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element of your campaign. >> the iconic events. >> so you just lit people up at the wing king ding. >> yeah, that was fun. >> and the issues driving caucus goers. >> so it strikes me at least from now to february i'm sitting with some of the most powerful people in america. >> welcome to "the axe files" in iowa. >> iowa is the gateway to the presidential race. and a bunch of people aren't going to make it. pretty much you throw a stone in the state and you'll hit a presidential candidate. they're all over the state. they've had thousands of meetings and events. and by august you begin to see the contours of the race. there is nobody in this race, save perhaps vice president biden who knows more about the iowa caucuses than you. what is unique about this first

in the nation event. >> i'll tell you something, i am a big fan of the iowa caucus process. i think the people of iowa understand the oversized role they play in the american political process. and they take it seriously. so i suspect there are many many thousands of people who will go to my rallies and events. other candidates rallies and size up the candidates. think about the issues and try to decide which candidate best reflects their views. that's impressive. >> i think it's fair to say that no candidate placed an earlier bet or bigger bet on iowa. how do you feel about the system here? >> i don't think of this so much as about politics as i do about a chance to meet with people. so i've had a lot of chances, for example, here in rural iowa to talk about folks about what it means to lose the local hospital. >> um-hum. >> that's a way to almost rip the heart out of a community, because it means young families are not very likely to move in.

it means that seniors are worried that they won't have access to the care they need. >> the conversations are two-way conversations. >> yeah. >> have they been formative in terms of your thinking on some of these issues? >> absolutely. i mean, that really is the heart of it. it's an extraordinary opportunity. it's -- it's let me have a chance to meet people face-to-face. >> so here we are, the iowa state fair. this is one of those events that define the iowa caucuses that help define the course of a presidential race. how important is this? >> you know, for me the big events do a couple of things. one, i think it's great for the candidate and the people to see them. i mean this is america. look around, right. >> one of the first calls that we made when barack obama was running for president was to paul tews.

he had run iowa for gore in 2007. we wanted the grass roots campaign that we envision. >> it's not just what the candidate is saying. i always think about iowa. very important but how they are interacting with everyday americans. do people get that image on the screen of that could be my president? >> the iconic image of that 2008, i think, state fair with barack obama, the picture of him with the girls in the bumper cars. oh, my god. it went -- it's before -- i don't think you said went viral then. >> sue dvorsky part of a power couple, her husband serving 30 yeerps in the state senate. she having been the state party chair their ideas about what should happen in the caucuses are going to be well watched. >> organizing door to door, day to day in the summer in iowa in and then in the winter. >> and the winter. >> is a lonely -- can be a very

challenging kind of thing. >> yeah. >> when we saw it, when the organizers saw it, the joy, the excitement, that was real. >> we gathered later for debate prep. i asked him how the day went. he said i had a great time rode the bumper cars with the kids. i said this will be good prep for the debate because you're playing bumper cars tomorrow too. and he looked at me you could see his eyes widen. he said i'm going to use that. >> to prep for this debate i rode in the bumper cars at the state fair. >> smooth. >> but it also wouldn't have happened had he not been at the iowa state fair. senator, i don't want to put you on the spot right off the bat. but the minnesota state fair versus the iowa state fair. >> okay. >> which is a better state fair. >> there you go. this will make me superpopular in the presidential caucuses. i am excited to go see the butter cow. and i'm sure i will just you

know go on and on and gush about the virtues of the cow. but please remember the minnesota state fair is the only one with the revolving refrigerate we are the woman in the middle kavl 12 princesss butter busts complete process tiara. >>. iowa or montana state fair which is better. >> my family is flying in and they are excited about this for sure. >> that's a presidential level evasion. you come from a rural state not mid-western state but rural state is that advantageous. >> it is. coming off the coast going into the community and listen to and understand what a farmer is facing when that sixth generation farmer says to me says i don't know if i want my son to follow. or going to the community where the biggest concern is losing the rural hospital. 20% of the rural hospitals are at risk because they know if they lose that hospital they lose that community.

so i think it really does give you a perspective. and the perspective that i'm grounded in. >> what's the most common question that you're getting out there? >> i'll tell you what, in probably 30 different stops no one asked me about impeachment. none. but what they do talk about is am i going to lose my rural hospital? how do we make sure that we can stay in the communities and have a decent job? donald trump has normalized things that we could have never imagined becomes normal. how do we make sure that we can beat him and make our economy in washington, d.c. work for us. >> another issue impacting iowa pretty dramatically is the trade war with china. you've had a tough line. >> our trade policies should not hurt farmers and ranchers in america and around the world. >> do you sense as you move around a restiveness about what the trade war with china is that -- >> yes, of course.

