In Iowa, the Democratic Candidates Respond to the Conflict with Iran

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

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🗓️ 13 January 2020

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

The New Yorker’s Eric Lach is in Iowa for the month leading up to the Democratic caucuses. Next week’s debate, in Des Moines, was likely going to focus on health care and other domestic issues core to the Democratic platform, but the agenda may instead be dominated by a discussion of the Trump Administration’s killing of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani and the United States’ fraught history of war in the Middle East. Polls show that Joe Biden is trusted on foreign-policy issues, but Lach suggests that Bernie Sanders’s history of opposing wars—and his quick and confident articulation of his position on Iran—may sway voters seeking a clear message. Nearly a year into the campaign, votes will finally be cast, and in Iowa the deciding factor may involve personal contact more than ideological positions. Iowa voters tend to say, “ ‘I’ve shaken this person’s hand, and I’ve shaken this person’s hand, and I’m going to make my decision after I’ve shaken this other person’s hand.’ That counts for a lot, I think,” Lach says.

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1:16.6	I'm Dorothy Wickenden on On today's Politics and More podcast, David Remnick talks with the New Yorker's Eric Latch, reporting from Iowa. They'll discuss how the Trump administration's
1:22.3	killing of Qasem Soleimani has disrupted the Democratic presidential primary.
1:35.2	If you've gotten sick of seeing presidential candidates on television, in debates or in commercials, you might want to visit Iowa. There you can find candidates in the grocery
1:40.7	store, in diners, maybe even delivering the sermon at church on Sunday.
1:45.5	We're shaking hands and kissing babies like mad.
1:47.9	We've been talking about the Iowa caucuses forever, it seems.
1:52.2	And now it's just weeks away.
1:54.3	The next debate among the Democrats is on Tuesday in Des Moines,
1:57.2	and the New Yorker's Eric Latch has been covering the campaign,
2:00.2	and he's stationed in Iowa. Eric, I've been a journalist for a long time, but I've never had the pleasure of covering a presidential campaign and I'm kind of jealous, to be honest with you. One thing is to watch it on television and read about it and so on. What's it like day to day covering the weeks running up to the Iowa caucus? What do you do? Where do you go? What's it like?
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