How a Big Sunday in Iowa Unfolded as the Caucuses Approach Image Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke at Sudlow Intermediate School in Davenport, Iowa, on Sunday. Credit... Jordan Gale for The New York Times Times reporters were with the top five Democratic candidates campaigning across Iowa, as a crush of new polls and endorsements intensified the race ahead of next week’s caucuses. The Iowa caucuses are on Feb. 3, and there are plenty of undecided or wavering Iowa voters who have a history of breaking late in favor of a candidate.

Senator Bernie Sanders is ahead in Iowa in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, while Senator Elizabeth Warren just won The Des Moines Register’s endorsement and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. picked up the Sioux City Journal’s backing.

We traveled with the top five candidates in Iowa on Sunday as they raced to events, trumpeted poll numbers and endorsements, and tried to persuade undecided caucusgoers. Here’s how it all went.

Jan. 26, 2020, 9:46 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 9:46 p.m. ET By Good night, Iowa. DES MOINES — The weekend is over. The senators on the campaign trail are turning into pumpkins, as Amy Klobuchar put it. And we’re signing off for the night. If you’re just catching up, you can read an overview of the day here. Our team of reporters in Iowa will update you throughout the week as Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg campaign uninterrupted and the senators’ surrogates try to keep the energy up for them on the ground. And, unlikely though it may sound, things are happening outside of Iowa too. Ashley Judd is campaigning for Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire, for instance. And don’t miss our “20 Questions” series with the presidential candidates. Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 9:22 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 9:22 p.m. ET By Nick Corasaniti and The Bolton revelation sinks in on the campaign trail. DES MOINES — News that President Trump told John Bolton, the former national security adviser, that he wanted to continue freezing aid to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Biden family rippled through the campaign trail in Iowa on Sunday night. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is taking a 6 a.m. flight back to Washington on Monday morning for the impeachment trial of Mr. Trump, said that the news, which was based on an unpublished manuscript of Mr. Bolton’s book, meant Republicans would have to allow for the Senate to hear from more witnesses, including Mr. Bolton. “I don’t know how my Republican colleagues cannot call for witnesses,” she said at her final event of the day here in front of a standing room-only hall. “Senator Romney has called for witnesses, they should all be calling for witnesses.” Speaking at a live town hall here broadcast by Fox News, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., echoed Ms. Klobuchar’s calls for the Senate to hear more. “Just now, we’re getting more indications about John Bolton, and what he knew, which is one more reason why, if this is a serious trial, we’re going to have the witnesses and evidence,” Mr. Buttigieg said. After an event in Marshalltown, Mr. Biden spoke briefly to reporters about Mr. Bolton’s account. “I’ve not seen the manuscript,” Mr. Biden said. “I don’t have any idea what’s in the book. But if it in fact contradicts Trump, it’s not a surprise.” Nick Corasaniti reported from Des Moines, and Thomas Kaplan from Marshalltown, Iowa. Read more

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Jan. 26, 2020, 8:59 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 8:59 p.m. ET Jonathan Van Ness and a fan in Iowa. Image The “Queer Eye” star stopped for a photo with an out-of-towner who happened to be traveling through the state. Credit... Jordan Gale for The New York Times

Jan. 26, 2020, 8:35 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 8:35 p.m. ET By Surrogates tout Biden’s appeal beyond Iowa. MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — One of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s go-to arguments on the campaign trail is to stress the need to choose a Democratic presidential nominee who will help candidates down the ballot. Ahead of the Iowa caucuses, he is deploying some of those down-ballot candidates to vouch for him. At an event with Mr. Biden in Marshalltown on Sunday, Iowans heard from three freshman House members: Representatives Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Colin Allred of Texas and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. In an effort to appeal to Iowans, Mr. Allred contended that Mr. Biden would have broader appeal in Texas than his Democratic rivals. “I need you to give us, in Texas, Joe Biden,” he said. “What do I mean by that? Joe Biden puts Texas in play. He absolutely puts Texas in play.” Mr. Allred told the crowd that there were people in his community “who are looking for another option.” “Joe Biden,” he said, “is the only person running for president who will get their vote.” Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 8:12 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 8:12 p.m. ET By ‘I’m really up in the air’: some Iowans are still undecided. WEST DES MOINES — What’s it like to be a still-undecided Iowa Democrat eight days before the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses? Ann Clary, a state budget analyst, and Holly Brink, a financial analyst, drove from Waukee to see Pete Buttigieg in West Des Moines Sunday to see if they should support him over the other candidates they are still considering. Ms. Brink, 54, also likes Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Ms. Clary, 55, is considering Ms. Klobuchar and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “I’m really up in the air,” said Ms. Clary. “I like what they are saying, but it’s hard to tell, they are all so similar.” Ms. Brink said she was most concerned with which candidate had the best chance to defeat President Trump in November, yet she conceded she had no idea how to tell who that would be. Ms. Clary said the decision has cost her sleep. “Sometimes I can’t fall asleep at night,” she said. “I just can’t stop thinking about it.” Both said they would eventually back whomever Democrats nominate, though they might not be thrilled about some options. “I might have to hold my nose” for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Ms. Clary said. “I had to do that last election,” Ms. Brink said. “I was not a Hillary fan.” Read more

