Iowa has never been fertile ground for Joe Biden.
His 1988 presidential bid imploded in a plagiarism scandal sparked by comments he made at a debate there. He abandoned his 2008 White House run after a fifth-place Iowa caucus finish. And his 2020 campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state’s technologically glitchy caucus.
After bouncing back to win the Democratic nomination, Biden returned for a rally at the Iowa state fairgrounds four days before Election Day 2020, only to see Donald Trump win the state by 8 percentage points.
Biden heads back to Iowa for the first time as president on Tuesday at a moment when he’s facing yet more political peril. He’s saddled with sagging approval ratings and inflation at a 40-year high while his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress
