The ability to beat Trump may be the “number one criteria” for the eventual Democratic nominee, and the top priority for Iowa Democrats tonight when they caucus for a candidate. But voters are at odds over who is most electable against the president.
At the Quality Inn & Suites in Ford Madison, Iowa, the state’s former governor Tom Vilsack decided to let the crowd in on “a little secret.”
“You can’t govern unless you win,” he said. “I think all of us have to ask … who’s in the best position to win. Joe’s in the best position to win.”
Joe, of course, is Joe Biden, the former U.S. vice-president. He seems to be in a tight race with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders going into Monday night’s Iowa caucuses, officially kicking off the U.S. presidential nomination process.
Just moments earlier, Biden had explained to around 150 attendees that he’s the one Democrat who Donald Trump fears most.
“It’s pretty simple,” Biden said. “They don’t want me to be the nominee. I wonder why? Because they know if I am, I’m going to beat him.”
The ability to beat Trump is, according to Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang, the “number one criteria” for the eventual nominee, and the number one priority for Iowans in choosing their leader tonight.
Tough choices
Despite holding only 41 delegates, the small state, by going first, can play an oversized role in choosing the nominee. The winner here has often built momentum to become the candidate.
Some Democrats are struggling to choose between the candidate they most support, compared to who they believe is best suited to win.
“The Democrats are torn between do we vote for the guy that’s most likely to beat Trump or do we vote our hearts,” said Sherry Martin, a retired locomotive engineer from Montrose, who attended the Biden event.
Martin will be supporting Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but her husband Clyde Martin is throwing his support behind Biden, who he believes is the most viable candidate.
“I think Biden is the most electable candidate in the field,” he said. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, “unfortunately, kind of saddled himself with [the] socialist label.
“And I understand he’s a socialist Democrat but people out there, they don’t know where to file that. They think he’s a socialist. And I think that did him more harm than good.”
Biden has always been a moderate who has been able to reach across the political aisle, said Iowa resident George Morgan.
Sanders, he said, is “too far left for the United States.”
But tell that to a Sanders suppor