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Jan. 26, 2020, 8:02 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 8:02 p.m. ET By ‘There’s a shift occurring’: Ayanna Pressley stumps for Warren in South Carolina. Representative Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, a co-chair for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, stumped on her behalf at events in South Carolina this weekend. She said in a phone interview on Sunday that she was not worried about recent poll numbers that showed Ms. Warren was gaining little new support from black voters. “The more people hear her message, the more people she converts,” Ms. Pressley said. “I don’t put much stock in the polls,” she said. “There’s a shift occurring, and you can’t poll transformation.” A recent poll from ABC/The Washington Post showed Ms. Warren had 9 percent support among black Democrats. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. led the entire field with 51 percent support, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was the only other candidate in double digits, with 15 percent. Ms. Warren has gained the support of numerous black activists, and she has sought to infuse her policy with special measures to correct a history of discrimination from the government. However, she and some of her rivals have been met with resistance from black Democrats wary of white politicians offering promises of big change. Ms. Pressley said she was confident that given more time, Ms. Warren would win over black voters just as Ms. Pressley was won over herself. “I don’t give anyone anything. Elizabeth Warren earned our endorsement,” she said. “I watched this campaign unfold, the momentum build, I listened to her vision and I read her policy.” Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 7:45 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 7:45 p.m. ET By Rebecca R. Ruiz and In Florida speech, Bloomberg warns about rising anti-Semitism. Image Michael R. Bloomberg addressed the concerns of Jewish Americans at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center in Miami on Sunday. Credit... Saul Martinez for The New York Times AVENTURA, Fla. — Michael R. Bloomberg on Sunday addressed rising anti-Semitism and spoke personally of his Jewish heritage in a speech at a prominent synagogue near Miami, a sign that courting Jewish voters is core to his strategy of building support in Florida. Mr. Bloomberg, a former mayor of New York City who is running for president, is famously skipping the campaign trail in the four early nominating states, Iowa included — choosing instead to stake his presidential bid on the delegate-rich states that vote on Super Tuesday and beyond. The speech was a rare instance of a major address by a Democratic presidential candidate this cycle that specifically confronted the rise in anti-Semitic attacks across the country. He spoke directly to Jewish Americans who may worry that progressive Democratic front-runners have too sharply criticized Israel or who may dislike some of President Trump’s agenda but support his Israel policy. “The violence that has always threatened Israel is rearing its ugly head here in America, with alarming frequency,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “The toxic culture the president has created is harming our relationship with Israel,” he said. “If I am elected, you will never have to choose between supporting Israel and supporting our values here at home.” Mr. Bloomberg not-so-subtly sought to distinguish himself from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is also Jewish and who recently took the lead in Iowa, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll of likely caucusgoers. Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, took aim not only at Mr. Sanders’s Israel policy but also at his democratic socialism. “Now, I know I’m not the only Jewish candidate running for president,” Mr. Bloomberg said in his speech on Sunday afternoon, delivered in a ballroom with a roving blue spotlight and Israeli techno and music by the rapper Pitbull setting the mood. “But I am the only one who doesn’t want to turn America into a kibbutz.” The audience whooped. But the speech didn’t win everyone over. Debbie Picker, who splits her time between Westchester County and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said she was disappointed Mr. Bloomberg hadn’t taken questions on Sunday and wanted to know how he planned to elevate his profile in the race. “We pay attention because we’re Jewish New Yorkers who were there for him for 12 years,” she said. “But if you were to go anywhere outside of the New York Metro and Miami Metro, I don’t think people know him.” Read more here. Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 7:34 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 7:34 p.m. ET By Biden debuts his smallest, and cutest, campaign surrogate yet. Image Jake Vilsack, Tom Vilsack’s grandson, shakes hands with Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at a campaign event in Marshalltown, Iowa. Credit... Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is one of just two leading Democratic candidates who won’t soon have to return to Washington for the impeachment trial. Yet that hasn’t stopped him from enlisting enough surrogates to rival his, well, rivals. He appeared Sunday night with a trio of freshman lawmakers who’ve endorsed his campaign: Representatives Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Colin Allred of Texas and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. Also at that event, his campaign debuted its smallest — but perhaps cutest — surrogate yet: Jake Vilsack, the grandson of former Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, a coveted endorser who is supporting Mr. Biden. Calling the 10-year-old his “secret weapon,” Mr. Biden invited the elementary school student to say a few words. “I hope that Joe Biden has good luck in this coming caucus and the rest of his campaign,” he said. “It’s going to be a long road but I think he can do it.” Mr. Biden marveled at his ability to address a crowd, saying his childhood stutter would have prevented him from making similar remarks at Jake’s age. “Ten years old!” Mr. Biden exclaimed. “Ten years old!” Read more

