Sen. Bernard Sanders likens his bold vision to President John F. Kennedy’s push to put a man on the moon.

CORALVILLE, Iowa | Sen. Bernard Sanders likens his bold vision to President John F. Kennedy’s push to put a man on the moon.
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden casts himself as the safest bet to defeat President Trump.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts makes sure voters know that her older, beer-drinking brothers are supporting her in Oklahoma.
The 2020 presidential candidates are drilling home those closing pitches to voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses over the television airwaves competing with ads for dog food, all-you-can-eat pancake specials and cold-and-flu medicine.
“I’m a registered Republican,” one of Ms. Warren’s brothers says in her ad. “I will vote for her, of course.”
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is on TV called for an end to “corporate greed,” reversing “the inaction on climate change” and stopping “endless wars.”
“It’s time to turn the page from a Washington experience paralyzed by the same old thinking, polarized by the same old fights, to a bold vision for the next generation,” Mr. Buttigieg says in an ad. “We need to break from the old politics and unify this nation.”
The 2020 Democratic hopefuls have funneled more than $61 million into TV advertising in Iowa, according to Advertising Analytics.
“Take a look around you to find someone you don’t know, maybe someone that doesn’t look like you,” Mr. Sanders says in one of his closing ads. “Are you willing to fight for that person as you are willing to fight for yourself?
“If you and millions of others are prepared to do that, not only will we win this election, but we will transform this country,” the Vermont senator says.
Mr. Biden says he is Mr. Trump’s worst nightmare.
“This is no time to take a risk, we need our strongest candidate, so let’s nominate the candidate Trump fears the most — vote Biden, beat Trump,” the narrator says in a Biden campaign ad.
Billionaire Tom Steyer has led the ad spending, putting $17.5 million into ads, followed by Mr. Sanders at $11 million and Mr. Buttigieg at $10.2 million.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Ms. Warren have spent more than $6 million on their ad campaigns, while Mr. Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have invested around $4 million.
Mr. Yang is touting his outsider status.
“Here is what I don’t have: a lifetime stuck in the politics of Washington,” he says. “The hard truth is we won’t beat Donald Trump with what is coming out of Washington today: old ideas and angry rhetoric.”
Mr. Steyer tells the TV audience that he will expose Mr. Trump as a “fraud and a failure” by taking on his claim that he is a billionaire businessman who is good for the economy.
“I will remind him I am an actual billionaire with a B, he is a fake billionaire with a capital C for conman, crook and criminal,” Mr. Steyer says in one spot.
“He is running on the economic recovery President Obama started and instead of using it to raise wages, improve infrastructure, lower healthcare costs and fight climate change, he is giving it all way to rich corporations. In short, he is a fraud on the economy — always has been, always will be.”
Outside super PACs also have jumped into the action.
The group Unite Our Country has been running pro-Biden ads. Mr. Sanders, meanwhile, has been on the receiving end of attack ads from the Democratic Majority for Israel and the Club for Growth that question his ability to beat Mr. Trump and cast him as too old and too liberal.
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