Jonathan Martin: Rob Sand Is the Last Statewide Democrat Left in Iowa

EXCERPT:

MARTIN: "Well, he’s the last statewide Democrat left, Willie, in Iowa. This is a state that Obama carried twice, historically has been a battleground state, but obviously has gone for Trump three times and tilted quite a bit to the Republican Party. And so he’s really Democrats, you could say, last best hope. He happens to be running in a really good national environment. Still, the party has not won the governorship there in 20 years. So Rob Sanders, 44 years old, he’s the state auditor, is giving them an opportunity. And you can hear, Willie, in his words there, that he’s very deft at playing what I call the politics of defense. He knows he’s trying to win an away game and he’s got to do this pox on both houses, 'I don’t love my own party either, but you gotta pick one,0 which obviously is what you have to do to win over Trump voters in a place like Iowa. I asked him a couple of things. I asked him, would you want to campaign with Joe Biden or Kamala Harris? He didn’t mince words. He said, 'No, let’s move on.' I said, which governors, Willie, do you emulate? He gave me two Republican governors before I finally said, 'Are there any Democratic governors out there you admire?' And he obviously finally spit out one.”