The Daily - The Field: Iowa’s Electability Complex

Episode Date: February 3, 2020

With Iowa voters making their choice and the 2020 election getting underway, we’re introducing a new show: one covering the country and its voters in the lead up to Nov. 3. In our first episode of ���The Field,” we ask Democratic caucusgoers how they’re feeling about the election. Traveling around the state, we found anxious Iowans asking one question over and over: Who can beat President Trump? Note: This episode contains strong language.Guests: Astead W. Herndon, who covers national politics for The New York Times, and Austin Mitchell and Andy Mills, producers for “The Daily.” For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: Confused by the Iowa caucuses? Here’s how they work.The New York Times polled 584 Democrats likely to caucus in Iowa. Fifteen of them agreed to talk to us on camera. Here is what they told us.The state with a huge influence in picking presidential candidates doesn’t look much like the country as a whole, except in one very striking way: a rapidly aging population.

Today, as voting begins in Iowa, marking the beginning of the 2020 election, we're launching a new show covering the country and the voters in the lead-up to November. It's Monday, February 3rd. So we have a Cory Booker sign, we have a Warren sign, a Pete one, an Amy Klobuchar one, a parking for Bob's girlfriend only sign. Oh, this is Bob's house. I really hope someone's here. I hear something. Yeah, we got some action. Hi, how are you?

Good, good. My name's Ested. This is Austin. We're journalists. Hi. Molly! Shut up. How about I throw her in the basement?

Yeah, no problem. We'll be here waiting for you. Okay, come on, Molly. Come on. Hi, Molly. From the New York Times, this is The Field. I'm Ested Herndon in Iowa. I get really uncomfortable.

Hi. So we're journalists. We're from the New York Times. We're talking to folks about the caucuses. Oh, okay. And I see the signs here. I know there is. Yeah, we got a couple more around.

There's one buried, I think, down there. Are you someone who's decided on who you're talking to? Well, I'm pretty sure we're... Not 100%. You're not 100%? No. Well, that's the type of folks we like to talk to. All right, well, here I am.

Tell me the decision process. Tell me who you're thinking about. Wow, there's a lot of people. I'm thinking about Elizabeth Warren. And, I don't know, I like Pete too. It depends on who you listen to last. Damn near. But what makes you nervous?

It seems like there's some anxiety around that. Electability. Just we have to beat somebody that's there already. So how does that electability question impact whether or not you'll vote for Elizabeth Warren? Well, I'm wondering if Republicans will vote for Biden. And they may not for Pete, but some of them will. And some of them will for Warren, I think, too. It's just, how many? So part of your vote is trying to figure out who you think Republicans would vote for in the general election? Yes, that's part of it.

I don't hear Bernie. Is he on your list? He's down there, maybe, you know. What's the decision there? Why? I don't think Republicans will vote for him. Yeah. You seem pretty racked with indecision. Yeah. You gather that, huh?

I just, you know, Jesus. You'll be happy when this thing is over, huh? Yeah, yeah. What's your name? Bob Henderson. Bob. I don't envy you. You seem to.

It's much easier going and asking people all these questions than to be making these choices. It seems like you're wrestling with it. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't that hard last time. Who'd you caucus for last time? We, Hillary. But, you know, I didn't do something right.

Yeah, we did something wrong. So a week before the Iowa caucuses, I went with my colleagues, Austin Mitchell and Andy Mills, to the Des Moines region to talk to voters about how they're feeling. For months, we've been seeing a really fluid race in the state. Top candidates like Pete Buttigieg could be leading in one month. Elizabeth Warren could be leading the next. Some polls show Joe Biden leading. And most recently, Bernie Sanders has held a firm lead at the top. Even more, when we started talking to voters, they weren't just deciding between one or two candidates that were the same ideologically, but maybe even between candidates that seemingly have

conflicting policy positions. So you can meet a voter who's flipping between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. You can meet a voter that's flipping between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. You can meet a voter that's flipping between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. And so we wanted to get a better sense of what was going on on the ground. We are in the small town of Russell, Iowa. And over and over, people kept going back to the same moment. Down some very lonely streets to come here and talk to this lady. Can you guys give me a hand with anything?

