The Gazette uses Instaread to provide audio versions of its articles. Some words might not be spoken correctly.
DES MOINES Donald Trump, who allowed children to ride aboard his helicopter, swooped in. The butter cow was spotted by Hillary Clinton. Additionally, Bernie Sanders attracted a crowd so big that the Grand Concourse nearly collapsed.
Trump, Clinton, and Sanders all went to the Iowa State Fair on the same day ten years ago, on August 15, 2015.
In order to gain support from voters before the presidential precinct caucuses the next year, the main three were traveling to Iowa, including to the State Fair, as is customary for presidential contenders.
A wonderful and unforgettable day at the Iowa State Fair was made possible by the fact that all three of the candidates—who were at the time the biggest names in national politics—visited on the same day and at about the same time.
Journalist Ben Jacobs, who was then with The Guardian, remembered last week that his most vivid impression of that day was that it was a zoo.
According to Fair organizers, 115,959 people attended the event that day. On the first Saturday of that year, it was only the third day of the Fair. The sun was hot and dazzling.
Sanders packed the concourse
Only one of the three, Sanders, an Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont who was a Democrat seeking the presidency, took part in the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox. The enthusiasm for Sanders’ candidacy was evident throughout the Fairgrounds during the first of his two presidential campaigns.
The crowd of people observing Sanders actually spread out over the Grand Concourse, making it challenging to go on foot.
A political revolution, single-payer health care, criminal justice reform, tuition-free education, and addressing wage and income inequality were among the demands Sanders made in what by that time had become his well-known stump speech.
Clinton and Sanders also walked around the Fairgrounds.
Clinton attempted a typical Fair walkabout
The pool reporter assigned to cover Clinton at the Fair that day was Jacobs, who now works for Politico. The assignment was completely crazy, he said.
Jacobs claimed that she was being followed throughout the fairgrounds by Secret Service personnel, employees, news cameras, and myself, of course. For someone who had been a household name for 25 years, it was an attempt to get as close to traditional state fair politics as possible. I don’t know if it was effective.
Jacobs pool reports state that Clinton spent 90 minutes at the Fair, when she spoke with several Iowans, held a press conference with then-Iowa Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and got his endorsement, and took 42 photos, including several selfies, with fairgoers.
Clinton viewed the sculpture of the butter cow and the Monopoly theme that year. Jacobs pool reports state that she took three bites of a pork chop on a stick and a plastic cup of lemonade with her when she left the Fair.
Trump s helicopter buzzed his rivals
Trump made a sort of cameo in both Clinton’s and Sanders’ visits, with his helicopter buzzing overhead during the two Democratic Fair appearances.
Eight years later, in 2023, Trump will carry out a similar practice when his plane passed over the Iowa State Fair during an appearance by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another Republican presidential contender.
As reported by Lee Enterprises Des Moines Bureau, Sanders joked, “There’s Donald,” as the helicopter passed overhead while he was on the soapbox. We left the helicopter at home; I’m sorry. The garage is where it is. I neglected to bring it.
The only disruption during Clinton’s visit, according to Jacobs pool reports, was Trump’s chopper flying overhead as some fairgoers yelled Trump’s name.
According to Jacobs, the Trump helicopter stunt was already perceived as an odd novelty and undoubtedly loomed over everything. The day before, I recall a national reporter fumbling a question about it and clumsily asking Chuck Grassley, a Republican U.S. Senator from Iowa, if he had ever seen a helicopter.
“Trump made a grand entry aboard a helicopter that passed over the expansive fairgrounds before landing at a nearby softball field where the New York billionaire offered free rides to kids and answered reporters’ questions before being shuttled to the fairgrounds to peruse its offerings and mingle with the weekend crowd,” reported Rod Boshart, the then-chief of the Gazette Des Moines Bureau.
A flyover of Trump’s helicopter in a blatant display of sheer excess with a grand New York billionaire entrance briefly interrupted Bernie Sanders’ soapbox speech about the wealthiest 1 percent controlling the country, according to Boshart, who recalled the day as a time of such a stylistic contrast.
Jacobs recalled that everyone stopped and pointed during the Trump helicopter flyover, which was the only instance of the Fair where he could truly remember everything slowing down.
As time went forward, Jacobs observed, “perhaps we should have paid more attention at the time to the fact that the spectacle it presented halted a procession of literally dozens of people jammed in the middle of Grand Avenue by the Agriculture building.”
Trump, according to Boshart, wore white slacks and white shoes, which aren’t typically worn by those who know the fair area.
“I grew up on a livestock farm myself, so I thought his advance team really missed the mark by having him show up at this type of venue wearing white shoes,” Boshart said this week. “Trump seemed very much in his element greeting people and exuding showmanship everywhere he went.” When he kind of stepped in it by making a simple barnyard faux pas, it seemed to me that his man of the rural people persona that he was attempting to convey sounded hollow.
A remarkable day
As the 2016 Iowa caucuses approached, Trump, Clinton, and Sanders continued to be the front-runners.
After a close 1-2 finish in the Democratic Iowa caucuses, Clinton went on to become the first female presidential nominee to receive the candidacy of a major political party.
The first of Trump’s two terms in the White House came after he defeated Clinton in the general election, secured the Republican Party’s nomination, and lost the Republican Iowa caucuses to Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
And the previous summer, all three were at the Iowa State Fair for one amazing day.
Read the headline for the Washington Post’s report of that day’s events: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and mayhem at the Iowa State Fair. The New York Times headline read, “Excess in Iowa: 90, a Butter Cow, and Rides on Donald Trump’s helicopter.”
An already diverse scenario was made weird by the appearance of the three most well-known candidates for president at one of America’s largest country fairs, according to The Telegraph.
That day ten years ago, according to Boshart, who retired as the chief of The Gazette’s Des Moines bureau in 2021, “certainly stands out.”
He claimed that the entire day was such a singular spectacle that it nearly gave him Americana overload.
Comments: [email protected], (515) 355-1300
The about Iowa Politics email provides up-to-date information about Iowa politics and government every morning.
