WATERLOO, Iowa — On the penultimate day of his Iowa caucus campaign, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., distilled his campaign message to a plea to Democrats: Let’s get over the fights that divided the party in 2016.
Mr. Buttigieg, as he’s been doing since Thursday, drew a gentle contrast with the Iowa front-runners, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
But his invocation of the bitter 2016 fight between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton was a warning to not let a binary Biden-Sanders battle to overwhelm the party’s broader goal of removing President Trump from office.
“We’ve all seen some of the tensions that are emerging from some of those who share the same values,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “The less 2020 resembles 2016 in our party and our country, the better. It’s time to do something different.”
He added: “I think no matter which side of the fighting in 2016 you were on, there was a tremendous amount of frustration about what it led to and where we are and a sense of awareness that at the end of the day we’ve got to be united, not only around what we’re against but what we’re for.
“The vision, not just the philosophical vision, but really the policy vision of the different folks competing in this campaign is much more aligned than you would think based on the tone that in particular the online political space has taken.”
At the National Cattle Congress Electric Park Ballroom, a classic Iowa venue where Buddy Holly once played before his fatal plane crash just west of here in Clear Lake, Mr. Buttigieg and his surrogates argued that the 38-year-old was both a change agent with “new ideas” and a throwback to a time when politicians of opposing parties worked together.
“Those were times when people got along they listened to each other, things weren’t so polarized,” Bill Dotzler, an Iowa state senator, said of Mr. Holly’s time. “Mayor Pete is a person who can bring us back because he listens to everyone.”
DES MOINES — Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, a prominent supporter of the Bernie Sanders campaign, apologized on Saturday for urging a crowd the night before to boo Hillary Clinton.
“I am so incredibly in love with the movement that our campaign of #NotMeUs has created. This makes me protective over it and frustrated by attempts to dismiss the strength and diversity of our movement,” Ms. Tlaib said in a series of tweets. “However, I know what is at stake if we don’t unify over one candidate to beat Trump, and I intend to do everything possible to ensure that Trump does not win in 2020.”
She added: “In this instance, I allowed my disappointment with Secretary Clinton’s latest comments about Senator Sanders and his supporters to get the best of me. You all, my sisters-in-service on stage, and our movement deserve better. I will continue to strive to come from a place of love and not react in the same way of those who are against what we are building in this country.”
The incident happened Friday evening at an event in Clive, Iowa, after the moderator, Dionna Langford, brought up Mrs. Clinton’s recent assertion that “nobody likes” Mr. Sanders. When some people in the audience booed, Ms. Langford tried to quiet them: “No, we’re not going to boo,” she said. “We’re classy here.”
Ms. Tlaib then cut in, saying: “No, I’ll boo. Boo! You all know I can’t be quiet. No, we’re going to boo. That’s our right. The haters will shut up on Monday when we win.”
BETTENDORF, Iowa — An overflow crowd in a bike shop greeted Senator Amy Klobuchar Saturday morning on the first day of her jetsetting trip around Iowa, powered by a chartered plane to get to the four corners of the state.
The senator diverted from her small stage in the brewery to separately address the overflow room, giving a (very) condensed version of her stump speech. But part of her pitch to Iowans was a look ahead, past the caucuses.
“I’ve got the endorsement of every single major newspaper in New Hampshire that has put out an endorsement,” she told the crowd, while also proclaiming that this January was the best fund-raising month of her entire campaign.
Taking note of the surroundings, with dozens of bikes hanging from the ceiling and bike racks offering a place to lean for the waiting crowd, Ms. Klobuchar spoke of an old hobby.
“I used to be a big cyclist,” she said from a set of stairs leading to a second floor showroom.
She spoke of one bike trip that she took from Minnesota to Wyoming. But the nostalgia quickly turned to a pitch to voters.
“That just shows you the grit I bring to this stage,” Ms. Klobuchar said.
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — Last fall, Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign aides insisted that he didn’t need to win the leadoff caucus state. Amid a major winter press here, Mr. Biden told reporters, “I’m running to win.” And on Saturday morning, in the final push before the caucuses, Mr. Biden’s campaign aimed to set a fresh set of expectations: He’ll be “competitive,” and he’s not going anywhere, whatever happens in Iowa.
“The VP remains in a strong position to perform well in the first four states and on Super Tuesday, but we’re also planning for an extended process into the summer,” read a fund-raising email. “As we’ve said for several weeks, we see a tight race in Iowa and New Hampshire. With a small number of delegates awarded in those contests, it’s highly possible there will be a small delegate differential among the top candidates on February 4 and February 12.”
