The critical fight inside Democrats' establishment primary

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Within the Democrats’ sprawling presidential contest is a smaller, yet critical competition among a handful of candidates jockeying to secure the backing of their party’s establishment wing.The first answers come Monday in the Iowa caucuses when voters begin sorting out the fight between progressive candidates, who are arguing for revolutionary change, and more moderate contenders, who many in the party believe have the better chance to defeat President Donald Trump in November.Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have been making the case in Iowa that they can assemble a broader coalition of voters in states essential to denying Trump’s reelection. Waiting for them on the Super Tuesday primaries in March is Mike Bloomberg, an ideologically similar candidate who is skipping the early contests as he spends hundreds of millions of dollars in larger states.Their candidacies are rooted in the idea of electability, and a belief that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are proposing ideas that excite core Democratic voters with sweeping, expensive calls for structural change but would fall well short of winning an electoral majority against the Republican incumbent.Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a leading establishment figure, believes Biden enters the caucuses as the moderate front-runner, even as McAuliffe acknowledges he has questioned whether the 77-year-old former vice president can sustain his strength.“I thought hard about running for president. Strategists for Biden, Buttigieg and Klobuchar note they have specifically targeted moderate Republicans over the race’s final days.Klobuchar’s team say she’s the only candidate to have campaigned in all of the 31 counties in Iowa that previously backed President Barack Obama but flipped to Trump in 2016.“We’re reaching out to our Democratic base but also looking to broaden the tent,” Klobuchar campaign manager Justin Buoen said, pointing to their efforts to win over moderate Democrats, moderate Republicans and disaffected Trump voters.Buttigieg has focused on similar ground in Iowa, especially targeting the eastern cities that once boasted thousands of heavy equipment manufacturing jobs.