DES MOINES, Iowa — From the street, the only evidence that a presidential candidate was in town was a sidewalk emblazoned with chalk: “Bernie —>.” But inside the Drake University arena, on a stage more accustomed to string quartets and flute recitals, Bernie Sanders was rocking the house.

Attendees crammed the 775-seat Sheslow Auditorium here Friday, spilling into the aisles and clogging the balcony. The slightest crescendo in Sanders’ pitch — a call to address climate change, a plea for single-payer health care — brought them to their feet for a standing ovation.


“Sometimes our campaign has been referred to as a fringe campaign,” boomed the 73-year-old Vermont senator, leaning in a little too close to the mic. “Well, if this is fringe, I would hate to see mainstream!”

It’s like a bad movie for Hillary Clinton, the grass-roots fervor for her rival underscoring the trouble she’s had connecting with her party’s base. Clinton’s campaign is battling the perception of an enthusiasm gap, fueled partly by concerns that she’s out of sync with the newly aggressive liberal wing of the Democratic Party. How deep that chasm is was hard to discern. As she crisscrossed Iowa all weekend — and moved on to New Hampshire on Monday — her events were more heavily orchestrated, high on stagecraft, light on ad-libbing. It all raises questions about just how deep enthusiasm for her candidacy runs.

Sanders has just five paid staffers in Iowa to Clinton’s 27 organizers, just one field office to her nine. He trailed her by 50 points in early national polling, though a new round of early-state polls suggest the race has tightened slightly. And the from-the-gut energy his supporters supplied at events in Iowa all weekend — including Friday’s Drake University event and subsequent stops in Marshalltown and Cedar Rapids — suggest that Sanders is catching on in places where voters have a chance to see him.

That’s why her most recent campaign trip to Iowa — immediately after Saturday’s official launch on New York City’s Roosevelt Island — carried some risk. Sanders, who accuses reporters of goading him to attack Clinton, had just spent the past two days reminding Iowa Democrats that Clinton voted for the Iraq War and that she sat on the sidelines amid pitched policy fights in Washington, from last week’s trade debate in Congress to the Keystone XL pipeline construction to the renewal of the PATRIOT Act.

Clinton’s quick Iowa swing wasn’t designed to counter that. She spoke for just 10 minutes Saturday evening at a Sioux City house party — the Cliffs Notes version of her well-received stump speech from earlier that morning in New York City — but directed her remarks to a camera, rather than the assembled guests, because they were being simulcast to 650 pro-Clinton house parties around the country.

“I wish I could be everywhere,” Clinton said, adding, “Obviously, Iowa is particularly important because it is the first state.”

She spent the next hour mingling with 50 guests — some of whom backed her opponents in the last campaign — in well-appointed living room lined with vases and urns. At 8:30 p.m., a seven-vehicle motorcade whisked Clinton away.

Guests said they largely eschewed politics when chatting with Clinton. “We just talked personal stuff,” said Donna Whitead, one of the attendees. Her husband, former state Sen. Wes Whitead, supported John Edwards in 2008 but said he’s with Clinton this time because she’s “top-notch.” “It was different times,” he said of his earlier vote.

Some offered advice for Clinton to avoid flaming out in Iowa again. One attendee who supported Clinton’s 2008 bid, Osceola County Democratic Party chairwoman Kathy Winter, said Clinton should make more personal connections with Iowa voters than she did back then — not just the tiny house parties or massive rallies but rather something in between, where uncommitted Iowans get a chance to see her live but not in the impersonal setting of a huge crowd.

Winter worried that Clinton’s celebrity would prevent those kinds of events from taking place — as a former first lady, she requires a Secret Service entourage and can’t make inconspicuous drop-ins to local restaurants or shops. “It’s a lot more difficult for Hillary Clinton to drop into your home than for Jim Webb to drop into your home,” she said.

Clinton did manage one crowded, energetic event. On Sunday, she traded the intimate Sioux City setting for a more traditional campaign rally set in the 15,000-square-foot Elwell Family Food Center here in the state capital. About 200 guests had amassed outside on a sticky morning more than two hours ahead of the event. Hundreds more joined them as the event neared, and supporters passed around a cardboard Clinton cutout for guests to take pictures with. The Clinton camp estimated that 600 people attended.

Inside, with an enormous American flag serving as a backdrop, Clinton again reprised her Roosevelt Island speech, hitting on populist themes like income inequality and reining in the impact of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance. She delivered similar jokes — like calling the Republican theme song of 2016 “Yesterday,” by The Beatles, and she wove in self-deprecating humor, telling the crowd they were lucky she hadn’t attempted to sing the song herself.

The crowd, for the most part, responded well — they cheered for her applause lines, laughed at her jokes and booed Republicans on cue. Many earnest attendees clamored to line up for photos with Clinton after her speech.

Clinton managed to touch all corners of the state during her brief weekend trip. While Sanders was largely confined to territory within driving distance of Des Moines, Clinton swung from Sioux City in the far west and ended Sunday in Burlington, on the easternmost edge of Iowa. There, she headlined another house party, this time with 70 guests, including Rep. Dave Loebsack, the only Democrat in Iowa’s congressional delegation. She granted rare, lengthy interviews to two local media outlets. A CNN interview with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, aired Sunday morning as well.

Sanders can’t match Clinton’s reach, but he seems to relish retail politicking and the give-and-take of public appearances — never core Clinton strengths. Each of his events ended with relatively lengthy Q&A sessions with supporters, even the occasional tough question — such as one challenging his stance in favor of GMO labeling for foods.

He told supporters Saturday that he plans to go up with TV ads soon and, in a brief interview, noted that it wouldn’t take $2 billion — a number that has, at times, been attached to the Clinton campaign’s potential haul — to compete in Iowa.

Clinton allies say they’re not surprised Iowans are flirting with alternatives.

“I have always expected we would have a competitive caucus. Democrats love a fight and love underdogs,” said Jerry Crawford, a veteran Iowa Democratic strategist who’s aligned with the Clinton camp. “That said, Hillary is campaigning like an underdog.

“Every candidate will have their day, and then Iowa Democrats will decide on two questions: Who is most ready to be president … and who can win the election?” he said. “When those questions are answered, I like our chances.”

Jeff Link, a prominent Iowa Democratic strategist, said there’s definitely a “Sanders boomlet” happening in Iowa, but it’s unclear whether it will last.

“Time will tell, but the Clinton people on the ground know how to run an effective caucus organization,” he said. “The bottom line is that the Clinton campaign needs to beat someone in the primary. The only question is whether Sanders or [former Maryland Gov. Martin] O’Malley get themselves in a position to test her. Sanders is hot now; let’s see if Hillary gets people fired up after this announcement.”

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Rep. Dave Loebsack. This story has been updated.