We're just out here talking to ourselves. Are you Casey? I'm Casey. I'm Andy. Andy, nice to meet you. This is Austin. Austin, nice to meet you guys. So a couple days ago, Austin and Andy went out to meet Casey DeHoot. Yeah, my name is Casey DeHoot.

I'm 36 years old. I'm a full-time supervisor at a warehouse in the area, and I am a city councilwoman here in Russell. And for her, and for a lot of Iowa Democrats, the story actually begins in 2008. Yeah, I remember that pretty well, because it was Obama and it was Hillary. pretty well because it was Obama and it was Hillary. Voters give Clinton high marks for being strong, experienced, decisive, and compassionate. But is Clinton likable? And at that time, I don't think Hillary was particularly popular,

but she seemed like she was going to be the pretty clear candidate. And then here comes this meteor out of Chicago, which is Barack Obama. The question is whether or not Obama, an African-American candidate from the big city of Chicago, can connect with the primarily white rural voters here. I think we're listening. Thank you, Iowa. And then Iowa picked him, and I remember being pretty floored. They said, they said this day would never come. But on this January night,

at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. You have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. Iowa sort of saw the lightning and was able to put it in a bottle. And then the rest of the nation was like, yeah, we see it too. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008. So 2008 becomes this vitally important year for Iowa Democrats. They have a sense of pride, a real sense of ownership around Barack Obama's historic campaign. They feel like they saw in him what the rest of the country would eventually see,

and that they helped launch an upstart candidate to the Democratic nomination, and then eventually the historic presidency. We are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come. But that's not the story of the 2016 campaign, is it? No. That was awful. campaign is no.

That was awful. Can we go back to like right around this time about four years ago when you were doing this Iowa thing of trying to pick the first candidate. The Democrats getting ready for their final face off tonight

in Iowa before voters go out in caucus next week. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. Yes, he's still in there. What were you thinking? How were you weighing? What were you liking? For me, it was pretty obvious early on, Hillary.

But ramping up to the caucus day, Bernie was really starting to gain some steam. As most polls show, Sanders is closing in on Hillary Clinton's lead in Iowa and beating her in New Hampshire. And I was like, I could really switch to this guy right now. But my only thing about Bernie was Barack Obama had a lot of difficulty getting a lot of legislation through because the different legislative bodies thought he was so liberal that they didn't really want to do anything with him. And I thought, well, my God, if Barack Obama can't get that achieved, how are they going to let Bernie Sanders, who's this progressive out of like nowhere, who's asking

for all these crazy things? So I thought, nope, it's going to be Hillary. She's going to be the one who's more electable and a general. What happens next is very specific to Iowa's caucus system. Rather than the traditional voting booth, where someone goes in and selects one candidate, voting booth where someone goes in and selects one candidate. There are still a few seats here and there. Caucus goers show up to a big room, oftentimes a gymnasium or a local community center, and they stand in a group with other people who support their candidate.

You're already 16, hurry that way. But that's not a set thing. People can make appeals to each other, and things can shuffle around before the final vote is taken. You know, they ask several times, does anybody want shuffle around before the final vote is taken. You know, they asked several times, does anybody want to change their candidate? This is where everyone's at in the room. Does anybody want to switch sides?

Last chance. And I kept thinking, I could just get up, go over, sit with that other group. But no, it's going to be Hillary. I am so thrilled that I'm coming to New Hampshire after winning Iowa. And it was Hillary. The first woman ever to win the Iowa caucuses did it by two-tenths of one percent. Iowa voted for Clinton over Sanders by the smallest margin in caucus history, 49.8 to 49.6. I thought, well, Hillary is incredibly qualified. She's earned it. And about nine months later, well, we know what happens.

Right now, a historic moment. We can now project the winner of the presidential race CNN projects. Donald Trump wins the presidency. The business tycoon and TV personality capping his improbable political journey with an astounding upset victory. Donald J. Trump will become the 45th president of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton. And then once Trump was elected, then I felt like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I see all these Trump shirts around, and I'm like, wait, where have I been living? And I was just like, my God, they really hated Hillary.

