DES MOINES, Iowa The Democrats of Iowa flooded noisily into Des Moines on Friday night as part of their unique role in choosing Americas presidential nominees.
Most didnt get what they wanted.
The 13,000 who filled the local Wolves basketball arena, and thousands more who marched in freezing rain outside, were yearning for a replay of the 2007 dinner where an upstart young senator named Barack Obama electrified Iowans and jump-started his presidential campaign.
Pete Buttigieg came close, offering an optimistic call for hope and belonging. It was easy to see why he has surged in the polls.
Others were eloquent too, including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and a folksy Amy Klobuchar 13 candidates in all.
But lightning didnt strike despite each campaigns efforts to summon it with crowd chants and thunder sticks. Three months before the states Feb. 3 caucuses, Iowas Democrats arent ready to give their hearts away yet.
Most people are undecided, Jim Eliason, the party chairman in Buena Vista County, told me as he dined on chicken nuggets. They havent settled down.
Other voters bear him out.
Im undecided between Joe Biden and Pete, said Denise Weiss, a bridal shop owner from Barnum. Some of the other Democrats are a little bit too progressive for me.
Not sure, said Isaiah Guest, a security guard in Des Moines. Maybe Warren. Looking at the others.
Polls bear it out, too. A New York Times/Siena College survey last week found a four-way tie, with Warren, Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders and Biden tightly bunched at the top. And two-thirds of voters said they might change their minds before they caucus in the first major contest of the election season.
Iowa voters glory in this odd pre-primary period and the fact that their state small, rural, and overwhelmingly white will winnow the field for the bigger contests to follow.
But theyre not sure what they want, beyond a Democrat who can defeat President Trump next November.
Few use the word electability, an invention of reporters trying to distill voters elusive meditations to a catchphrase.
It seems more accurate to say theyre looking for a moment of illumination that hasnt happened yet.