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Jan. 26, 2020, 7:25 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 7:25 p.m. ET By Sanders shifts focus to turnout. STORM LAKE, Iowa — Even as Bernie Sanders has surged in Iowa with eight days to go, his closing argument has hardly differed from his core message: He is fighting for the working class. But as he races around the state, he is also focusing more than ever on voter turnout: At stop after stop on Saturday and Sunday, he has made the case that he will only win here on Feb. 3 — and in the general election — if a high number of people actually vote. “You win elections, especially against Trump, by having the largest voter turnout in the history of this country,” he said in Storm Lake on Sunday. “We are the campaign to do that.” He went on: “I don’t care about what polls say today,” he said. “What matters is voter turnout.” And on: “Tonight, I am asking you to do everything you can to make sure that the 2020 Iowa caucus has the larger voter turnout in the history of the Iowa caucus.” Over the course of six stops this weekend (and with only one to go), Mr. Sanders did not take a single question from a voter. Turning out people who do not usually participate in the political process has long been one of Mr. Sanders’ key strategies. In Iowa, he is hoping in particular to drive working class voters, Latino voters and young people to caucus sites. Predicting caucus turnout has become something of a parlor game among Democratic officials and campaign staffers in the state — many are forecasting turnout that at least exceeds what it was in 2016. The biggest turnout for one party’s presidential caucus was in 2008, when some 240,000 people participated in the Democratic contest that featured Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 6:35 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 6:35 p.m. ET By Michael Bennet is done with Iowa. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado told New Hampshire’s WMUR television station on Sunday that he would campaign only in New Hampshire through the primary there — even on the day of the Iowa caucuses. “The first day I came to New Hampshire, I felt a connection here, partly because Colorado and New Hampshire have very similar politics that’s basically balanced, with a third Republican, a third Democratic and a third independent,” Mr. Bennet told Jess Moran, a WMUR reporter. “And I think the agenda that I’ve developed over the last 10 years is one that is resonating with people here.” In the four debate-qualifying polls of New Hampshire voters released this month, Mr. Bennet received 0, 0, 1 and 2 percent support. He received 0 percent support in all four comparable Iowa polls. As one of four senators still in the presidential race, Mr. Bennet’s time on the campaign trail will be limited no matter which state he’s spending it in. Like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, he will have to spend most of the coming week in Washington for President Trump’s impeachment trial. A spokeswoman for Mr. Bennet did not immediately respond to a request for more details on his upcoming schedule. Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 6:18 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 6:18 p.m. ET By ‘I was raised in the black church politically,’ Biden says at N.A.A.C.P. event. DES MOINES — The electorate in Iowa is overwhelmingly white, but on Sunday, Joseph R. Biden Jr. fielded a question that he was eager to answer: What has he done to reach out to people of color during his presidential campaign? Mr. Biden, whose strong support from black voters is one of his greatest political advantages in the Democratic primary race, did not hesitate. “I was raised in the black church politically — not a joke,” Mr. Biden said, recalling his time not long after law school when he went to work as a public defender. Mr. Biden, the former vice president, was speaking at an event in Des Moines hosted by the Des Moines branch of the N.A.A.C.P. as well as two local organizations, Creative Visions and Urban Dreams. Mr. Biden’s strong support from black voters may not play a significant role in the Iowa caucuses, but it is of vital importance in future nominating contests, particularly in South Carolina. “I know a lot of folks out here were wondering, why does Biden get such overwhelming support from the African-American community?” Mr. Biden said on Sunday. “Because that’s what I’m part of. That’s where my political identity comes from. And it’s the single most loyal constituency I’ve ever had.” Read more

