Tipsheet

Elizabeth Warren: You Know, There's a Really Good Reason I Plummeted in Iowa

The results from the Iowa Caucuses are still flowing in. With 92 percent of precincts reporting, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in the lead, followed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

During Wednesday night's town hall with CNN in New Hampshire, Warren was asked about her mediocre performance in the early voting state. 

"You look at Buttigieg, you look at Sanders, they seem to be at the top of the field. What does that mean for you here in New Hampshire?" host Chris Cuomo asked. "What do you need here as a result to prove that you are in that top tier?"

A smiling Warren instantly resorted back to her previous talking points about millionaires and billionaires.

"You know, look, I see this as just getting out and talking to people. I've been doing that in town halls in New Hampshire. I did them out in Iowa, I've done them in Nevada and South Carolina," she explained. "But it's about talking to people and listening to people and trying to build a grassroots movement."

"I made the decision right at the beginning that I was not going to spend my time in closed-door fundraisers. I was not going to sell access to my time, to millionaires and billionaires and corporate lobbyists," Warren said, clearly referencing Buttigieg and his "wine cave."

The Massachusetts senator hammered on her desire to have a "grassroots movement" across the country.

"We've got 55 more states and territories," she said. "I'm in 31 states now with people on the ground as paid campaign workers, as organizers, field organizers, because I believe in fieldwork, because I believe we have to build a grassroots campaign." 

Warren made the argument that the 2020 campaign should be about grassroots movements, not elections being bought by millionaires, billionaires and Political Action Committees (PACs). She encouraged supporters who believe in her mission to obtain information, share it with friends, donate to the campaign, take part in door-knocking and phone banking.