>> a vulnerability. >> i think it is. farmers here in the midwest export a lot of product to china and elsewhere and concerned about trump's trade policies and workers in general. historically what we have had in terms of trade is a bunch of corporate sitting behind closed doorz doors with the pharmaceutical industry developing trade policy. we need trade policy and it's complicated a lot of people involved. but we need it to work for workers and farmers not just multinational corporations. >> one of the things i see hanging around the last few days is that rural is suddenly cool. do you feel a little bit like you you were rural before it was cool? >> yes. for one thing my state is fourth in the country for agriculture production. and i kind of think you can look at the words on the paper with the policy. but you sls to look at what people have done with their power. in my case i helped negotiate three farm bills now. when you look back through my

record and the bills that i've passed and what i've done from animal vac seen to policy. i think you see someone that stood up for rural all the way. i's one of the reasons i with inin red congressional districts every time. and i think the people of iowa will start looking at that. >> we're on i-35. there is this caravan headed to something called the wing ding. and the world's attention will be on clear lake, iowa. that is crazy. >> you know, it's crazy but also beautiful. in the sense of the next leader of the free world has to go to smalltown america and make their case. that's a wonderful thing. >> what it is. >> what what's great about the iowa caucuses and the system in place here is you have to go to the wing ding. >> you have to show up. >> you have to show up

everywhere in rural america, city america, smalltown america, middle class america, poor america. fancy dinner america. and over time are you the same person? are your answers consistent? >> the wing ding dinner is one of the must-do events in the iowa caucus. >> and it's speed dating all the candidates pass through in this iconic setting. the surf ballroom where buddy holley played his last show. >> it's great to be back here at the wing ding. >> we choose truth over lies. we choose unit over division. >> and it is time for the united states of america to rise again. >> but we are going to fight, knowing that we have so much more in common than what separates us. >> so, yeah, we're at the wing ding. >> yup. >> which is an institution.

>> i know, it's extraordinary. >> i know people are the same in some ways but it's a different political environment, a huge state. >> yeah. >> but this is a completely different kind of thing. >> i love it. it reminds me how i campaigned for my first office for elected office as d.a. that was absolutely retail. walking up and down streets. knocking on doors. standing in front of grocery stores. i think i told you this story me there with my ironing board with a standing desk. post-ers on one side taped with duct tape. requiring people to talk to me as they walked in and out of the store. >> these people in iowa take it seriously. >> i love that. they've made me a benefit candidate from the first visit. people take it seriously. they show up because they care. they show up because they know they are invested in the outcome. and they show up prepared to challenge, prepared to listen. prepared to talk. >> what do you think it is that people are looking for?

>> i think what people want is they want to know that they are being seen. and heard. and i think that what people want is they want to know that they're not being played, that we're actually interested, curious and responsive to the things that wake them up in the middle of the night. that could be health care. it could be what we're doing around education like my teacher plan. that idea and policy was actually born out of my first visit to iowa. when i was meeting with teachers who were telling me about working two and three jobs. >> do you feel like you are uniquely positioned, that you can be that calming influence that the country might be looking for? >> what i can tell you is it's a lived experience for me. to know how much more we have in common than what separates us. what we're getting out of donald trump is not reflective of who we are by nature and who we are in terms of our aspirations and

ideals. but the other thing i would say about it is this, david. in guy came in making a lot of promises to working people. en and he betrayed them passing so-called trade policy by treat with unilateral gestures i would say are born out of a fragile ego and have resulted in farmers here in iowa looking at bankruptcy. and soybeans rotting in bins. people want a problem solving president. and someone who can unify the country, yes. and i -- it is part of my mission to speak to our better angels and who we really are. i know who we are and we are so much better than this. >> can i look to you to help us win not just the era but the future of this country? >> to see you just lit people up at the wing ding. >> yeah, that was fun. >> this is your first experience with the iowa caucuses obviously. war your observations. >> well it's got its own energy, its own culture and style. but what i love is it's