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Jan. 26, 2020, 6:06 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 6:06 p.m. ET By Klobuchar prepares to ‘turn into a pumpkin’ and return to Washington. AMES, Iowa — It was, well, a re-endorsement, one that David Johnson, the former Iowa state senator who disavowed the Republican Party after it nominated Donald J. Trump in 2016, drove more than two hours to make. “I was at the Iowa Farmers Union, and I heard Senator Klobuchar was going to be there,” Mr. Johnson said, recalling watching her speech one day 14 months ago and pulling her aside afterward to relay his impression. “I’ve been with her ever since.” Mr. Johnson had created some confusion when, on Saturday night, he introduced former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., as the “next president,” a seeming endorsement for the 38-year-old candidate. But Mr. Johnson said he was just being polite, and that he still backed Ms. Klobuchar. “I live way up on the border, so she’s my neighbor,” Mr. Johnson said. “I’m just being neighborly.” So he came far from home to introduce Ms. Klobuchar to a crowd of more than 400 packed into the back of a barbecue restaurant here on a chilly Sunday afternoon. The senator said she was cramming in a full day of campaigning before midnight, when, she said, “I turn into a pumpkin and I go back” to Washington for the impeachment trial of President Trump. During the event, Ms. Klobuchar also picked up the endorsement of Ross Wilburn, a member of the Iowa House and a former mayor of Iowa City. It was Ms. Klobuchar’s 17th legislative endorsement in Iowa. She spent more than 10 minutes of her stump speech on health care, drawing an unstated contrast to candidates advocating “Medicare for all.” “The Affordable Care Act is nearly 10 points more popular than the guy in the White House right now,” she said. “So I’m not in favor of blowing it up.” Peppered throughout her remarks were constant reminders of her Midwest ties, and that her home state shares its southern border with Iowa. To punctuate her pitch to lower drug prices like other countries have done, Ms. Klobuchar put her own spin on Tina Fey’s famous impression of Sarah Palin. “In Minnesota,” she said, dryly smirking, “we can see Canada from our porch.” Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 5:44 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 5:44 p.m. ET By Biden hits back at Sanders over Social Security. Image Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. speaks to members of the media after a campaign event in Des Moines. Credit... Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times In an interview this weekend, Joseph R. Biden Jr. accused Bernie Sanders of being inconsistent on Social Security, stoking fresh tension between the two leading candidates over an issue of great significance to older Iowa caucusgoers. The two septuagenarian contenders have clashed over the subject repeatedly in recent days as Mr. Sanders seeks to make inroads into Mr. Biden’s standing with older voters. The former vice president was asked about their disagreement in an interview with New Hampshire’s WMUR News 9 that aired this weekend. “What about those Democratic voters who say that Bernie has been consistent this whole time?” asked Adam Sexton, WMUR’s political director. “Well, he hasn’t been,” Mr. Biden replied. “But I’m not going to attack Bernie. He has been — he hasn’t even been consistent on Social Security. But here’s the deal. I’ve laid out clearly what my plan for Social Security is. I’m going to increase Social Security benefits.” It wasn’t immediately clear what potential inconsistencies Mr. Biden was referring to. Both men currently support strengthening the program. Mr. Sanders has been critical of Mr. Biden’s past support for Social Security freezes and other deals that alarmed Social Security advocates at the time. In a statement Sunday night, Mr. Sanders’s campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, ticked through Mr. Biden’s record on those measures. “On the other hand, Bernie Sanders fought those efforts every single step of the way, and has fought his entire career to protect and expand Social Security,” Mr. Shakir said, also saying that Mr. Biden “continues trying to hide his efforts to help Republicans cut Social Security.” Meanwhile, Mr. Biden has said the Sanders campaign is mischaracterizing part of his record on the issue. Mr. Sanders, who has generally supported increasing funding for the program and opposed cuts, has still faced scrutiny for his use of the term “adjustments” years ago, a phrase some have taken to suggest cuts to the program, though his campaign denied that was his intent in a Bloomberg News report last week. The Vermont senator has edged Mr. Biden in several recent early-state surveys, including in a New York Times/Siena College Iowa poll released Saturday. But that same poll found that Mr. Biden maintained a strong advantage with older likely caucusgoers. Read more

