afghanistan and the self-defeating invasion of iraq. it is in short the difference between normandy and saigon. cnn s phil mattingly live on the scene of that speech in bloomington, indiana. phil, what other big takeaways did you get from this. reporter: there s really dual purposes, first and foremost to feel what the buttigieg campaign is a vacuum on foreign policy. all the senators and congressmen laying out expansive domestic programs, expansive domestic ideas with foreign policy has been a second fiddle here. pete buttigieg today in an hour-long speech laid out an expansive view of things and the other reason for that is concerns that have been raised about the fact that a 37-year-old somewhat small town mayor is actually ready for this position. those were the dual reasons for giving the speech. it was a lengthy critique of the trump administration, no question about it calling for the repeal of the authorization
pennsylvania. but this is one of the advantages of incumbency which you have the playing field to yourself and you can look at your potential opponents and say, all right had. i think joe biden is going to be the guy so i m going to spend the next six months trying to damage him. if the race shifts on the democratic side he can go after who he thinks his next most likely opponent is. where s the sweet spot if you re the biden trump coming after you helps you because it makes the case that i m most electable? look, he s worried about me and if you re trump and think biden is the strongest candidate and you want to weaken him. do you weaken him? the man challenge is democratic vote remembers. if donald trump is attacking joe biden, does it eventually sink in when he says he doesn t have the energy, he doesn t get the crowds, you know, he s not on your side? this is like trump casting about for what the right attack line against biden will be. it s very possible that he ll stumble u
county, but he s not working as hard as some of the other candidates so, of course, he s trying to prove it a he s the man or candidate who can beat president trump. president trump, of course, here for a reason as el, raising money for state republicans here tonight. they want to keep this state red, and iowa has been trending republican in state and local elections as well, so a tough state for democrats, but the former vice president reminds people he was on that ticket, too, in 08 and 12, the obama/biden counties. i m not sure if we ll ever get mr. zeleny back. enjoy your days in iowa, jeff. with me in studio to share their reporting, julie pace with the associated pass, tomorrow rah keith with npr, karoun demargian and the washington post s nia-malika henderson. there s 22 other democrats in the race. his lead in iowa is there but it s not there and if you look at the numbers and he s at risk. he wants to say these are all
about more structural changes. and to the point about being, a, about trump, but, b, almost a more centrist and prague make the democrat is the case he wants to make. iowa democrats, if you go out to talk to him. they get this because they lived, and if you watch the state, it s a small electoral prize but the democrats in 2018 flipped the congressional districts. it was 3-1 republicans and now it s 3-1 democrats. go back to the 2016 elections, trump wins 39 of the 99 counties in the state and you say how does that happen? biden thinks he can undo it, right, with more of an incrementalist message. not a big structural change message like someone with bernie sanders sanders or even elizabeth warren. like you said, sort of a nostalgia for those eight year, a nostalgia for the way obama and biden comported themselves in office and talking directly to those voters who flipped from obama/bide ento trump. it s not clear if this is going to work though, sort of a shaming shows voters sa
we need to get tough with china. they are a serious challenge to us and in some areas a real threat. every single step that donald trump is taking is only exacerbating the problem. you bet i m worried about china if we keep following trump s path. that s definitely cleanup on china. what he needs to do is convince people that tall trump is doing is talking about trade, that the actual actions aren t just going to backfire and hurt you, but he can t appear to be weak on trade. we had reporters across iowa and in other states talking to what trump calls the patriot farmers, and you do hear from some of these nokes who will be directly negatively impacted by some of these tariff policies, they are happy that trump is taking the fight to china. they know that they are going to be hurt and they still want him to be acting in this way and that s tough. and the challenge is to keep them as they go through another planting season, another borrowing season, and if this