Joe Biden launched an eight-day bus tour of Iowa on Saturday projecting confidence, ignoring his many Democratic presidential competitors and pledging that he will unseat President Donald Trump in 2020.
The former vice president pledged first to win the February 3 Iowa caucuses, despite recent polls suggesting his standing there has slipped in recent months.
"I promise you, I promise you," Biden told a few hundred supporters outside his Council Bluff campaign office, "we're going to win this race, and we're going to beat Donald Trump, and we're going to change America."
In rural Denison, Iowa, Vilsack touted Biden as the best option for any Democrat, regardless of ideology. "You can't do any of that unless you win," he said of candidates' various policy pitches. "You've gotta win."
Another Biden volunteer, Phyllis Hughes Ewing, said outside media underappreciated Biden's appeal. "I'm on the phones with voters two nights a week for several hours at a pop," she said. "I'm a boot on the ground...and everyone has good things to say about Joe."