Jan. 26, 2020, 5:25 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 5:25 p.m. ET By Caucuses are a minefield for Iowans with disabilities. Image Meg Young, who lives in Des Moines and has multiple sclerosis, says she is still waiting to hear if she can receive accommodations on caucus night, despite reaching out in September. Credit... Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times DES MOINES — Caucuses are demanding under the best of circumstances. You have to get to a specific room at a specific time. Seats are scarce. You have to physically realign as nonviable candidates are eliminated. The process can last for hours, and you can’t leave early. But for many Iowans with disabilities, caucusing isn’t just difficult: It’s impossible. If a precinct is overcrowded, as many are, people in wheelchairs can’t safely navigate. If caucusgoers aren’t allowed to leave the room to use the bathroom, people with digestive diseases like Crohn’s simply can’t participate. And there is no remote participation option, which excludes people who are immunocompromised or too sick to leave their homes — people who could otherwise vote by absentee ballot in primary or general elections. We talked to caucusgoers, advocates and the Iowa Democratic and Republican Parties about accessibility. Here’s what they told us. Read more

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Jan. 26, 2020, 4:48 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 4:48 p.m. ET By Buttigieg suggests it would be too risky to nominate Sanders. Image Mayor Pete Buttigieg at a campaign event in West Des Moines, Iowa. Credit... Eric Thayer/Reuters WEST DES MOINES — Picking up on a line of attack he first introduced Saturday, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg suggested to voters here, without naming him, that it would be too risky to nominate Senator Bernie Sanders to face off against President Trump. Mr. Buttigieg first called Mr. Sanders “a risk we can’t take” in a fund-raising appeal Saturday. During a Sunday rally at Maple Grove Elementary School here, he went after Mr. Sanders again. “We cannot run the risk of trying to defeat this president with the same Washington political warfare mentality that brought us to this point,” he said. “It’s time for something new, it’s time for something different and it’s time to turn the page.” Mr. Buttigieg, who is spending the final days of his Iowa campaign making a case for his own electability, suggested Mr. Sanders’s left-wing politics and pledge to organize supporters to push his agenda as president were not the prescription the nation needed. “The country will be crying out for a president capable of unifying and healing the American people,” he said. “It won’t be enough to just say, ‘Let’s get together,’ we’re going to have to get together and do something, fast.” When he spoke with reporters after his rally, Mr. Buttigieg drew a contrast with Mr. Sanders that alluded to Mr. Sanders’s experience in the combat of Washington politics. “We need to turn the page on the political mind-set that got us here,” he said. “We have an opportunity to choose both unity and boldness.” Read more

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Jan. 26, 2020, 2:48 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2020, 2:48 p.m. ET By ‘Women win’: Elizabeth Warren makes her electability pitch. Image Senator Elizabeth Warren addressed her electability as a woman at a rally in Davenport, Iowa. Credit... Jordan Gale for The New York Times DAVENPORT, Iowa — Senator Elizabeth Warren was asked, yet again, the question on Sunday that has bogged down her candidacy in Iowa and elsewhere in recent months: whether a candidate from the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party would more easily defeat President Trump. “I think the old ways of looking at things just don’t work anymore,” Ms. Warren said. Then, as she did at last week’s debate, she invoked her own electoral history — beating a popular Republican incumbent, then-Senator Scott Brown, in 2012 — the ambitions of her agenda and her gender. “Can we just address it right here? Women win,” she said, explaining that the “world changed” with Mr. Trump’s election and the mass protest marches led by women the day after his inauguration. “Can we just address it right here? Women win,” Elizabeth Warren says in Davenport in response to an electability question pic.twitter.com/M1fPLj0h9O — Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) January 26, 2020 “Women candidates have been outperforming men candidates since Donald Trump was elected,” she said. “We took back the House and we took back statehouses around the nation because of women candidates and the women who get out there and do the hard work to get it done.” She added that her focus on corruption could “pull in Republicans.” “We’re going to win it by drawing the distinction, the sharpest distinction between the most corrupt administration in history and a Democrat who is willing to get out there and fight corruption,” she said. Read more