DES MOINES, Iowa: Scott Brennan stood powerless in the Iowa Democratic Party’s war room in the wee hours of Feb. 4 as efforts to report 2020’s first presidential caucuses results failed spectacularly. But the Des Moines lawyer had been worried for years.
He had been the Iowa Democratic chairman when Barack Obama won in 2008, and since had seen the state trending solidly Republican, with President Donald Trump easily carrying it in 2016. Iowa’s swing state days were gone, he thought. It’s over man,” Brennan said in February.
But there are signs Iowa may be competitive again. Deep concerns about the economy and dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the coronavirus have changed dynamics of the race. Several recent polls have showed a close race between Trump and Joe Biden, and operatives in both parties also say the Republican hold on the state is weakening.
Even though he…