2016 Democratic movements busy in Iowa, too

CEDAR RAPIDS - Republicans, especially those who might be running for president next year, will grab the spotlight in Des Moines Saturday by participating in the Freedom Summit.

Iowa 4th District Rep. Steve King and Citizens United are hosting the gathering of potential candidates and folks who want to hear and meet them.

However, it's not only Republicans who are busy in Iowa laying the groundwork for 2016. Three draft organizations are active in Iowa supporting Hillary Clinton, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. None of the three has committed to running and Warren has repeatedly said she's not running.

Sanders is the only one who has been active in Iowa - active on his own behalf. Clinton and Warren campaign for U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley and others ahead of the midterm election.

Sanders is stoking interest and speculation that he will run in for president in 2016 by visiting Iowa four times for nine days since the 2012 election. He has drawn large, enthusiastic crowds in his earlier appearances at Democratic and union events.

Sanders has said he will announce whether he's running for president in March and, if he's in, will likely establish an independent presidential campaign organization that will succeed the current Run Bernie Run effort.

Sanders, who calls himself a Democratic socialist and is officially an independent, will be back in late February for events in Cedar Rapid, Iowa City, Des Moines, and Ames.

Warren's insistence that she's not a candidate didn't stop more than 100 Iowans from meeting in Des Moines to kick off the Run Warren Run effort. It hasn't stopped the draft movement from hiring paid staff and opening an office in Des Moines. Nationwide, more than 240,000 people have signed on to support the Run Warren Run campaign, which is being run by MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, the successor to Howard Dean's 2004 Dean for America campaign organization.

With a year until Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses, Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action says the idea is to show Warren 'she has the grass roots support necessary to mount a successful campaign, and thousands of Iowans are ready for her vision of giving everyone a fighting chance.”

Hillary Clinton has sent plenty of signals that she's planning to run, but so far has not opened an office or hired staffers in Iowa.

Ready for Hillary, an organization not affiliated with Clinton, has been busy 'building capacity,” according to former Cedar Rapids resident Tracy Sefl. A Democratic campaign strategist serving as a senior adviser to Ready for Hillary, Sefl said the group has been working to 'amass” volunteers and donors who will be ready to support the former first lady when she enters the race.

Over the summer, Ready for Hillary had several small gatherings to recruit supporters. Now the effort has shifted to what former Iowa legislator Tyler Olson of Cedar Rapids calls a 'friends and family” approach.

'There's no formal push to do events,” Olson said. 'I think there was some recognition that a part of the problem in 2008 was the top down nature of the campaign.”

Earlier events 'laid the groundwork in every county,” Sefl said. 'Now it's happening organically.”

Although there's much speculation about when Clinton will officially enter the race, Sefl doesn't know 'and I don't believe anyone who says they do.”

If - or when - she does jump into the race, Ready for Hillary will provider Clinton 'will have an unprecedented amount of human resources at her disposal,” Sefl said.