NEWS

In dueling rallies, Clinton and Trump make their case to Iowans

Jason Noble
jnoble2@dmreg.com

Cedar Rapids, Ia. – Joel Katcher is an Iowa everyman in a bomber jacket and a Fair-Isle sweater.

The Cedar Rapids small business owner has been registered as a Democrat, a Republican and a no-party independent this year, and set out Friday to lock down his choice in the 2016 presidential race by attending dueling rallies here for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump.

Clinton met her crowd of supporters on an outdoor plaza in the city’s NewBo neighborhood early Friday afternoon, drawing an estimated 2,000 for a rally aimed at turning out female voters. Trump appeared about six hours later, meeting a raucous crowd of about 5,000 at a riverfront amphitheater electrified by new developments in the federal investigation into Clinton’s private email server.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both held events in Cedar Rapids Friday Oct. 28, 2016.

Katcher, 51, said he entered both events undecided in the race and generally dismayed by the choice between what he called two “flawed candidates.”

“I don’t like Trump. Personally, I don’t respect him,” he said. “Some of the allegations, some of the things he’s said, I think they’re completely wrong.”

But he’s just as concerned about Clinton’s policy views. As the owner of a small healthcare staffing company Katcher opposes the Affordable Care Act’s insurance coverage mandates – which Trump has pledged to repeal – and fears the impact of the $12-an-hour minimum wage favored by Clinton.

“I don’t like him personally but I like his policies probably better than hers,” he said.

If Katcher’s perspective is unique, it’s because he’s still undecided when most voters have made their choice and many have already cast a ballot. Even so, his ambivalence on Trump and Clinton closely reflects the mood of the state as a whole.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows Iowans dead-evenly split on the presidential race, with 44 percent backing Clinton and 44 percent supporting Trump. Eighty-eight percent of Republicans are for Trump; 88 percent of Democrats are for Clinton.

But independents are split 40-40 between the two.

That razor-thin polling almost certainly explains why both candidates visited the state Friday – and why they chose Cedar Rapids. Linn County is seen as a critical bellwether, with closely divided politics and several competitive down-ballot races.

At her event, Clinton took the case for her candidacy and the case against Trump’s directly to the women in the crowd. Flanked by two female candidates and a slate of national women’s political activists, she ripped into Trump’s statements and treatment of women.

“Throughout this campaign, actually throughout his life, Donald Trump has demeaned and insulted women,” Clinton said, raising allegations of sexual assault against Trump as well as his denials, in which he suggested the women weren’t attractive enough to be assaulted.

“This is a man who relishes making women feel terrible about themselves,” Clinton said. “In every possible way, he’s someone who thinks belittling and objectifying women makes him a bigger man.”

Jessica Mohling, 32, of Swisher, attended the rally with her 3-month-old son, whom she carried in a sling across her chest. She said she appreciated Clinton’s support for expanded family-leave policies – and worried just as much at the prospect of Trump in the White House.

“It’s really scary, honestly. I can’t imagine,” Mohling said, motioning to her son. “He’s not even four months old. We didn’t plan to bring him into a Donald Trump presidency. It’s not even funny. It’s just scary.”

Clinton’s rally here got underway just as news was breaking of a renewed federal investigation into the candidate’s handling of confidential information during her tenure as secretary of state. By the time Trump took the stage at 8:45 p.m., it was the dominant news of the day.

And he wasted no time raising it from the podium, drawing passionate chants of “lock her up!” as he opened his speech with the news and proclaimed that the FBI’s action represents a “disaster” for Clinton but “justice for the country.”

“The investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate, and it’s everybody’s hope that justice at last can be delivered,” Trump said, adding, “The FBI would never have reopened this case at this time unless it were a most egregious criminal offense.”

Trump went on to cast himself as a one-time insider turned political outsider who would “drain the swamp” on Washington, D.C., if elected on Nov. 8.

“We are just 11 days away from the change you’ve been waiting for your entire life.

Bob Wallace, 56, standing at the stage-right railing as the Trump rally began, said he trusted the candidate and aligned with him on most issues. That support is only bolstered, he said, by his distrust for Clinton.

Wallace, an injection molder from Belle Plaine, welcomed the newly announced investigation, saying he believed Clinton’s handling of email as Secretary of State and the investigation that followed amounted to “criminal activity.”

“I can’t believe people would vote for her. I really just can’t believe there’s people who will still vote for her,” he said. “I don’t understand it. It amazes me.”

After the Clinton event, Katcher, the undecided business owner, was unmoved by the candidate’s argument.

“Sounds like a lot of promises,” he said. “She mentioned raising the minimum wage and providing basically free college – and she’s just going to make the rich people pay for it all.”

After the Trump event – after hearing the candidates pitch their plans in person and amid the day’s revelations – he’d all but made up his mind.

“He’s talking about plans that are going to help Iowa,” Katcher said. “I was absolutely planning on voting for Hillary at the start of this whole election season. Never in my wildest imagination did I think I’d be voting for Trump. But I think that’s the way I’m going to  vote.