I really took it as a, you know, less of a Trump win as it was a Hillary loss. And I feel like they wanted a change in politics. Bernie would have been a change in politics. Hillary Clinton was the status quo. They didn't want status quo. And yet you chose her because you found her to be the more reasonable and electable candidate. Did the election shake that sense, that you knew what was electable? sense, that you knew what was electable? Very much, very much changed that. Had I known then what I know now, I would have switched so fast. I would have definitely gone Bernie. Had I switched and had Bernie been the nominee for the party, he would be president right now. Well, when it comes to this year, how confident are you that this time around you can find the candidate that is more electable? Not at all confident.

That last election, 2016, was just such a mind blow. I mean, nobody saw that coming. So going into this election, you know, that's definitely something that's into my mind is what's a candidate that I like and what's a candidate that speaks to me. But what's a candidate that might have a more broad appeal? This is probably the crux of why I'm an undecided caucus goer is because I'm trying to negotiate that space. So Casey calls it having her mind blown. My colleague Alex Burns says that some Democrats feel as if their brains have been broken. But it's this effect where Democrats do not trust themselves to make the right electoral decision. They no longer trust

their own instincts about determining what electability is. Do they go with a candidate who speaks to their sense of inspiration, an Obama-like figure, someone who can maybe rally the party through soaring rhetoric or the like? Or do they try to think of who is most electable to other people, but they don't even know what that is? For a lot of people, they thought that was Hillary Clinton, and that didn't turn out well. And so with just days to go, you're seeing Iowa Democrats really frozen. With days until your caucus, while you're still undecided, what is it that you're most afraid of? That's a good question. I'm worried that, you know, the first week in November, you know, that Wednesday after the general election, you know, again, waking up and going, damn it, I did it again. I voted for the wrong candidate, knowing that I felt better about a different candidate. So we wanted to talk to more undecided voters, like Casey.

We are in the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines, Iowa. We are walking through this residential neighborhood to knock on some doors and ask Iowans how they're feeling. There's a surprising amount of snow on the ground. I just hope it doesn't get any colder. Strong knock. Yeah, it's a fine line between the strong knock and the police knock, which you don't want to do. Hi, how are you? My name's Ested. This is Austin and Andy. We're reporters with the New York Times. How's it going? Oh gosh, fine. I have a sleeping baby though.

Oh, oh, that's totally fine. She just woke up. I wondered if we could ask you a couple questions? I can't. I'm in the middle of a conference call actually, sorry. Okay, sorry to interrupt you. Are you someone who's thought about who you're going to caucus for? Actually, sir, I'm somebody who has to go get his wife. She's getting off at 1 o'clock.

Now, you want to report that in the Times. I mean, hey, that's big news. Because if I'm not there in time, it'll be big news. Oh, okay. All right, thank you, sir. Obviously, there were some people who were totally decided. Uh, Bernie, no doubts about it. Yeah, I think we people who were totally decided. Bernie. No doubts about it.

Yeah, I think we're caucusing for Bernie. Was it a hard choice to pick Bernie? No. I'll be caucusing for Bernie Sanders. Okay. Yep. Are you someone who just made that choice, or this is something that's been true for a long time? It's been true for a long time.

Andrew Yang, 2020. Yeah? Yep. Not undecided. You know, is there anyone else here that that that is trying to make a decision still that might be willing to chat with us for a bit. She likes Joe Biden. Are you gonna talk for Joe Biden? Pete Buttigieg.

Can we chat with her for just a little bit? She says she's too hung over. I'll go for roommate. Do you want to share your thoughts on your candidate candidate your candidate? Hungover roommate, do you want to share your political opinions? No, I want to vote it. See, hangover people vote for people. I'm clear-minded, though, so that's why I'm her gang.

