets for the nominee to bring to the table," Biden said after his Cedar Rapids event. "But this election is probably the only one in our lifetime, anyway, where you’re going to have to on Day One try to put a nation together that is seriously divided and try to, in fact, bring the world back together."

'Damn liar' and 'a long time' to go

But that foreign policy experience was questioned in Iowa during at least one individual interaction. At an event Thursday in New Hampton, Biden had a heated exchange with a man who challenged him about policy in Ukraine, where Biden's son Hunter served on the board of a gas company and where Biden oversaw U.S. foreign policy efforts as vice president.

As the man accused him of "selling access" to the Ukrainian president, Biden responded, "You're a damn liar, man."

President Donald Trump has, without evidence, pushed theories that the Bidens acted improperly. Trump is under investigation in an ongoing impeachment inquiry for allegedly pressuring Ukraine's president into opening an investigation into Biden and his son, using military aid as leverage.

Biden also responded to the man's concerns about his age — if elected, the former vice president would be 78 on inauguration day — by challenging him to a push-up contest and suggesting they take an IQ test.

"I probably shouldn't have challenged him to push-ups," Biden told reporters Friday.

In contrast, Joe Stutler, a retired IT worker and Army veteran from Marion, said he admires Biden's experience and work on the international stage.

"We’ve got a lot that we’re going to need to do to recover from our current administration in our international politics, and I’d like somebody that’s got some experience on Day One," he said.

But Biden can't bank on Stutler's support just yet. The 56-year-old Desert Storm veteran said he's still deciding between Biden, Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. He likes those three candidates because of their attention to veterans, he said.

"I mean, we’ve got two months yet, which sounds like it’s tomorrow, but it also is a long time in politics," he said.

Making the direct ask

Biden and his campaign surrogates have begun to take a more direct approach with Iowans.

"We had planned all along — after Thanksgiving, we were going to be on the ground a lot more, going to smaller communities, to make sure we were pressing the flesh and asking. Because where I come from, you ask," Biden said in Ames.

At every stop on the tour, Biden encountered the kind of moderate voters his campaign hopes will show up to caucus for him in February. But while some are convinced they will support him, others are taking their time to make up their minds.

"I would say I get nervous about leaning too far left," said Jens Dancer, 22, a civil engineering student at Iowa State who wants to see a moderate candidate elected.

But while Dancer is considering Biden, he's also interested in Buttigieg and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

"I think I want a fresh face in politics," he said. "But, of course, Joe does bring that experience, too."

Some Iowans who came to see Biden on the tour are already sure they'll caucus for him, like Madison DeWit, a psychology student at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, who has been a fan of his since she was 10.

"I just think he’s a really good person, and I admire his morals," DeWit said.

Kerry, the winner of the 2004 Iowa caucuses, agreed with Iowans who said Biden can succeed in the state if he keeps spending time talking to people face to face.

"I think Vice President Biden is doing exactly what is needed for Iowa, which is talking to Iowans in a very personal way, reaching out to as many people as he can, letting them get to know him," Kerry told Iowa reporters Friday.

Before Kerry could answer a question about whether it makes a difference having his voice weighing in on Biden's behalf, Biden cut in.

"It does," he said.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

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