friendly. don't get me wrong it's a vigorous appear fierce competition. people expect you and by the way your support tors interact well with each other. i think there is a kind of ethic about it i appreciate. and theres just a kind of spirit to the whole thing that i think really does bring us down to earth. off of the tv airwaves out of of the national picture and into a room with a bunch of other fired up democrats wanting to see where the future is going to be. >> inquiring democrats. you see them sometimes three and four and five times. >> yeah. >> these people are not signing on the dotted line. >> i'm talking to a lot of people. saying i think you're fantastic. you're in my top four. well, i guess that's what you get from being in a field of 25. >> top four is pretty good. >> exactly. i'll take it. but they're not giving out the vote easily. they want to we go and poke and product your ideas and i think your character. >> coming up on "the axe files,". >> this is a state that's overwhelmingly white. the argument is not really

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the caucuses are a unique exercise. you've organized for elections. you've organized for primaries. this is a whole different animal. >> yeah, i mean a primary or an election for that matter is a closed ballot. people go in the voting booth, vote from home. you don't need to tell people who you are voting for. it's a very silent thing. a caucus a public thing. you stand up in front of friends and neighbors, declare who you are for. it's an hour and a half, two

hours a big commitment for people. >> when you are in the room, some candidates don't have the 15% they need to be viable. >> right. right. >> and then they reconstitute themselves. in a regular election there is no election earring in the polling place. >> nope. >> in a cactus. >> crazy. >> tons of election earring. >> it's all electionering. >> encouraged and part of the process. >> barack obama is polling better against republican candidates and anybody else in the field. look at all the people supporting him. he is attracting independents, republicans you have to have those people to win in the general election. >> it does matter who people's second choices may be and third choices. >> yeah, i do think this year there is going to be a dynamic that's different. the imperative to win, the the imperative to turn the page here, is so great, i think there is going to be much more fluidity. i think people -- i hear people all the time, listen i got two,

i got three, i got four. >> i will always remember flying somewhere with obama, and robert gibbs our press secretary hands him the phone process saying the field guys in iowa want to you call this young woman abhigh school kid 17 years old. a lettered in her school and she can unlock 12 caucus votes. and he grabs the phone and calls her. he says hey it's barack obama i'm just calling to talk about the caucuses. and then his face sunk. no, no that's fine. sure hands is it back to gibbs what did she say. >> she said she was going into class and could i call back later? and man this running for president thing is really humbling. >> so it strikes me that at least from now to february, i'm sitting with some of the most powerful people in america. all right because you guys are going to decide, you know, who lives in this race and who doesn't. >> iowans take it seriously he

want they want to meet people ask questions find out do we think this person has the ability to be the president of the united states of america? >> and have you met the candidates already. >> absolutely. >> everybody, huh. >> it's almost weekly. i mean, i could be busy three nights a week. >> how are you thinking about this choice? are you thinking about it more in terms of specific issues that candidates are putting forward? are you looking at the candidates and saying, who would be the strongest in the fall against president trump. >> i would be thinking about it in terms of who is going to be the strongest against donald trump. for me, you have to balance what do you want in a person versus what is appealing in the broad spectrum. >> yeah, we need someone to get trump out of office. but that's not enough. i mean we need someone who is inspiring that we agree with who can reach across the aisle. >> it's not just who can beat him but who has that personality and those qualities that are lacking right now against him,

you know, like empathy and character, and honesty. >> tim and i occupy jasper county, a place that voted for barack obama twice and then voted for trump. so i really am looking for a candidate who i can talk to with people when i sit at my daughter's dance practices, when i sit the at my son's karate practices. to me politics is piecemeal. we have to make change in a piecemeal fashion. i don't want wholesale structural change. it won't happen that fast. so i'm looking for the candidate mo i can pick off some of those independents. and i can pick off a republican here and republican there. >> does the age of a candidate mean anything to you in deciding? >> no, not really, not at all, thinking back to the 2016 election, i was going to iowa state living in ames to it at the time surrounded by young people and it was bernie nation. when he didn't win the

