Hickenlooper launches presidential campaign

“I’ve proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.”Story Continued BelowAfter a kickoff rally in Denver on Thursday, Hickenlooper’s next stop as a presidential candidate will be a two-day tour through Iowa, an early state that will be pivotal to his fortunes in a crowded Democratic field.The former Colorado governor begins at a disadvantage there, with low name recognition and a smaller campaign infrastructure than most rivals. While his name is a familiar one to older Iowa voters — a cousin, the late Bourke Hickenlooper, served as a Republican governor in the 1940s and later represented the state in the Senate for 24 years — John Hickenlooper was excluded from the latest poll.During a recent appearance at the Story County Democratic Party’s annual soup supper in Ames, the former Colorado governor was the only presidential candidate who wore a name tag. You can unsubscribe at any time.Iowa Democrats say there’s precedent for a candidate like Hickenlooper to do well in the caucuses — only it was nearly a half-century ago, when then-Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter was largely unknown before he finished ahead of the four other candidates here in 1976.“It’s a place where people who may not be walking in with the most name ID or the most money can still do quite well,” said Troy Price, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. He was also one of just two Democrats to win gubernatorial elections in swing states in 2014, another tough year for Democratic candidates.Hickenlooper’s pitch, which often comes in small venues — during his last swing through Iowa he hosted meet-and-greets with roughly 20 voters inside a coffee shop and a table of 10 at his next stop inside a bar — is that he is the only “doer” in a field of talkers.“What I’m trying to do is run as the person who gets stuff done,” he told a handful of reporters last week inside a bar in Carroll, where he briefly engaged with the media before heading to his third and final stop of the day after campaigning in western Iowa.