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But Senator Cory Booker, sitting in the seat of Scholten's Winnebago campaign, had other ideas. Armed with his iPhone, Booker turned it on when the landscape of Iowa erupted.
"What are you running for?" Booker asked from behind his phone. Scholten responded, while he was trying to keep an eye on the road, that he was running for Congress in the 4th Congressional District of Iowa against Republican Rep. Steve King. Booker stopped there.
"We only have 30 seconds to try," said the New Jersey Democrat, tapping on his phone and posting the first video of his story on Instagram. Booker publishes obsessive updates on his account, which has more than 400,000 subscribers.
This week, they were in the party with Booker during the election campaign in Iowa, during the third day of his first stint in the state, potential presidential candidate for 2020. Officially, the The visit aimed to strengthen Democrats like Scholten in preparation for the mid-term elections. But Booker also presented himself to donors and influential party activists who could make or break a presidential campaign in the key caucus.
Other Democrats have also been fighting for a place of choice in the party's invisible primaries, in Iowa and elsewhere. Former Vice President Joe Biden planned this week to travel to South Carolina, another main state. Senator Bernie Sanders will travel to Iowa later this month to campaign for Scholten and others. Senator Elizabeth Warren has launched a fundraising appeal for her supporters on behalf of Cindy Axne, Democrat Democratic Democrat David Young in Iowa. And the list goes on and on.
Booker, 49, is no stranger to the state of Hawkeye. He has roots in Iowa, as he often stressed during his visit: his maternal grandmother was born in Des Moines and he still has family in the area, including his grandmother 99-year-old Alma, who was in the audience last time. Saturday. Booker's mother and a handful of cousins and other members of his family also cheered. The next day, the clan had planned to meet at Des Moines, away from the light of the media.
Republicans have also noticed that Senator John Cornyn would be reprimanding Booker during a hearing: "Running for president is not an excuse for breaking the rules of the Senate."
This did not stop Booker from getting away from the Senate, where legislators voted shortly to confirm Kavanaugh, on a plane bound for Des Moines, high spot of election for many presidential candidates. Booker presented a major fundraising dinner for the Democratic Party of Iowa, during which he led a group therapy session for more than 1,000 donors and activists still reeling from Kavanaugh's confirmation. .
"It was almost like I needed this fellowship," Booker said a few days later in the RV. "The spirit, the energy of a whole bunch of people who said," No matter what happened in Washington, we're not going to snuggle here, we're not going to s & # To lock up here. We are not going to give up here in Iowa. "
On the road in Iowa
Booker was certainly not closing in Iowa. During his brief road trip with Scholten, he took over the role of DJ, singing every song at the top of his voice. The reading list started with "Sioux City Sue", also called RV Scholten; continued with "Born To Run", a nod to New Jersey; and then in "American Pie", inspired by the plane crash in the district of Scholten that killed the famous musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, known as The Big Bopper.
"Everyone, the chorus! Come on, I can not hear!" Booker screamed, swiveling his iPhone to capture his chief of staff, Matt Klapper, chanting timidly.
"Baby, we are born to run! Born to run, J.D.! Agree, I went on the highway in Iowa!"
Between the songs, Booker continues his interview on Instagram with Scholten. "Can we talk a little about the fate of Iowa farmers?"
Booker's role as a popular substitute for Hillary Clinton brought him to Iowa in 2016, where he impressed the state's democrats. He remembered being seated in a restaurant with Clinton, being talked to with the waitress and being reminded of his home country.
"It could be the Midwest, I grew up in the Northeast," said Booker, "but people are people."
Booker has since continued to cultivate his network in the state of Hawkeye. He spoke at the Iowa delegation's breakfast at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. His remarks "had members standing up and literally roared to give their approval," the Monks' register reported. l & # 39; era. During this election cycle, Booker endorsed candidates and, in a few cases, sent staff to work on their campaigns.
And he strengthened his skills in a key area of Iowa, farming – after visiting farms in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, along with a bill he was sponsoring to put in place. a moratorium on large farm mergers.
Asked by a reporter how the New Jersey legislature could understand rural issues, Booker said, "We have a large farming community, we are in Garden State, I do not know if I need to bring you a tomato from New Jersey, let you know how good our products are. "
The sum of the rhetoric and Booker's actions would suggest that he is actively preparing for a presidential candidacy in 2020. In a recent interview given to New York Magazine, Booker acknowledged that he thought about it. "Of course, I will consider the presidency," he said. "It would be irresponsible not to do it."
Back on the camper, he did not want to discuss his decision schedule, saying that he was "spending all my energy, all my effort to focus on the next 30 days", during which time he will continue his campaign. Democrats across the country.
"I'm going to Ohio, Florida, in many other states, I'm going back to Jersey for (Sen) Bob Menendez," said Booker. "And that's where I focus 100% – we can talk about 2019 and 2020 after that."
Trump zeros on Booker
President Donald Trump, for one, does not expect to talk about it after targeting Booker as one of the Democrats who stand perhaps between him and who is reelected for a second term.
"Take a look at Cory Booker," Trump said at an event at the White House last week. "He crushed Newark, New Jersey, on the floor, he was a horrible mayor, and he said that when he was in high school or at university, what he was doing – he actually made the statements, and now he's talking about Judge Kavanaugh. "
Booker responded this week by trying not to answer, saying that he had "nothing personal against this president".
"If he wants to attack me personally, he can," Booker said. "If he wants to attack my criminal record, the reality is that the citizens of the state of New Jersey who elected me to the statewide are very proud of the the work that I have done, the change we brought to Newark, the transformation taking place in our city. "
"It's not about the president, it's not about me," Booker continued. "I will never let him pull me down enough to hate him, I will continue to be a voice in this country for love, to rally the nation, not to separate it."
It is unclear whether such a message of "love" will resonate among Democrats at the time of Trump, with many activists urging the party to fight the president's fire. Lawyer Michael Avenatti is part of the advocates of a more aggressive tactic, claiming at a recent event in Vanity Fair that if Democrats "have to crawl into the gutter with that person, that's all." what we have to do. "
"You will not beat Donald Trump with a universal message of love," said Avenatti. "This guy is going to eat you alive."
But Booker is not in agreement.
"Listen, I'm angry, I'm hurt, I'm upset about what's going on and how the real people in America, the workers, are being treated," said Booker. "But the way you counter it is not to embody the tactics of those people you do not want to be in. So the president could try to divide people, I think we, the Democrats, should try to to unite them. "
"And so I do not know if it is a winning political message or not," he added, "but I will always talk about trying to unify this country," he said. try to get together. "
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