nomination i knew so many who didn't vote who supported bernie, hard core. it's like thinking about electability and thinking about millennials with low voe voter turnout. we are losing if that happens again. >> one of the flare points has been should there be a medicare for all system that would eliminate the private insurance. >> yeah. >> industry. i sense but i may be wrong, that you have -- >> to me i'm not sure about that. health care is always very, very tricky. some of the things that they have brought out like bernie has really talked about free education for people. and i think elizabeth warren came out and said free college. i don't agree with that. you know there are some things that i like about them. but overall, these are kind of unrealistic things. >> medicare or bust for sure. my sister has type one diabetes. and without access to insulin my sister would not be around. she is 17 years old. for me medicare for all means that we're not saying that you need -- if you have a certain

amount of money you deserve to live over somebody else. every american deserves the right to live, no matter how much money they make. >> that would be wonderful but it has to be paid for. they chipped away at obamacare. i'm afraid if we fush for medicare all in they are chipping away at that too. >> the caucuses themselves, i think people don't really appreciate what that experience is like. this is a whole different thing. >> yeah. >> you have to stand up in front of your neighbors. >> you do. >> declare your intentions. >> you're talking about getting a bunch of people out in the middle of winter to stand up and public hi say i support in candidate or i support in one. and then if they don't have viability, you got to jockey around. >> but it's an honor to be first in the nation. >> definitely. >> yeah. >> let me ask you that. this is a state that's overwhelmingly white. >> it is. >> the argument is, not really reflective of the country as a whole. is that a fair criticism? >> no. >> no, i think iowa is kind of

special. it's kind of like a microcosm of stuff. you can stay in des moines and talk urban issues within the city. and you know, with immigrant issues. and then take a drive out for an hour, you're in jasper county. and you're talking like rural issues and agriculture and stuff. >> we may be underrepresented as far as minorities. but you can see having obama elected twice there is a common sense and a every man quality here. >> i just don't think that it's fair to say that you can speak and discuss and have conversations about immigrant issues and then really know what immigrants go through on a day to day basis and undocumented people. >> but we can also be compassion it about that and be advocates. >> i think people here are pretty smart about this. >> you can be compassion it. >> i haven't walked in your shoes of course. absolutely. >> i just don't understand why -- why the votes of a majority white -- you are compassion it so you know how to

vote for minority communities. >> i know how to educate myself about issues and be compassion it about people who aren't like myself and try and advocate for them. >> so let's advocate for another state a little bit more diverse. >> i think what you're saying is that we're not represented and that's. >> right. >> and it's every day i walk it every day. i have a t-shirt that says yes there are black people in iowa. because it is a thing. and i do want to see that see a change happen with that. i do want to see healing and reconciliation with minorities and with immigrants. >> speaking to you reminds me how seriously iowans take their responsibilities here. on behalf of a resentful nation, thank you. >> up next on "the axe files." >> we've got a president who is essentially literally bet the farms of my neighbors. >> you make it sound as if this presidential race is swirling around and then there is real

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to move to a medicare for all, single payer program. >> health care should be a right and not a privilege. >> medicare for all who want it. >> no american should go without health coverage. >> the iowans feel like they are vetting you guys. they're here to thin the field down. >> okay. >> we spoke to a group of voters last night. they are very concerned about donald trump. and some of them said even as they admired you, yoeptd. i don't know if this big structural change is exactly right right now. it's a little scary. and it's maybe a little risky. >> yeah. >> is this a barrier for you here. >> no, i don't think so at all. i think this is actually our strength. you know, we want people to show up. it's got to be because they see that what we have on the table is we understand what's broken. we got a plan for fixing it and we really are building a grass roots movement to make it happen. i just don't think that folks

are going to engage to say, maybe more of same. i think what they engage for is things that will touch their lives. >> you had a townhall last night. and the questions came up about medicare for all, including people skeptical about it. >> um-hum. >> and if you believe polling there is quit a bit about skepticism not about medicare for all but about the idea of doing away with private insurance. >> um-hum. >> does that affect your thinking. >> sure it does. and it tells me that the transition is really important. as we negotiate the pieces to get there to a system that is sustainable. we got to make sure that we've got everybody at the table. that labor unions are at the table and that they're getting full compensation. so, yeah, there are a lot of pieces going this right. but we start by setting the goal and aiming toward it. >> do you think that the older voters are more averse to kind of the seismic changes you have talked about in including

