For Kamala Harris' presidential hopes, Iowa is do or die

[brooklynite]

Los Angeles Times

NEWTON, Iowa — In better times, Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign was full of flash: a launch rally that drew more than 20,000 people to Oakland, a five-day summer tour of Iowa on a luxury bus with her name blazing from the side in colorful capital letters, a robust multi-state operation headquartered in Baltimore.
Now, the bus has been swapped for a nondescript black SUV. The campaign stops are more intimate than immense — a few dozen people in a pastoral red barn, several hundred in a pub. And her efforts have narrowed to a single make-or-break prize: Iowa.

To revive her flagging campaign, Harris is betting big on going small. It is a marked tonal shift and a strategy born of necessity, reflecting her dwindling cash and limp poll numbers.

The California senator proved she can still deliver a high-wattage performance, earning glowing reviews for an energetic speech Friday night at a major gathering of Iowa Democrats. But her October blitz in Iowa largely focused on humbler settings — making dinner in supporters’ homes and dropping in on small businesses, in hopes that one-on-one encounters can help close the deal with caucus-goers who will make or break her presidential aspirations.

“The obvious risk is you’re not speaking to large crowds,” said Dan Callahan, a 57-year old contractor from Independence who attended the Harris town hall in a Winthrop barn. But he pronounced the personal approach a “good thing.”

[Demsrule86]

1. Interesting.

[Demsrule86]

2. Will it work...what do you think. You have spent time in Iowa after all.

[brooklynite]

4. She's doing the best she can with the resources she has, but...

Iowa is unique in that you not only need to convince voters to support you, you need to to amass a huge ground game to make sure they show up on Caucus night and stay at the meeting until the two rounds of voting are completed. That calls for a lot of staff and volunteer organizers. From my visit to Des Moines in September, Biden, Warren and Buttigieg have those resources in place. I don't think Harris can pull it off.

[Demsrule86]

6. Thanks for the insight...I am unfamiliar with caucus states in general.

[wasupaloopa]

3. The best Presidential candidates don't make shit up to draw crowds. Kamala Harris

and Mayor Pete and Biden are by far more presidential than the other front runners.

[shenmue]

5. It's a fairly small state. Why do we let it go first?

[Demsrule86]

7. I don't know. I do not think it will have the influence it once had in 20.