Here's why Bernie Sanders left before kickoff at his own...

Bernie Sanders is a busy guy.

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses on Sunday, the Vermont senator held meet-and-greets across the state at field offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Newton, fittingly capping off the evening at Ingersoll Tap in Des Moines for a Super Bowl watch party.

While he may have covered a lot of political ground in a brief, six-minute long speech — discussing universal access to healthcare and higher education, raising the minimum wage, and how he'll tackle the energy crisis — Sanders opted out of the big game, leaving before kickoff.

To be fair, the candidate is more of a baseball fan, but he reportedly left the party early for a different reason. As he explained in his speech, he's flying out to Washington D.C. to "be part of the final remarks" in Donald Trump's impeachment trial. He'll return to Iowa on Monday afternoon.

Sanders left the bar at 5:19, returning to his bus. He did not stay for the kick-off. — Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 2, 2020

"Tomorrow night is the beginning," he declared in his speech. "It is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump. It is the beginning of a moment when we tell the billionaire class and the one percent this country belongs to all of us, not just a few."

His next goal? "To create the highest turnout in the history of the Iowa caucus."

Watch the live stream of the event here.

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Amanda Bartlett is an SFGATE associate digital reporter. Email: amanda.bartlett@sfgate.com | Twitter: @byabartlett