Biden lines up high-profile surrogates to campaign in Iowa

Former Vice President Joe Biden is dispatching some of his most prominent surrogates to Iowa in the home stretch to the state’s caucuses in less than a week.

Biden’s campaign announced Tuesday it’s sending 21 surrogates to crisscross the Hawkeye State and headline more than 100 events. The effort is part of the “Beat Trump Barnstorm” tour that will start Thursday and stretch through to Monday, the day of the caucuses.

The list of surrogates makes up the campaign’s A-list of supporters: members of the Obama administration, high-profile members of Congress, including members of Iowa’s House delegation, and more.

Among the surrogates blanketing Iowa are former Secretary of State John Kerry, former Secretary of Agriculture and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, and Democratic Reps. Cindy Axne (Iowa), Abby Finkenauer (Iowa), Seth Moulton (Mass.), Cedric Richmond (La.) and Tim Ryan (Ohio).

Surrogates will visit more than 30 counties across Iowa in the five-day tour, hitting major cities such as Ames, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Sioux City, Waterloo. They will host events such as canvass kickoffs and phone banks.

Biden himself will also be visiting 20 cities and 17 counties as part of his “Soul of the Nation” bus tour that runs through Sunday.

Several other top-tier candidates have unleashed high-profile surrogates of their own, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) deploying Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to the state on his behalf and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) campaigning with Jonathan Van Ness, the co-host of the hit Netflix show “Queer Eye.”

The campaigns’ full-court press in Iowa reflects the competitive nature of the caucuses there in the final days leading up to the race. 

The RealClearPolitics polling average in Iowa shows Sanders with a slim lead, buoyed by a rash of first-place finishes in recent surveys. However, Biden, Warren and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg all are within striking distance in the final week before caucusgoers hit the polls.