EDITORIAL

BY ART CULLEN

Memorial Day is past. The Democratic presidential field is pretty much set. Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a solid lead with a strong foundation of support among party regulars in every poll at the Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and national levels. Almost all Democratic voters are at least comfortable with Biden. At this point, the polling is most important in setting the field for the first televised debates, and 19 of 23 candidates have qualified.

Our view is that the road to the White House leads through the Midwest, starting in Iowa. Another hard lesson for Democrats is that you must compete in small towns and rural areas, and the template can be developed here for Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, at least. That story is about organization and outreach that does not get told so often in horse-race, poll-based journalism.

So here is our take on the state of play as we head into an all-important summer of campaigning:

Elizabeth Warren, John Delaney and Beto O’Rourke have spent the most time in Iowa and New Hampshire, and have done the most events (along with Andrew Yang), according to the political data website fivethirtyeight.com. Warren and Delaney have the most built-out campaign organizations, and O’Rourke has also attracted top caucus organizing staff. Warren launched her campaign from western Iowa in January, with a stop in Storm Lake, and returned for the Heartland Forum that we sponsored in March. Delaney has been here four times, matched only by Julian Castro. O’Rourke’s first visit to Iowa took him through battered regional manufacturing towns like Keokuk, and what used to be Pacific Junction before it washed away.

They also have offered among the most detailed policy proposals involving rural America.

Warren led off with a call for new anti-trust regulation to protect what remains of independent farmers and rural communities. She set the tone for the Democratic field by taking on the increasing power of corporate America and its coziness with Washington. She was the first candidate to call for the impeachment of President Trump, and you know down deep that she is right, if not politically correct. Standing up to the system has great appeal in rural America — it’s how Trump and Steve King get elected. She is picking up support steadily every week.

Delaney understands rural health care financing better than any candidate. His calls for universal coverage in a blended private-public system makes the most sense, especially in Des Moines where thousands of jobs are tied to insurance. Delaney clearly understands how we have destroyed our state Medicaid system far better than Gov. Kim Reynolds. Health care is the top issue for likely Iowa caucus-goers. Climate change is Number Two, according to the Iowa Poll, and Delaney also offers an aggressive and ambitious $4 trillion carbon reduction plan based on a tax-and-dividend system. It defies a sound-byte. Delaney is nowhere in the polls.

O’Rourke is intriguing. He came within two points of beating Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas by visiting every dusty cowtown. He is doing the same thing in Iowa and New Hampshire. And he actually is listening. It is not just a schtick. After his Iowa tour, seeing the devastation that climate change brings with flooding, O’Rourke released what appears to us to be the most comprehensive climate change platform of any campaign. He impresses us most by targeting, as a centperiece, the tremendous opportunity that agriculture presents for capturing carbon. Clearly, he understands what he is seeing. This week, O’Rourke put out an immigration reform plank that is compassionate, pragmatic and exhaustive. He is a product of El Paso. Few issues are more important in terms of rural revitalization, and he immediately recognized it in Storm Lake. He is talking with judges, attorneys and Latinos, and has real ideas based on a deep understanding of American history. Only Castro, the grandson of immigrants from San Antonio, rivals O’Rourke in this critical arena. It will be a central issue of 2020.

Biden hasn’t been here. Neither has Sen. Bernie Sanders. That says something to us. Neither have so many others.

Sen. Michael Bennet has, and he knows how to win with ranchers in Colorado. He is a man of integrity who might not get a proper hearing because of a late entry. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has — she can see Iowa from her porch in Minnesota, she quips. Plus, she understands agriculture and small towns. She is a likable pragmatist who can win Wisconsin. And if Tim Ryan can’t win in Ohio and Pennsylvania, then no Democrat can. We like all of them because they get it. Warren, Delaney and O’Rourke have put in the most time and effort to make a showing in rural America and the Midwest. It is registering with us.

Any of them can beat this failure of a President. If you thought Trump were crazy like a fox, you might think that he wants to run against Biden by tweeting insults about him every day, from Japan, no less. It keeps the story away from other serious candidates who are in the trenches winning one Iowa voter at a time.