About 15-hundred Democrats bought tickets for Saturday’s re-appearance of the Iowa “steak fry” tradition former Senator Tom Harkin hosted each fall. The afternoon event was held in a Des Moines park and opened with a “lightening-round” of brief speeches from 14 Democratic candidates who are running for governor or who are running in Iowa’s third congressional district. It closed with longer remarks from Democrats from Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts offering their thoughts on party revival in 2018 and beyond. Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio said the party is “at its best” when it focuses “like a laser beam” on “ordinary people.”
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The members of Congress at the event downplayed the idea their visits to Iowa were a prelude to running for president in 2020. Democrat Tom Hockensmith, a member of the Polk County Board of Supervisors, says he’s not keeping a 2020 scorecard yet.
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Hockensmith says party activists will begin paying closer attention early next year to the IOWA Democrats who are waging campaigns in 2018.