Home

10%

Countdown to Caucus

The campaign trail to February 3, 2020

By Fritz Nordengren

This story is from 2020 and began 42 days before the Iowa Caucus. A similar photo story for the 2024 Caucus can be found here.

0 hours out, Caucus time: Patterson, Iowa

1 hour out: Caucus prep in Winterset, Iowa

29 hours out: Pete Buttigieg, Des Moines, Iowa

55 hours out: Climate Crisis parade, Des Moines, Iowa

96 hours out: Supporters and protesters outside Donald Trump rally, Des Moines, Iowa

153 hours out: Tom Steyer, Ankeny, Iowa

198 hours to go: Pete Buttigieg in West Des Moines, Iowa

216 hours to go: Joe Biden in Ankeny, Iowa

12 days out: Abigail Bessler in West Des Moines

Abigail Bessler speaks at a Hot Dish House Party while campaigning for her mother, Sen. Amy Klobuchar in West Des Moines, Iowa on January 23, 2020. Bessler is Legislative Director of the New York City Council and is making public appearances while Klobuchar is off the presidential nomination campaign trail to participate in the Senate impeachment trial.

15 days out: Elizabeth Warren in Grimes, Iowa

16 days out: Amy Klobuchar in Waukee

Sen. Amy Klobuchar greets supporters at the end of her Town Hall meeting at the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center in Waukee, Iowa on Jan. 19, 2020. Shortly after this appearance, the New York Times editorial board announced its endorsement of Klobuchar and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The Waukee appearance is one of her final Iowa campaign stops before her return Tuesday for the impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. The Klobuchar campaign says Klobuchar also adjusted her Iowa schedule to also attend Martin Luther King Day events in South Carolina. The first in the nation Iowa Caucus is Feb. 3, 2020.

17 days out: Klobuchar, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg at Iowa State Education Association

20 days out: Pete Buttigieg, Newton, Iowa

22 days out: Pete Buttigieg in Winterset, Iowa

23 days out: Pete Buttigieg in Des Moines, Iowa

23 days out: Elizabeth Warren, Marhalltown, Iowa

Julián Castro, former Sec. of Housing and Urban Development appears with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Marshalltown, Iowa on January 12, 2020. The Iowa Poll reported January 10 that Warren is in a statistical 3-way tie for second place in pre-Caucus polling. Castro endorsed Sen. Warren after ending his own presidential campaign. Warren will join 5 other candidates in a televised debate held at Drake University in Des Moines on Tuesday, January 14. Iowa’s first in the nation caucuses take place on Feb. 3, 2020.

25 days out: Bill Weld, Des Moines, Iowa

January 9, 2020

BILL WELD former Governor of Massachusetts and candidate to be the Republican nominee for president speaks during the Faith, Politics and the Common Good Presidential Forum Thursday, Jan, 9. 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa.

29 days out: Tom Steyer, Newton, Iowa

January 5, 2020

TOM STYER talks with supporters during the final stop of his campaign bus tour in Newton, Iowa on Jan. 5, 2020. The 15 stop “People over Profits” tour began in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Jan. 1, 2020. Steyer is running to be the Democratic nominee to run for US President.

29 days out: Bernie Sanders, Boone, Iowa

January 5, 2020

Senator BERNIE SANDERS greets supporters during a brunch at the Fareway Event Center in Boone, Iowa on Jan. 5, 2020. Sanders is running to be the Democratic nominee to run for US President.

30 days out: Andrew Yang, Knoxville, Iowa

January 4, 2020

Democratic presidential candidate ANDREW YANG speaks with supporters at a town hall meeting at Peace Tree Brewing in Knoxville, Iowa on Saturday, January 4, 2020.

32 days out: Amy Klobuchar, Iowa Public Television

January 2, 2020

Senator AMY KLOBUCHAR records an interview on Iowa Public Televison's "Conversations with the Candidates" at the Des Moines Area Community College campus on January 2, 2020. Klobuchar is campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for US president.

33 days out: Cory Booker, Perry Iowa

January 1, 2020

Senator CORY BOOKER holds a town hall meeting in Boone, Iowa. Booker is running to be the Democratic nominee to run for US President.

33 days out: Cory Booker, Creston, Iowa

January 1, 2020

Senator CORY BOOKER holds a town hall meeting in Creston, Iowa. Booker is running to be the Democratic nominee to run for US President.

35 days out: Bernie Sanders, Winterset, Iowa

December 30, 2019

Senator BERNIE SANDERS speaks with supporters during a town hall meeting in Winterset, Iowa on December 30, 2019. Sanders is running to be the Democratic party nominee for US President. Sanders is running to the the Democratic nominee to run for US President.

37 days out: Pete Buttigieg, West Des Moines, Iowa

December 28, 2019

Mayor PETE BUTTIGIEG speaks during his town hall meeting at the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines, Iowa on December 28, 2019. Buttigieg is running to the the Democratic nominee to run for US President.

37 days out: Elizabeth Warren, Des Moines, Iowa

December 28, 2019

Candidate for the democratic nomination to be President Senator ELIZABETH WARREN speaks with supporters at a Town Hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.

38 days out: Amy Klobuchar, Des Moines, Iowa

December 27, 2019

Senator Amy Klobuchar concluded her bus tour of all 99 counties in Iowa with a rally with supporters in Des Moines. The Friday afternoon event celebrated the end of what some pundits describe as the "Full Grassley", named for Senator Chuck Grassley and repeated by other presidential candidates. Klobuchar was introduced by Andy McKean of Anamosa, a state legislator who switched from the Republican to Democratic Parties and Ruth Ann Gaines, representing Des Moines in the Iowa Legislature.