Harris campaign doubles down on Iowa
SOUNDBITE (English) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS ON SEPT 21, SAYING:
"I don't know if you guys hear, I'm planning on moving to Iowa!"
A lighthearted but telling moment for U.S. Senator Kamala Harris last month.
With Harris sliding out of the top tier in opinion polls, the democratic presidential candidate is pouring efforts into the early-voting state of Iowa.
The campaign is doubling the number of staffers in Iowa, opening ten new offices and a promise of a visit by Harris every week in October.
Sources close to Harris' campaign said she always planned to ramp up Iowa visits this fall, but now stagnating support in state and national opinion polls has led to a heightened focus.
A Sept. 21st poll by the Des Moines Register showed Harris with support of 6% of likely caucus-goers, behind Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and frontrunner Elizabeth Warren who is at 22%.
Harris is also reshuffling some of her aides... moving the chief of staff of her U.S. Senate office to the campaign as a top adviser.
That's according to an aide, who says Harris is soon set to double her staff in South Carolina -- another early voting state.
The campaign's goal is for Harris to place at least third in Iowa.
Harris' Iowa campaign chairwoman, said it's too early to worry over the candidate's poll numbers, and pointed to Barack Obama's late surge that saw him capture Iowa on the way to winning the White House in 2008.
