For some dumb rough ridin' reason the Iowa Democratic Party thought it would be a good idea to trot out more Iowa Democratic speakers, three hours after we've got into this damn thing. At least half of the crowd has left in the 20 minutes these people have started talking. If I were a candidate or a supporter of one of the candidates yet to speak, I'd be furious. I planned on doing this at the end but now we'll call it a halftime report instead.
Here's the summary to this point:
So here is my summary of the speakers in order of appearance, it was a random draw I'm writing as I listen:
Pete- Dynamic speaker, had the entire audience in the palm of his hand, even got the Yang Gang to behave. I said it before but he's going to win this caucus and if he can make any headway, at all, with my brothas and sistas, he's going to win the whole damn thing. He speaks to everyone and he's going to pull progressives, he already has.
Biden- Oof. He tried man, he tried. He ran out instead of walked, but then it fell apart. His message was flat and unoriginal. He said "I'll beat him like a drum" three times in 10 minutes. His little supporter group gave him nothing, but he also didn't give them any reason to. The wtf are you doing Joe moment of the speech was when he said "hi sweetheart" to someone who wasn't his wife. He did this in the middle of a sorry about a girl with cancer who got kicked off of her insurance. He's a dead candidate walking.
Yang- Came out to "Return of the Mack." This was my first time hearing him away from the debates and now see why the Yang Gang loves him so much. He did a great job explaining the dividend and putting it in historical context. He also spoke coherently on other topics as well. The Yang Gang was on fire, but everyone else seemed to really like him too. This is where I'll apologize for calling him a clown and all of his supporters internet trolls and incels. He's great and belongs in the cabinet.
Liz-Her sleepy ass supporters have finally woken up. She talked about how she is the candidate of "big ideas." Told a story about the forming of the CFPB to illustrate that she can and will take on the establishment by making big, substantive changes. It was a solid, but unspectacular speech. Lots of positive, polite applause from everyone here. She was the only person, to this point, not to reference the cheeto. She sounded like the front-runner, I'm not sure that's a good thing for her, we'll see.
Kamala-She came out and her thousands of supporters had a huge "Justice for the People" sign, ironic. She said "I was a prosecutor and I've only had one client, the people."
She's a very high energy speaker, she hit a lot of policy positions because she is so fast and energetic. Lots of Trump talk too. Her supporters did a much better job than Pete's people of giving her space. She was the first candidate that endorsed and said the phrase "medicaid for all." Then she parsed it by saying that people could keep their plan, it's Pete's medicaid for most. She finished by shouting out Beto's buyback plan, said it was courageous, did not back it though.
Tom Steyer- This was clearly not an "elect me" speech. He wants the candidates and the voters to hear his ideas. He really hammered three ideals. 1. Impeach Trump 2. Environmental Reform 3. Term Limits/Election Reform. Left nearly two minutes of his time.
Bernie-Literally no supporter section, it was odd. Even Beto and Steve Bullock have people here. Also the only candidate with notes and a lectern. Not really much to say here, he just rapidly reaffirmed all of his major policy positions. He also gave a shout out to Beto for his gun policy position. Look for everyone to hit Pete hard on this at the next debate. If they're supporting Beto, it seems they're at odds with Pete.