medicare for all. >> you know what, what is seismic is that 87 million americans today are either uninsured or undersured. do you want seismic? half a million people are going to go bankrupt this year. because of medical bills they can't afford to pay. 30,000 people died. what is not seismic in my view is taking a popular program, medicare, the most popular health insurance program which now is people 65 years of age and older are eligible for -- first year lower at 55 then to 45 then to 35, over a four-year period make sure everybody in this country has medicare and comprehensive health care. honest to god, i don't think that that is all that seismic, all that complicated. all that difficult. these are. >> these are not new positions for you. >> no they are not. >> you've been advocating them for decades. >> decades, yes. >> does it bother you to have to sort of try and reclaim your idea from elizabeth warren who

you talked to everybody around the state and saying she is the hot candidate. >> i respectfully disagree. but i think we're doing just fine. but to answer your question, no, it -- i'm proud. this is what i'm proud of. when i came here to iowa four years ago or so i talked about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, yes? radical o cal crazy requested. seven states now passed that as has the congress, u.s. house of representatives. i talked about making public colleges and universities free. radical idea. it's taking place all over the country. talked about medicare for all. radical idea. ain't so radical right now. so answer your question i feel proud that many of the ideas that i introduced four years ago, that these ideas are being spoken about by other candidates and by millions of americans. i'm proud of that. >> you are very clear that you are charting a more moderate course. you would i guess say pragmatic. >> proven progressive. >> i understand.

at some point do you need to draw sharper distinctions with your opponents so that people understand what that choice is? >> i do think there is distinctions. i made that clear in the debate. we all agree on the fact that we need to bring the health care costs down. that's something we agree on. we disagree on how we do that. i have been a big proponent of the affordable care act. i've always said it was a beginning and not an end. one of the major things we didn't accomplish was getting a public option, a non-profit option, where you could use a medicare or medicare. but it allows people to be covered and creates an option that does not invoke private insurance. i think that he is a better way to go. i do not think that we should kick half of america off their current insurance in four years. >> there is a debate erupting going in due directions. one is focus on electability. and then there is elizabeth warren, bernie sanders making the argument for big, bold,

structural change, medicare for all and so on. you navigated around that debate to some degree on the stage. do you think you need to draw the lines more brightly in iowa. >> i believe as much as anybody or more that we do need big and polled and transformative change. i do also think that how bold you are is not the same as how left you are. while i'm more progressive than some of the other democrats and also have a view considered moderate certainly compared to bern nip sanders on these issues. to me it's not about finding the right dot on the ideological line i think vote remembers less ideological than oochlt commentators think. i think it's problematic if we can't explain better than we have what it would mean to kick millions of people off the plans they've got. even for people who aren't wild about the plans they've got, that's the idea of my proposal on medicare for all who want it. i expect people would gravitate to the public plan. but i'm proposing it in a way

people can make the choice for themselves. >> we cannot and should not oversimplify the issues in an attempt to put them in some ideological category. certainly that's not how i think about it. again i think about what wakes people up in the middle of the night. people have a v 5,000 deductible taking to the kid to the emergency room. people want to know we have a plan for helping them threw the end of the month pch for families making less than $100,000 a year they get a $6,000 tax credit they can receive in $500 a month. why? because they are mostly 400 expense away from upheaval. these are what people want us to focus on. when they wake up in the middle of the into the night they are they're not thinking about the party reggered to vote. they're not thinking about the sim mrs. implicitic demographic

a pollster put them in. >> congresswoman you are one of the big success stories for democrats around the country in 2018. you took a republican held seat in eastern iowa. what do you see now? is that enthusiasm carrying through? how does it impact on the caucus process? >> well, the caucuses are always very interesting. we have got 20 some presidential candidates here and they're traveling all across our districts. and i've talked to some of them. and i keep trying to reiterate, you know, you can come here and do big rallies. but at the end of the day you have to sit across the table from iowans, ones that i'm talking to, even some voted the other way last time, and hear the stories about what keeps them up at night. right now we are dealing with a pro longed trade war that's truly -- we have a president who essentially literally bet the farms of my neighbors. and hearing the heart breaking stories of folks dipping into

401(k)s, worrying about filing for bankruptcies. i mean this is stuff we hear about all the time on top of prescription drugs. >> you make it sound as if this presidential race is swirling around, and then there is real life. >> yeah. >> and they are not interacting, intersectioning as much as they should. >> they're doing their best. they have huge teams here and exciting and a lot of energy folks turning out in huge numbers. that's great. but at the end of the day is not how you win in february, but how do you win in november of next year and make sure that we don't lose my state? we are democrat, people who care about health care, making sure every person in the country gets it. we may have different ideas of how to get there. but our values are the same. and that i hope comes across these next months until the caucuses. the values have to be there. >> ahead on "the axe files." >> holy smokes. >> i know. this has change. >> where were you in here when you jumped on the table the