But just as often. Hi. Hey, I'm sorry. I thought you were somebody else. I don't have time. All right, bye-bye. as often. side. I'm not a Bernie lover, so if you guys are Bernie bros, I like, okay, so then it's sort of like, I want to vote for someone who people in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania will vote for. That's who I want to vote for. And do you have, is there anybody in the front of mind that you think is best for that? Elizabeth, and I love Amy. I'd really like to vote for a woman because you know I'm gonna die soon and there's not still not been a woman president but I feel like there's so much prejudice against us

Bettys you know what I mean. I've got to think about it in bigger terms than who I was. I'm kind of in bigger terms than who I was. I'm kind of obsessive about politics. I can hear the TV out in the background. Well, it's got to be loud enough while I'm getting ready. Have you made a decision on who you're going to caucus for? I have it down to two. The two I came down to are the one I support the most and the one I think probably has the best chance to win.

So I think I'm going to caucus, I think, for Amy Klobuchar. And then I imagine she's not going to have enough. So then I think I'll probably go to Joe Biden. Yeah. What was that like for you? Yeah. Well, it felt like I'd love to go with just a gut feeling. I love somebody really a lot, but I don't have that person so much this year, like when Obama was around, you know. That was really nice to have that gut feeling. So you have to just do it more intellectually. The more information, the more you can get, the more wise decision you can make and go from there. Does that answer your question?

But with that intellectual decision, it seems it's not just a personal intellectual decision. You're trying to project a little bit into the minds of others. When it comes down to the who I think can win part, definitely. Yeah. And how have you been factoring that? I'm hearing a lot of people that don't think anybody but Biden can really win. Not sure I totally agree with that. win. Not sure I totally agree with that, but I think this year's election is special because we need to make sure that we win. And about everybody I talk to, the main focus is making

sure Trump doesn't have another four years. And it's not so much get that candidate you love, it's get him out. Hi there. We are finding a few people. Everyone seems to be pretty nice. You guys look like you're leaving, though. Can we just ask you two questions? Are you planning on voting next week? Oh yeah.

Who's your number one? Huh? Who's your number one? I don't know yet. You don't know? No. That's why we want to ask you about it. You complicated the answer.

When do you think you'll make your decision? Probably there. Probably there. Probably there? Yeah. Why is it so hard? It's all about electability, so it's hard to decide what factors are going to control electability.

So, it's complicated. You just want to win in November? Absolutely. Guy's a fucking idiot. Six months ago, the Democratic primary was all about the ideological divides. There were the progressives, who were promising systemic change and upheaval, and the moderates, who wanted to work more within the system.

But now, it's just about who can win. Test. Do you have time to chant? Oh, hi, I'm Pat Bodie. Hi, Pat, I'm Andy. Hi, Andy. Austin.

Austin, nice to meet you. So after a day of knocking on doors, a very cold day of knocking on doors, we decided to go to a coffee shop nearby. And we found Pat sitting at a table. I think what people do not necessarily appreciate, unless they've spent some time here, is just how seriously we take this job. I have several friends where we've all tried to make sure we've seen pretty much every candidate in person. And how many people involved with the different campaigns

do you think you've spoken to? Oh, I've spoken to almost all of the candidates. I may have missed Marianne Williamson, but I think I have spoken to every other candidate in the field. I don't think I'm alone in that. When you say spoken to, do you mean like we are speaking right now? Yeah. I've probably been to a total of 20-plus or more events, and some of them have been long-form conversations.

There was a Steyer event at a friend's house just the other day. I saw Elizabeth Warren at our representative's pharmacy. There were like 10 of us there and Elizabeth Warren. I mean, I'm telling you, you feel like you get to know him quite a little bit. Did that help answer your question? That was delightful. So believe it or not, Pat's process is pretty typical of the Iowa caucus goer. They take real pride in meeting multiple presidential candidates and vetting them and asking them tough questions.

And they see it as their personal duty because they're the state that votes first in the primaries. And like a lot of other Iowa Democrats this year, Pat's making this decision on the basis of who's best positioned to beat President Trump. And she was struggling. Who are the candidates that you are really fighting between in your mind? Warren, Booker, Buttigieg, and then, of course, Steyer came into the picture. Quite frankly, the vast majority of the field was really appealing. But at a certain point, she just changed the way she was thinking. I think a lot of us were thinking about electability for a long time,

and I finally realized I don't have the expertise to pick electability. It's hard. I mean, you can't even, the polls are messy. You know, the electoral college is in the mix. It's just a very difficult choice to make that way. So I'm going to pick on the basis of who do I think would make a great president. And when she did that, her choice became pretty clear. Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I was really looking for someone that was a combination of climate and character

and the ability to unify the country. So when I put all of those pieces together, that added up to Pete Buttigieg. So where are we right now? What is this? We are at the Urbandale field office for Pete for America, about to attend the last precinct training for Pete's precinct captains in Urbandale. Oh, cool. And there's Pete signs up everywhere. We've got some coffee and crackers.

