Campaign volunteers use the last hours to knock on doors and make calls; ‘we gotta get folks out’

DES MOINES, Iowa
Pete Buttigieg
pushed his supporters to astonish the political world at a field office Monday morning.
Joe Biden
brought boxes of pizza for his volunteers. And
Andrew Yang,
through bursts of laughter, told his backers to physically drag undecided Democrats to his side.Meanwhile, three other top Democratic presidential contendersSens.
Bernie Sanders,
Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobucharspent part of the day more than 1,000 miles away in Washington, D.C., for impeachment proceedings just hours before Iowans made their final decisions in caucuses that marked the first 2020 nominating contest.After nearly 60 Democratic presidential-campaign events across the state over the past three days alonein breweries, high-school gyms, coffee shops and arenasit was decision time Monday for many still-undecided Democrats.
Some Democrats who had yet to pick a candidate walked around a middle-school gym in Johnstonone of the caucus sitesMonday evening, as campaign volunteers tried to persuade them one by one.
The bleachers were divided into gathering areas for different candidates.
Christine Stone, a 53-year-old who is deciding between Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Warren, said it was her first time walking into a caucus site without knowing which candidate she would back. Eventually I will just know, she said.
Donald, 75, and Gleean Coates, 72, both retirees from Johnston, were doing some last-minute math to see which candidates would be viable.
Were really a tossup between [Tom] Steyer and Buttigieg, but it doesnt look like Steyer is gonna have enough to be valid, so well probably end up with Buttigieg, Mr. Coates said. Mr. Steyer is a billionaire long-shot candidate.
Ms. Coates agreed but then added: Im always torn because Ive been a Bernie fan for about 40 years so it makes it tough to not go with him.Im just afraid I want to pick somebody that everybody likes.
At a high school turned caucus site in Des Moines, the campaign signs were all about electability:
Bernie Beats Trump
Joe Biden Beats Trump
Win With Warren
At a West Des Moines field office for Mr. Buttigieg earlier in the day, organizers were trading advice on how to win over caucus-goers who were still mulling their choices.
Anthony Elarth, a training captain for the 38-year-old former South Bend, Ind., mayors campaign, told volunteers to reinforce the need for a new generation of leadership.
Howard County, Iowa, voted by more than 20 percentage points for Obama in 2012 and more than 20 percentage points for Trump in 2016. WSJs John McCormick sat down with a group of the countys voters to discuss their outlook on the 2020 election.
Mr. Buttigieg urged Mr. Elarth and others in the packed office to imagine that famous day the sun comes up and
Donald Trump
is no longer president, as he frequently tells crowds at his campaign events.
Richard Rarick, a retired architect from Des Moines, was one of the undecided Democrats who said he would make his final pick at the caucus site. Mr. Rarick, who stopped by Mr. Buttigiegs field office Monday, said he liked that the former mayor was young, enthusiastic and motivated, but added that he was leaning toward Mr. Sanders.

• The caucuses started at 7 p.m. local time (8 EST). The outcome will depend on many variables, including second choices.
• Candidates that dont reach a 15% threshold of voters in the first round of balloting will be deemed not viable in that precinct. Their supporters are then free to move to a new candidate in the second and final round.
• The Associated Press will call the race according to the results of the state delegate equivalents based on the second round.
• A winner could be declared by 11 p.m. EST.

Carrying boxes of pizza, Mr. Biden rode his campaign bus to a field office in Des Moines, where a sign posted to the front door declared, Its game time! Lets get Joe elected!
Im feeling good about today, the former vice president told a group of volunteers and campaign workers, as he thanked them for their work. We gotta get folks out.
Inside the office, Mr. Biden, who was joined by his wife, Jill, and some of his grandchildren, wore his trademark aviator sunglasses that have become a logo for his campaign. Paper cutouts of the sunglasses with 2020 in the lenses are often plastered on walls at his events.
Still in the Senate for impeachment proceedings, the senators in the presidential race didnt return to Iowa until Monday evening. But Ms. Warren, of Massachusetts, hosted a virtual town hall by telephonealso known as a tele town hallfrom Washington. More than 50,000 callers joined, according to a campaign aide.
Once she made it to Iowa, Ms. Warren showed up to take pictures with supporters and argue her case before a packed Des Moines gymnasium of her caucus-goersand those backing other candidates.
She stood behind a pack of Sanders supporters as she made her brief pitch.
A microphone system was glitchy because of Bluetooth issues, so Ms. Warren and other speakers had to use a megaphone.
We have an opportunity to build a party, to build an economy, to build a nation that leaves no one behind, Ms. Warren said. That should be the pride of the Democratic Party.
—Sabrina Siddiqui, Ken Thomas, Eliza Collins and Joshua Jamerson contributed to this article.
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Write to Tarini Parti at Tarini.Parti@wsj.com
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