The note went on to stress Mr. Biden’s strengths in the diverse later-voting primary contests, including South Carolina and states with significant African-American populations — a core part of Mr. Biden’s base — that vote on Super Tuesday. Yet privately, some of Mr. Biden’s allies have acknowledged the threat that former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York could pose in Super Tuesday states, where he is concentrating his campaign with virtually unlimited resources.
On Friday night, as he campaigned in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Mr. Biden acknowledged to a CNN reporter that the margins here will matter, as he competes in an uncertain and fluid race.
“Let’s say everybody comes out of here with, you know, 19, 20, 21 and 22 percent,” he said. “Well, it’s essentially a tie. And so everybody goes to the next stop. If you come out here, somebody’s 25 and you’re at 12, you know, well then you’re done — in terms of Iowa.”
Then he laid out his own view of his path, saying that he has a “great firewall in South Carolina. I think we’re in a position where I think we’ll do very well in Nevada, I think it’s gonna be a real uphill race as it always is for a non-New Englander in New Hampshire. And I think it’s gonna be just a toss-up here.”
Privately, his team had been more upbeat in the first weeks of January here than they had been for much of the fall. Yet on the ground, Mr. Biden still appears to face organizational challenges and smaller crowds than many of his rivals, even as he has led some polls here in the final weeks, setting up a highly uncertain final stretch for his campaign.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts rallied supporters at a local Des Moines brewery late Friday night, in a surprise visit only possible after she arrived late from Washington and the Senate impeachment trial.
Ms. Warren’s campaign schedule had been upended by the impeachment proceedings, and she could not attend an event earlier that evening. Instead, her husband announced at the event that Ms. Warren would take pictures with rallygoers across the street at a local bar, if supporters were inclined to wait. Hundreds packed the brewery in anticipation.
When Ms. Warren arrived, she addressed the crowd in short remarks, before holding the selfie line that has become a staple of all of her events.
“Over this year, you’ve made me a better candidate and you’ll make me a better president,” she said.
Ms. Warren thanked her campaign co-chairs, Representatives Deb Haaland of New Mexico, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, and Katie Porter of California.
The women have been among Ms. Warren’s chief surrogates as she’s been stuck in Washington, and they headlined the event earlier in the evening, which took place across the street.
“They prove kickass women win,” Ms. Warren said to cheers.
CLINTON, Iowa — Every so often, Pete Buttigieg gets an out-of-left field question from an Iowa Democrat that’s not about how he’d beat President Trump or what he’d do to improve people’s health care.
On Friday afternoon at the Clinton Masonic Center, at the third of his four town hall events of the day, a man stood up and asked the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., to look inside himself and reveal “a moment that you felt vulnerable or you felt exceptionally human.”
“Well, it’s a really profound question,” Mr. Buttigieg replied. “The funny thing about being a candidate is it can really inflate your ego and cut you down to size, sometimes in the very same day.”
He then told a story that began, he said, about 10 months ago when he was first transforming from an also-ran to a first-tier candidate in the crowded Democratic presidential contest.
“People started to come up to me in airports and on the street,” he said. “I was on a flight, heading for somewhere in New Hampshire, and a lady standing next to me waiting to get on the plane looked at me.”
The woman, Mr. Buttigieg said, said she recognized him from somewhere. He wanted to help her remember, he said, but stopped himself.
“Then she said, ‘I know, you work for CNN!’” he said, to much laughter from the Clinton crowd of about 300 people.
Mr. Buttigieg said he replied: “I said, ‘Well, not quite. I’m running for president.”
The woman from the story, Mr. Buttigieg said, came to one of his New Hampshire events a few months later and is now a devoted supporter of his campaign.
DES MOINES — The Iowa caucuses are only two days away, and with the Senate impeachment trial adjourned for the weekend, the top candidates are all on the ground, sprinting to the finish line.
Here is a sampling of the events the candidates have planned:
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Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be holding “community events” in North Liberty, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.
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Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will be holding a rally in Indianola and a concert in Cedar Rapids.
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Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has rallies scheduled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Davenport. Two top surrogates — Representative Ayanna Pressley and the former presidential candidate Julián Castro — will join her for part of the day.
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Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., has rallies in Waterloo, Oelwein, Dubuque, Anamosa and Cedar Rapids.
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Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is holding “get out the caucus” events in Bettendorf, Sioux City, Cedar Falls and Des Moines.
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The entrepreneur Andrew Yang has town hall-style events in Fort Dodge, Carroll and Boone, a couple of canvass launches, and an evening rally in Des Moines.
The Times has reporters and photographers at most of these events. Check back here throughout the day for updates from the trail and other developments in the race.