For Beto O'Rourke, will Tuesday be opportunity or calamity? [View all]

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Beto O’Rourke’s campaign has all of the outward signs of what his run for the presidency was supposed to be and what his most devoted supporters believe it still can be. He’s collecting millions of dollars in campaign donations, has hired a series of experienced Democratic operatives and is paying his field organizers eye-popping wages, probably the highest in the field. O’Rourke has quickly built a large operation in Iowa, with 11 offices scattered across the state, and he welcomed crowds of at least 100 during his last two town halls there.

But those images belie the struggles he’s facing: spending money more quickly than he is raising it, polling nationally between 1 percent and 3 percent in the past month, and trying to convince voters he has the experience and vision to be president. After a first debate appearance that raised alarm among his major donors, there is ever-increasing pressure on O’Rourke to shine at Tuesday’s debate and remind Democrats why so many thought he could be a front-runner just a few months ago.

O’Rourke says he is now taking an approach of “me being me,” ... O’Rourke and those close to him are convinced that if he just meets enough people — especially in Iowa, which will hold the nation’s first nominating contest in February — he can surge ahead. Still, the more time O’Rourke has spent in Iowa, the worse he has done in statewide polls. O’Rourke is at about 1 percent in the state, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll earlier this month, a decline from polls earlier in the year.

O’Rourke held a Friday night town hall at a Sioux City bar that attracted about 125 people. The next afternoon, about 100 people showed up to hear O’Rourke speak at a coffee shop in Sioux Center. O’Rourke’s staff marveled at his crowds, but that same weekend in the same area, nearly 300 people showed up to a Friday morning event with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-beto-orourke-tuesdays-debate-looms-large-will-it-be-opportunity-or-calamity/2019/07/26/44746572-ad77-11e9-8e77-03b30bc29f64_story.html?utm_term=.a3d80f3ea895