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this is a church now. >> yeah. >> 12 years ago you and i did a lot of praying in there ourselves but it wasn't a church. >> it was the obama headquarters in iowa for almost a year. it's kind of emotional a little bit seeing it. it was a special place. oh. >> holy spokes. >> i know. this has changed. >> they have classed up the place. >> absolutely. this was all open. and there were wires hanging offer off the ceiling. >> i remember. >> you know, and, you know i think maybe once a month we vacuumed. >> and lots of people coming through. >> absolutely. great energy. >> so where were you in here when you jumped on the table the night before the caucuses and exhorted people. >> it wasright over there actually. right in there. this was kind of a big open

area. bull pen. and for the last like ten days we would have nightly countdown meetings when the poll comes out this is the des moines register poll coming out dancing and happy. fast forward two seconds laterpy i can't get too happy because three days left. there is a scene of me yelling -- >> i think yelling. >> yelling ob wok. >> i really want everybody to know this. polls don't mean shit. and if you think tonight that this is done, you're wrong. this is a close, close, close race. and we are on the verge of making history. on the verge. >> it's august. state fair. wing ding. if this were 12 years ago what would be going on in this space. >> a lot of everything. you know, i think great campaigns are also -- you know, they are good when the candidate is not around. and you know, great campaigns

are doing it all all the time. and you know, we used to have a saying in the obama campaign -- and all campaigns, is people come for the candidate. but they stay because of the campaign. >> so everywhere i go i say, who has the best organization out there? and they say well warren. what are you guys doing out there that is so impressing people? >> well, we got here early. i've had a lot of people ask when did you make the decision that you were going to make a claim in iowa? it was not even a conversation. it was, like, day one, before even day one. what's the iowa plan? >> emily parcel is a liechlg iowan who started as an intern in the al gore campaign here in 2000. by 2008 she was the political director of the obama campaign and a star, star organizer. elizabeth warren shrewdly snagged her early. it's one of the reasons she has

a formidable organization in the state right now. >> the interesting thing about this campaign -- and i don't think it's unlike the obama campaign -- there is a focus on building a community of supporters. one of our organizers runs a community garden. one of our organizers run as 5 k most weekends and people run with her. it's not always transactional. it's not always about the predicts. it's just bringing people together and reminding us like community is where this country really gets the hard work done and the best work done. >> why did you make such a bet on iowa? >> you know, i think of it as a bet on democracy. i really believed not just in what i was fighting for as president -- as a presidential candidate, but how i would fight for it. and so for me, it was about investing in democracy. and that meant getting out there from the beginning. having people on the ground who would talk about it face-to-face, help us organize,

house parties, and chances to meet with people. and spending my time not with a rich. i've done 120 townhalls and i don't know where weyer we are on selfies somewhere around 5 to you. >> i wanted to ask you about that. >> that's a chance for people to tell me what they want to tell me. >> it's a core element of your campaign. >> it's a core element of democracy, another way to say, face-to-face. you can tell me what matters most to you. >> i was not for the selfie lineup at the beginning. she -- she defended that to me on her first trip to iowa. >> why were you not for it. >> it takes so much time. we could do twice as many events in a day if we didn't have the selfie lines. but she said -- >> ready. >> niece are born to me it's people's opportunity to hear directly from me. tell me whatever they want to tell me. a lot of people aren't comfortable saying what they want to say in front of a huge

audience. and she takes that feedback. it's like a running one-on-one focus group. >> i said to that iowa, challenge accepted. >> we just saw a couple of the soapbox speeches, all the candidates in the next few days will be making these speeches at the state fair. what do you look at as an organizer about the event. >> iowa is for all intents and purposes you are building a list. you are building a list of your supporters. you are trying to keep -- grow that list, keep that list energized. every conversation here matters. this isn't -- iowa is not just the 30-second ad. it's not just a soapbox. the key is follow up with them, continue talking, continue a conversation with them. watching people get them signed up. watching people get them on the list so to speak, that's important. >> the young people working for everyone of the candidates, 25 of these candidates are not going to be the eventual nominee. >> right. >> the conversations at the door, over and over, if you are doing it right, you are not talking. you're listening.

