Potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton walked among the booths selling funnel cakes and corn dogs at the Iowa State Fair, trailed by a massive pack of media and onlookers. Possible Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s helicopter circled the fairgrounds in the air above.
That is as close as Clinton and Trump’s massive entourages came on Saturday at the state fair, a rite of passage for any presidential candidate in the Midwestern state whose caucuses in February next year are set to lead off state-by-state nominating contests.
The respective party front-runners each drew large crowds of gawkers as Clinton sampled a pork chop on a stick and Trump gave rides to children on his helicopter emblazoned with his last name.
Photo: Bloomberg
“Nice to be here!” Clinton said as she started an hour-long stroll across the fairgrounds.
Former Iowa senator Tom Harkin, who endorsed her this week, accompanied her. Everywhere Clinton walked, large crowds followed her hoping to get a photograph, a handshake or a quick hello.
Trump, who despite making waves this summer amid a crowded Republican field is still considered a longshot for the Republican nomination, later made a grand entrance, landing his helicopter in an athletics field about 1.5km away.
He offered rides on the aircraft to children before he came onto the grounds. Almost immediately Trump was crushed by massive crowds seeking photos, handshakes and yelling encouragement. The pandemonium followed him around for about an hour before he hopped on a golf cart and was driven away.
“This is beyond what I expected. This is amazing,” Trump said. “It’s been a day of love.”
Both Trump and Clinton avoided getting up on The Des Moines Register’s “soapbox,” a place where candidates can deliver remarks and take questions from fairgoers. A candidate can be cheered or jeered, depending on the mood of the crowd and whether supporters or opponents are on hand.
In 2011 then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared from the soapbox that “corporations are people, my friend,” a line that dogged the former private equity executive during his 2012 campaign.
The front-runners were not the only ones seeking Iowans’ support. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has become Clinton’s chief rival and has drawn tens of thousands to his rallies, pitched his policies to counter economic inequality from The Des Moines Register’s soapbox, while former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who narrowly won the Iowa caucuses in 2012, donned a red embroidered apron to flip pork burgers over sizzling grills.
The state fair typically draws about 90,000 people daily during its 11-day run every summer, giving presidential candidates the perfect opportunity to meet potential supporters for Iowa’s caucuses which play a pivotal role in winnowing the presidential field.
In the agriculture building, Clinton walked past plates of carrots, beetroot and large cabbages and peered at a pair of the fair’s famous butter statues — a cow and a tribute to the board game Monopoly.
Trump took questions from reporters before he came to the fairgrounds and aimed barbs at fellow candidates while touting his place atop the Republican polls. He said he was rejecting campaign contributions from wealthy donors and was prepared to spend up to US$1 billion on his campaign.
Trump has been criticized for not detailing his policy positions, but on Saturday he said he would soon release a policy paper on immigration.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of