IT’S BILL de WHO-SIO? Clinton — busy with big crowds and big names
Few in Iowa know him as he touts Hil Clinton — busy with big crowds and big names
DES MOINES, Iowa — Eagle-eyed Hawkeyes don’t know who he is — and he’s getting no face time with Hillary Clinton.
But Mayor de Blasio, on the first full day of his five-day Iowa campaign push for his former boss, said the trip had a lot of value nonetheless.
“What our mission is here, is to keep pumping up and energizing the folks who already are the true believers,” he said. “Give them energy, give them support and to go for folks who are active Democrats but are still not decided firmly.”
The mayor spoke to the Daily News in hipster coffee joint Smokey Row in Des Moines, after a morning of canvassing for Clin- ton, where he went virtually unrecognized knocking on doors to drum up votes for the Democrat’s White House run.
His staff refused to allow reporters to come along or provide details of his canvassing times — necessary, de Blasio said, to hold frank and persuasive conversations. “This is real work,” he said. De Blasio told The News that even though people “generally didn’t” recognize the city’s 109th mayor, the “active Democrats” who did know him valued his endorsement.
Reaching people who might be on the fence was critical, said de Blasio, who was Clinton’s campaign manager in her 2000 run for U.S. Senate in New York.
He said he asked the campaign what he could do to help — and they sent him canvassing.
“Obviously, they want to particularly speak to progressives because that’s so much of the Iowa caucus-goer electorate,” he said. “And I think I have the ability to say to my fellow progressive, ‘I really believe in Hillary.’ ”
First Lady Chirlane McCray, who
is along for the trip and knocked on doors with the mayor, said even those who may not know he’s the mayor end up impressed when they find out. A pastor, she said, was thrilled to discover the mayor had come to his door.
“He’s going to be telling everybody,” she said.
For now, de Blasio — who traveled on an economy flight out of Newark, with a layover in Charlotte — has no plans to meet with Clinton. “The plan is to be talking to voters and to activists,” said de Blasio.
The mayor and McCray paid for most of the trip themselves, but a “portion” was paid for by the Clinton camp, according to a mayoral spokeswoman. She declined to say how much. About 15 City Hall staffers came along, using vacation time and paying their own way.
In a later scrum with reporters, he said his role in Iowa was not of a “surrogate” — who typically appears at events with the candidate — but as a campaign worker.
“Before I ran for office I did this kind of work,” he said. “This is a lot of my life, and this is what I like to do. And I think where you make an impact.”
He also impressed one former detractor. Hilary Rosen, a longtime Clinton supporter and Democratic strategist, was at the same Clinton volunteer house as de Blasio and said, “It’s a great thing for him to spend his weekend doing.”
Rosen had famously blasted him for seeming to “stomp” on the announcement Clinton was entering the White House race by refusing to endorse her on the same day.
But de Blasio told The News he doesn’t feel his late endorsement of Clinton hurt their relationship. “I don’t sense it,” he said. Although he has been criticized for leaving New York so frequently for national issues, de Blasio said he believes campaigning
for Clinton is part of his job as mayor.
“I think the possibility of electing a New Yorker to the White House who will help New York ... is incredibly valuable to the people of New York City and New York State,” he said.
“Winning here can really propel her forward,” he added.
Clinton spent the final days before Monday’s caucus touring the state, highlighting her long record supporting gun control.
About 45 miles from where de Blasio was beating his own path, Clinton appeared in Ames with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a mass shooting five years ago, and her astronaut husband Mark Kelly.
The couple, strong supporters of gun con- trol, announced they were supporting Clinnton for President.
“Speaking is hard for me, but come Janu- ary I want to be saying these two words: s: 'Madam President,’” said Giffords, who sufffered brain damage in the assault.
The endorsements came a day after thee Obama administration confirmed that 222 emails Clinton sent on her home server con- tained “top secret” information. But de Blaasio said no one in Iowa has asked him aboutut it, and he doesn’t think it’s a big deal.
“She clearly did not divulge anything that at she knew to be secret,” he said. “We know w this for a fact.”
Meanwhile, in New York, more than n 1,000 people marched from Union Squaree to Zuccotti Park Saturday in support of Clinnton’s chief rival for the nomination, Bernie e Sanders.
Meghan Brophy, a member of the labor r activist group 15 Now, said, “This is the first st election that I’m going to be able to vote in. n. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t ’t want to vote for anyone other than Bernie.”