Monday: Democratic race opens • Contestants choose to concentrate on Trump instead of themselves • And President? He stole the show • Biden for "Israel Today": "I will work hard and win"

The state of Iowa knows that every four years they are under the spotlight. I land here in Des Moines, where there are about 200,000 people. This is my first time in this Midwestern country, and it feels like another world. The city is already indifferent to the army of journalists who landed here from around the world. Prices, even if they are far from Washington, New York and Los Angeles, are rising at this time of year. Everyone is recruited, no vacation, not in hotels or restaurants.

All hotel rooms are occupied. In frozen Iowa, the Democratic presidential race will begin this Monday. A small state that does not represent the United States (91% white) and also the number of people in it is small. Therefore, its electoral number in the general election is low. But tradition is tradition, and that's where the race starts in the election system. There are no polls, there are electoral constituencies.

Bernie Sanders in "Sixth Democratic Conflict" // Photo: Reuters

Because Trump is running for a second term, the Republican-run primaries are only on record and his candidacy is guaranteed. But for Democrats, there is a real war. And this is the pre-war war, which will be like the defamatory fight between Trump and Clinton in 2016, and a little more.

This is a battle that is going to be the battle for the face and image of American society in the next decade, and the Democrats will have to do the impossible: to win a presidential presidency while the economy breaks records and while they themselves are fundamentally at odds.

Trump did not wait for Monday. On Thursday, after his success in bringing thousands to a Democratic rally in New Jersey, he decided to steal the show for Democrats and held a huge rally in Iowa. His goal was achieved: The front page of the Des Moines Register did not include a picture of the candidates, but of the president getting off the plane and headlining his promises to the small country in the Midwest. In general, Democrats appear to have shot themselves in the foot when they delayed the opening of his impeachment trial, which forced the four primaries running for primaries (Bernie Sanders, Amy Clocher, Michael Bennett and Elizabeth Warren) to be absent from the state at the crucial moments of the race and instead become part of the jury.

Election of Democrats' Conference // Photo: IPA

On Friday, the trial came to a crucial moment: Democrats failed to pass a resolution that would allow witnesses to be summoned, including former national security adviser John Bolton, whose numbers allegedly leaked details of Trump's involvement in "Ukraine-Gate." Meaning the failure of the Democratic move: The Trump trial will be held in the coming days, probably Wednesday. Trump is likely to be credited, as Republicans have a majority in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Trump chose to hold his rally at the Drake University campus complex. As usual with Trump, the crowd is coming to the referral. And Trump just like the 2016 election is not going to give gifts. "We're going to defeat the radical Democratic Socialists," Trump assured at the rally.

A somewhat puzzling Democrat's obsession with ousting Trump in the Senate. Are we not in elections?

"Don't count on themselves"

"They may not trust themselves," says Lara, a local young woman studying political science at the University of Iowa. "The madness surrounding the president's impeachment only transmits insecurity in themselves," she adds. For her, Trump will be the next president, but she is on the Democratic side of the country. Iowa has six electors, but is considered a key state. Twice gave her electorate to Barack Obama, but in 2016 Obama's "heiress", Hillary Clinton, suffered a severe downfall there and Trump won the electorate.

Photo: Reuters

The win in Iowa breathes life into the candidates and gives them a spotlight that sometimes makes the difference between dissipation and victory. John Kerry won a lifeline when he won out of nowhere in Iowa, which gave him the momentum for the rest of the race, until he won the nomination.

And now, Democratic candidates are choosing to concentrate on Trump instead of themselves. In his speech at an election rally, Joe Biden mentioned the president every 17 seconds (64 times in 19 minutes). Whereas Pete Bottige, the former mayor of South Bend in Indiana, has traveled here following Trump. He just skipped from station to station that Trump won. In the polls themselves, Sanders usually leads. "Who takes surveys seriously in America today?" Says Jason, who owns a small restaurant where I have morning coffee. "I see the survey and read it upside down." Jason also doesn't understand what Trump wants: "He's good for business."

"Israel Today" editor Boaz Bismuth in Iowa

180 miles from the capital of Iowa, Des Moines, the local "hysterical" school hosted U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is seeking to rise one stage in his resume and enter history not as Obama's vice president, but as U.S. president.

The hall chosen was not too big, and it was good. At most 200 supporters came to listen to him. Compared to Trump and his rallies, it's a drop in the sea. But Joe Biden did not stop blaming the president for personal reasons. He was not particularly thrilled by the crowd. Neither did he himself. When we met, he was calm. Biden takes the cell phone to me himself, is not alarmed by the Hebrew on the device, insists on moving alone into a picture mode - and makes us selfie. "I'm going to work hard - and win," he declares. I asked him how so many supporters are coming to Trump rallies, despite everything he says about him. I didn't get an answer, but there is no doubt that of all the candidates the Democrats are showing is the most sane.

Kerry: "The Century Plan Is Not Simple"

In the meantime, I asked John Kerry, who was the Democrat candidate in the 2004 election, about the Centennial Plan: "It's not easy, you've seen the reaction of the Palestinians." And about the large crowd that came to Trump's rally: "Half of this country supports it and I would like to explain to them why they are wrong, but I respect them."

Trump arrives: front page of "Des Moines Register"

Certainly the election in America is the best celebration in town, but something lethargic this time. Is that the trial, is it the fact that the 2016 election was so exciting, or is it just that Republicans are in the spotlight today because of one man and he is already in the finals? As the various sites have noted in 2019, there are some types of voters who want Trump as president by 2025. Some want him because of the economy, others vote because of their conservative values, and some simply mourn the fact that he is willing to do things others are unwilling to do. He's a project that brings results, like the fence on the Mexico border, and they like to give him a chance.

And, as Trump himself made clear at a rally in Iowa on Thursday: "I'm not going to lose in this state. I'm not going to lose in any state." And at least according to the pictures from the rallies, it's possible that his 2016 voters will reach the ballot box. The pictures show that the rally where the rally was held was completely full (7,000 people) - as Trump has accustomed us to.