People said on you. So we wanted to spend time with the Buttigieg campaign because it's notable that here in Iowa, he's doing significantly better than he's doing in other parts of the country. And part of the reason that's been true is that voters here see him as an Obama analogous figure. They see another young Midwesterner, someone who would be a historic president as the first openly gay president, and also someone who speaks their

rhetorical language about inspiration, about coming together, about knitting the country's moral fabric back together. And his campaign has been hearing the same things about electability that we've been hearing. And so to close the deal in Iowa, they're making an argument to try to get more Iowans to think like Pat, to embrace the idea that the most electable candidate is the one that inspires you the most. His intellect drew me first. You know, that was the first thing. I thought, you know, there's no doubt. And the more I looked at him, goodness, he speaks several languages.

He's a vet. He's everything you could possibly want. Him being a veteran is one of the keys for me. He knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of those deployment orders. I was really impressed with him. He was very intelligent, very straightforward. I like the fact that he's young. I mean, I'm just, I'm tired of old white men. I'm sorry, Jim, I didn't mean that. Wait a minute, let me rephrase that. I wanted to listen to somebody with some new ideas, with some ideas of middle American values, and that's why I picked him. I'd love to see Pete on a debate stage with Trump. Oh my gosh, I'd pay good money for that. I'd dip into my savings even.

savings even. Clap once if you can hear me. Clap twice if you can hear me. Great. Look at this group. We've got a good group in here. Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate everyone coming.

We're all here for one reason, and that's because we believe Pete is the candidate that we need right now. And you know what Pete needs? Us. Yes. You guys are a smart group of people. I'm done. You guys got it.

We've been around the bar. You've been here a few times. People will be sold on Pete. They just need to hear his message. And when you finally get someone to talk to and you can convey that message to them, they become a believer, they become a supporter, and they will join our team.

We have only a few days left. We are running out of time right now. This is your last chance to show Iowa, to show the country that Pete can have a strong showing. Pete can come through. If you don't understand this urgency right now, you haven't been following the news. We have a few days left guys. So turn to your neighbor, tell them I'm excited to be coming and door knocking. Go ahead, do that right now. So, can you tell me your name? Julie Wittoth.

And what do you do? I'm retired. I was a financial planner for 40 years. So Julie's one of the volunteers at the event, and she's been personally inspired by Buttigieg. I heard him for the first time on a broadcast with Preet Bharara, and I was driving in my car, and I tuned in about five minutes after it started, and I had no idea who he was.

And I listened for the remaining 40 minutes of the broadcast, and I remember sitting in my driveway thinking, my gosh, who is this guy? He is so smart. He was answering multipoint questions, you know, just so articulately. So I canvas most weekends. I have for the last couple of months. So I've knocked on about 400 doors. I'll probably hit 500 by the end of this weekend. And when you knock on doors, what's the issues that come up the most often? How to beat President Trump. As a group, Democrats are so traumatized by the entire Trump experience that we're kind of like a group of deer in the headlights. So the bottom line conversation always comes around to,

you know, I'll support anybody in the field. I like this person or I like that person. But so often I'll hear, well, Pete's in my top three, but I like so-and-so and maybe it needs to be Joe Biden because maybe he's the most electable. So the conversation just goes around and around. And then we just talk about, or I talk about the things that draw me to Pete. When I listen to him speak, my blood pressure goes down instead of up. I'm tired of the politics of outrage. I'm tired of being outraged. Speaking of politics of outrage, I mean, I think about Bernie Sanders.