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you're an institution in iowa politics. you were the lead political writer for "the des moines register" for 34 years or something. >> it feels like it's early for the people who seem to be in contention. for the others, it's getting quite late to break into that top tier. >> historically i think the role of way is to winnow the field, and the race moves on to new hampshire. that's what the call, the ticket

out of iowa. for years there were three tickets, i said there was first class, coach, and standby. in this environment, electability is very important to these democrats, more so than i remember in the past. this thing started early. crowds are big. the only anecdotal evidence that politicians and reporters look at really says this is going to be a record turnout. >> joe biden is the frontrunner here and nationally. how much jeopardy do you think he's in here of underperforming? >> he's in a lot of jeopardy. he's a weak front runner. you have some very credible politicians who are running against him. they wouldn't be doing this if they thought he was unbeatable. >> you basically fought hillary clinton to a draw in iowa in 2016. there are 24 candidates, lots of flavors, lots of competition. you've now taken a place of third or fourth in these polls.

>> that is not accurate. that is not accurate. let's be clear. i know, david, you would like to see it. i just happend to bring it with me. >> it's incredible that you have it on hand. >> it just happened. we have advanced more in the polling than any other candidate. >> you're saying this is -- >> since the last polls, average. >> but here in iowa, you're talking about motivating young voters. do you think there is yet another group of voters here in the state of iowa that hasn't participated before, that is a key to you outperforming these polls and winning the caucuses? >> again, i am not unhappy with the polling. we're going to win this election here in iowa. because we have an critically strong grassroots organization. to answer your question, nationally and in iowa, what the polling shows is we do very well not just with very young people but with people under 45, under 50. where we are not doing well, to

be frank, is with older people. people over 65. and we have got to pay more attention to that voting bloc and make it clear that when i talk about medicare for all, for example, we are talking about expanding coverage under medicare to include dental, to including hearing aids and eyeglasses which many older people can't afford. and that's something we're going to focus on. >> you've decided to give your coveted endorsement to kamala harris. why? >> i think she's the one. i think she is the one to bring together the pieces of the coalition of our base that have to come together as a starting point. i think then that she is the one to prosecute the case in the general election. i look at where on a national stage we have got to energize our base and to me it's her. >> the rest of the country is

really not nearly as focused. but you feel like it's late in the process here. >> i think the race is beginning to break into tiers. you've got a handful of likely frontrunners. you think you've got a handful of unlikely but not impossible at the bottom. and i think you have this big group in the middle. >> there's an adage in the iowa caucuses, organize, organize, and get hot late. >> mm-hmm. >> so there's kind of this timing of it all. you don't want to peak too soon, you don't want to peak too late. with obama, i always felt like it was a marathon, a sprinter's pace. >> one of the things that people said when you got in the race was, iowa, iowa, iowa, she's from the neighboring state, she is more moderate. so far you haven't gotten great traction. you're hovering down there in like 3%. >> yeah, but i'm number six. i'm ahead of 18 people including all the governors and mayor of new york city.

>> which would get you the iowa home game. it doesn't necessarily get you the nomination. people don't chant "we're number 6." >> no one predicted, including in the barack obama race, who would win in august. we'll see some of the candidates they didn't know as well, some of the candidates that come from states that aren't as big. and that's where we're headed. i would rather not peak early. i would rather peak closer to the caucuses. >> even in the most current polling, you were living down there in asterisk land, among 24 candidates. you can't win the nomination if you don't win here, can you? >> well, i think i need to be among the top in iowa. >> the top what? >> top three or four. you remember being here with barack obama. maybe he was, i don't know, 10, 15%. >> yes. >> but it was this state that actually was where he gelled. >> really it boils down to iowa

or bust. >> i think for most of these candidates, for all of the field. if you're not in the top field in iowa, it's bust. top of the hour, you're live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm ana cabrera in new york. our breaking news tonight, a lightning strike injuring six people at the pga tour championship in atlanta. atlanta police say all six of those hurt were gathered beneath a tree seeking shelter from the rain when a lightning bolt struck the tree. those six injured fans are now being treated at a local hospital. police say they were all alert, breathing, and conscious during transport. play had been suspended during the lightning strike due to bad whet