Warren scrambles to make up lost ground in Iowa after Trump impeachment trial

Massachusetts senator deputes her golden retriever to pose for selfies as she hits multiple campaign stops

Elizabeth Warren hit the ground hard in Iowa, desperate to make up momentum ceded to rivals such as Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg after time away from the campaign while acting as “a juror” in Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.

Having flown back to the Hawkeye state on Friday night after senators brokered a deal to vote on the president next Wednesday, Warren threw herself back into the final days of campaigning, making her case that Iowans should vote for her.

At the centre of her pitch was not simply an appeal to anger about Republicans’ alleged unwillingness to properly consider the impeachment accusations levelled at the president.

Rather, she also hammered hard on several concerns she believes are closest to voters’ hearts – access to affordable healthcare, the cost of prescription medicine and jobs that paid a living wage.

“I was a high school debater and I won a scholarship to college,” she said, speaking in a gymnasium at Coe College in the city of Cedar Rapids.

Leading into the twisting personal life story that has also become part of her pitch to voters, she added: “Then at 19, I felt in lot, got married and dropped out ... It was OK, but I lost out on my dream of being a public school teacher.”

Warren has her work cut out here in the midwest, where people will on Monday night hold the first vote of the 2020 political cycle. Because of its first in the nation status, largely rural and overwhelmingly white Iowa exerts influence far beyond its population.

Just a few months ago, Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, was tied for first place here. But just as quickly as she seemed to rise, so she has lost ground, while Joe Biden, Buttigieg and Sanders have seen their fortunes rise.

Some have suggested Warren saw her numbers dip amid doubts among voters as to how she would pay for her universal healthcare plan, despite her including the explanation as part of her pitch.

As result, while the equally progressive Sanders has held onto his supporters, some of Warren’s initial supporters appear to have shifted to Biden, Buttigieg and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar – all of whom claim their more modest policy proposals are more realistic.

A recent poll by The New York Times put Biden ahead nationally on 27 points, with Sanders on 24, and Warren on 14. In Iowa, the polls put Sanders and Biden equal on 22, with Buttigieg second on 18, and Warren on 15.

Sitting in the front row of seats at Coe College, Lana Gehlsen, 68, a retired lab technician, said she was not fully decided on who to support on Monday, but that she was impressed by what she had seen of the senator.

“I’m still on the fence, but I’m leaning towards her. I like what she has to say,” she said.

Warren was introduced by Ayanna Pressley, the first African-American woman elected to congress from Massachusetts.

“She is both empathetic and electable,” she declared. “People talk a lot about her skills as a professor and a teacher, but she is an even better student. And that is something we need right now.”

She added: “I know why some people are not here: broken hearts and broken promises and a broken system. But we need big structural change.”

Warren has made posing for selfies with every person in the room who asks for one an important part of her campaign strategy. Yet on Saturday, as the sun glimmered off the snow in Cedar Rapids, she asked them to allow her to cut that short, in order to enable her to get to other campaign stops in the state.

In her place, she was leaving behind her golden retriever, Bailey, who has also been campaigning along with her son, Alex, while she was dealing with impeachment in Washington DC. “Don’t worry,” she said to the crowd. “He’s been working on his smile.”

As it was, she stayed behind for one group shot before getting back on the trail.

“This is it. This is our moment in history, and it launches right here in Iowa,” she said, her voice sounding a little hoarse. “We are going to make it happen.”