Would the prospect of a Sanders nomination as a Democrat make you nervous? Yes, because I personally don't think he's electable. I don't think that his extreme left-wing policies will garner the support he needs, particularly in the electoral college states that we need to win. So on those levels, it concerns me. I don't personally have a strong feeling one way or the other about Bernie. It's just a fear of looking at his politics, having a life of experience, watching how this country functions, and feeling that if the country as a majority wanted a democratic socialist

government, the Congress would be full of Democratic socialists. We would be electing those people, and we don't. So it is, sure, it's a concern. I asked Julie this because of another dynamic that's happening among Democrats. So Sanders is also pulling ahead in New Hampshire, the second state to vote after Iowa. And so one of the problems that all this indecision is causing for the other campaigns is that a clear rival to Sanders is yet to emerge in the first two states. Their support is fractured. And no candidate has won both Iowa and New Hampshire and then gone on to lose the Democratic nomination. Doesn't that mean, though, that the Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar wing needs to pick a person and stick with it? We'll get there.

Yeah, we're, in the last 60 years, we've won when we've nominated somebody that's young, inspirational, outside the Washington politics. When we try and go with somebody that's safe and electable, we lose. And I just, I do feel that Pete can put together that coalition. So Julie's essentially bringing us back to where we started, to 2008, when Iowa captured that lightning in a bottle and helped spring Barack Obama to the Democratic nomination. And with that logic, 2016 is the aberration. And Democrats shouldn't use that fear of electability as a framework for choosing candidates going forward. My personal belief is that anyone who has any faith in their powers of political prognostication after 2016 is either delusional or much more plugged in than I am. One of the two, maybe both.

This is Jay, another Buttigieg volunteer. So I think that most Iowans do know our outsized import in the sense that if a candidate does well here, it's a launching pad. Generally, you get that big bounce in the polls. You're going to have a position to do better in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina. And if you can show, like Barack Obama did, that you can win over Iowans, the rest of the country pays attention to that. I think some Iowans do get in a little chicken and the egg. So it's like we look at the rest of the country and we go, who's doing well there? Because I want somebody who can win across the country.

And then the rest of the country is kind of looking at us. It's like, all right, well, who can do well in middle America, right? And so there is this sort of feedback loop that we can get caught in, and there's just no off-ramp, which is why for me it just makes a ton more sense to support the candidate that excites you and trust that the things that are exciting to you are exciting to your neighbors and people around the country as well. So you're saying you're trying not to play the electability game,

but that your most important issue is winning in November. but that your most important issue is winning in November? All of my most important issues flow from winning in November, right? So in that regard, sure, electability is my primary concern. There's no scenario in which I'm going to go full-throatedly support a candidate that I suspect can't win. More what I'm saying is I don't know. I don't know who can win, who will win. I will say I think every Democrat can win. I'm not super responsive to arguments. It's like, I'm backing this candidate because the rest of them won't win. I think we run the risk of But the Obama campaign worked in 2008

because what Iowans were feeling was also what Democrats across the country were feeling and also what the general electorate was feeling. It is unclear that any Democrat in this race has the ability to recreate the coalitions which led him to the presidency. And in that view, there's a risk of underlearning lessons from 2016. If you can hear me, clap once. If you can hear me, clap twice.

So on caucus night, we all talked about it. We're going to get there early. We're going to help out as much as we can. And everyone's going to wear their button. Yeah. All right? All right. Any last questions?

Otherwise, I'm going to let you guys dismiss. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you. Dismissed. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to The Iowa caucuses begin tonight at 7 p.m. Central.

We'll cover the results on tomorrow's Daily. Okay. Can I do it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So speaker phone?. Yeah, I have it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So speaker phone? Yeah, put it on speaker. Bob here.

Hi, this is Ested Herndon, the New York Times reporter who knocked on your door a couple days ago. How are you? Yeah, I'm pretty good. Pretty good. Yourself? I'm doing well. I know we told you we were going to follow up, so this is a said promised follow-up call. Okay, well, I'm leaning towards Elizabeth.

Oh, okay. So some decisions have been made. Yeah, kind of. I believe she can do it. Have you convinced yourself? What changed? Nothing major, I guess. I guess I just believe that she would be right for the country.

So it seems to me as if you've decided to just vote for who you like the most. I think so, right now. You know, I've got all tomorrow.