Former US Representative and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney has been on the trail in Iowa for 18 months, visiting all 99 counties (Joshua Lott)

Dyersville (United States) (AFP) – If you build a political support operation early in Iowa, votes will come.

Such is the field-of-dreams mentality among America’s dynamic but lesser-known presidential candidates John Delaney and Andrew Yang.

They are unapologetic optimists who have been canvassing the early voting state for months and are deeply invested, both in time and money, in the 2020 race.

Lacking the name recognition of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and other heavyweights who may seek to challenge President Donald Trump, they are early birds running from behind, among the longest of long shots.

They have already made dozens of trips to Iowa, where fortunes are made — and dashed — in America’s fiery political cauldron. Each is convinced his gambit will pay off.

“We’re going to shock the world in 2020” by winning the Iowa caucus next February 3, declared technology entrepreneur Yang at a small town hall in Jefferson, where he explained his proposal for a universal basic income that would provide $1,000 per month to every American adult.

Yang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, says Trump was elected because America “automated away four million manufacturing jobs” in places like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa — states that Barack Obama won but Trump reclaimed in 2016.

While Yang and Delaney are often left out of the national 2020 conversation, they share a goal: convincing voters, often one at a time, that have what it takes to be president.

In separate interviews with AFP at Iowa campaign stops, each assured that they were unfazed about not yet registering on the national radar, insisting that striking a chord with Iowans is more important.

“If I win the Iowa caucus, every single person in the country is going to know who I am,” assured Delaney.

The former congressman and businessman from Maryland has been on the trail in Iowa for 18 months, visiting all 99 counties. 

He said he is “campaigning the old fashioned way,” meeting with voters in coffeehouses, town halls, meet-and-greets and living rooms, revealing what’s in his heart.

Delaney espouses many progressive priorities like creating a universal health care system, raising the minimum wage and modernizing the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

But he’s also selling political moderation and greater bipartisanship, including on stronger cooperation in Washington to address the looming threat to millions of jobs posed by robots and artificial intelligence.

“I’m an entrepreneur, and what entrepreneurs I think are good at is seeing not maybe what people see today but what they think is going to happen,” Delaney said.

– ‘Anybody’s game’ –

Hopefuls with more solid political pedigrees, such as senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, have already jetted in, while freshly declared candidates Senator Cory Booker and congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard arrive this week.

Biden and Sanders — two men who have not yet entered the race — are leading early polls.

But Iowa’s JD Scholten, who nearly ousted a veteran Republican last year in their fierce US House seat battle, said there are no clear favorites in the Democratic nomination race.

“It’s anybody’s game,” he told AFP at a Democratic Party dinner in Jefferson, northwestern Iowa.

“There are so many different voices out there now.”

For the past 47 years, since Iowa began voting first in the nominating process, it has been a place where those voices have gained a willing ear.

Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price recalled that two Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, were under-the-radar candidates in Iowa where their determination helped propel them to caucus victory and beyond.

“You don’t necessarily have to have the most money or the highest name ID to be successful in this race,” he said. 

“We’re going to give every candidate a fair shot, we’re going to give every candidate the opportunity to share their vision.”

Delaney has held more than 250 events across the state in 22 trips. Yang has visited eight times.

At the famed, snow-covered baseball diamond in Dyersville — where the 1989 movie Field of Dreams was filmed — 19-year-old Tucker La Belle said Iowa is as level a political playing field as there is.

“I think anyone has a shot here,” said the Clarke University communications major.

“People in Iowa are going to listen to you no matter what, and they’re going to give you that respect and time of day that you won’t get in other parts of the country.”

Iowans engage with lesser-known candidates with an enthusiasm and curiosity virtually unparalleled.

But the Delaney and Yang names drew blanks from many voters, including Dan Deutmeyer, a systems manager who grew up in Dyersville.

“Iowa does make one of the biggest decisions on who continues and who doesn’t,” he said.

“It’s the obscure and the unknowns sometimes who move forward and get elected.”

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