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AUSTIN – To polite applause, Howard Schultz pleaded for an independent centrism. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Passionately defended the dismantling of the country's largest technology companies. A few streets away, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke was stormed after witnessing the premiere of a documentary about his unsuccessful Senate campaign of 2018.
In brief: The circus 2020 had arrived at the hipster-techie festival that runs from south to west.
SXSW has long been a destination of choice for music, technology and film. But in recent years, it has become more and more political. The millennial left-wing crowd, which rides onboard a fleet of electric scooters, is highly sought after by Democratic primary candidates who are trying to create viral moments and seek the luster of authenticity.
"I'm pleased to be P.T. Barnum," said Evan Smith, chief executive of the Texas Tribune, who was organizing most of the political events.
For the first time in this presidential campaign, most Democratic candidates met in one place. On the barbeque, the craft beer and the tacos, they took turns selling their vision of the party and the United States.
Over the weekend, many of them sat for an hour-long interview. Most questions have been sketched as to whether President Trump should be dismissed, they look forward to seeing the report of the special council, Robert S. Mueller III, and they praised the representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), which sometimes seemed to eclipse them.
Warren has attracted one of the largest and most enthusiastic crowds and defended a proposal that she presented Friday to dissolve companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, also owns the Washington Post.)
"The monopolist will realize less monopolistic profits – boohoo," she said.
She paused when asked if Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Had tried to discourage her from running, saying, "Bernie and I had dinner in private. My point is that dinner is private. "
She said that, unlike Sanders, she was not a democratic socialist.
"Bernie must talk about what is democratic socialism," she said. "All I can tell you is what I believe. And it is that there is a lot to win markets. That markets create opportunities. "
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Min.) Extolled her bipartisan credentials, highlighting the Republicans she worked with and referring to the late Senator John McCain at least three times. She promoted her ability to win in conservative areas and explained how she would run against Trump.
"I'm going to use humor," she said, giving as an example her response to her tweet mocking her snowy talk. "Do you know what I would like to see? How your hair will work in a snowstorm, Mr. Umbrella Man. "
The first issue she faced was her alleged hard treatment of staff. In a New York Times article, she directly related an anecdote in which she claimed to have been upset by an employee for not having bought her a salad while she was on a plane. Instead, she ate the meal with a comb.
"The story of the comb was like a mother's story," said Klobuchar, a mother of a child. "I did not have a fork. I used a comb to eat very briefly a salad in a plane in a "MacGyver" movement. "
"I know I can be tough on people," she added. "Sometimes too hard, that I can push them too hard, that I can always do better."
When asked if such criticism was sexist, she replied, "I will not go there. . . I just can not waste my time analyzing it. "
In addition to several renowned Democrats, the festival has attracted Bill Weld and John Kasich, both of whom are thinking about a race against Trump in the Republican primaries.
Kasich, a former Republican governor of Ohio, presidential candidate in 2016, expressed support for the fight against income inequality, the adoption of a comprehensive reform of the country. immigration and the fight against climate change. He ridiculed the "decisive decisions" of the president and rejoiced in the number of women in place.
He also noted that he had been set aside at the 2016 Republican debates: "I was so far backstage that I felt like a Ugandan swimmer at the Olympics". He stated that he always felt so in the Republican Party today.
"The party is right, it's a step back," he said.
He seemed to be fed up with politics – "a pox of all their homes" – even as he left open the possibility of a new race for the presidency.
"I do not know what I'm going to do," he said. "I'm not in Hail Mary. I run when I think I can win. We evaluate things. About every week or every day. I do not close anything. I do not know yet. Who knows what will happen? "
Schultz, who was wondering if he should stand as an independent, was the first speaker of the day.
"I came to the conclusion that the bipartite system has been broken for too long," he told a full ballroom. "The level of polarization and political revenge has reached a level where we are on the watch as a country."
Schultz criticized many Democratic proposals as unrealistic, claiming that the candidates lived in a fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". He said taxes should be increased, but he would not say how much. He would leave that to "people much smarter than me."
He posed the question of whether he supported the right to abortion to say that he was doing it before turning speechless toward religion.
"The country is ready for a Jewish president. I do not present myself as a Jew, I present myself as an American who happens to be Jewish. "
He stood up against socialism, even though he had trouble defining it at one point.
"For us, starting to move towards a level of socialism is an extreme position and at odds with the values and legacy of this country," he said. "And that's what Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders propose – to try to defeat Donald Trump with an extreme proposal."
If one or the other is the candidate, he said, Trump will be reelected.
With the Democrats represented by a donkey and the Republicans by an elephant, it was asked which animal he wanted to represent him. He shrugged, saying that he was open to suggestions.
"Unicorn!" Shouted someone in the audience.
Interviews with nearly a dozen conference participants during their vaping, scooter landing and cappuccino ordering suggest that the race is, for the moment, very open. Few people have named a favorite.
"This conference is so socially conscious of itself and is trying to make things more impactful," said 34-year-old commercial director Will Johnson in Los Angeles. "I have trouble trusting the political agenda. It does not say where we are now. If feels like he's talking to something that was once. It's a show. I am sick of the show without any result. "
Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) And O'Rourke intrigue him, largely because he is ready for the generational change.
"I felt Bern," he said. "But now, it's like ahhhh – I do not know, man."
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