Chicago Area Campaign Volunteers Seek To Make Their Voices Heard At Iowa Caucuses; 'This Is The Election Of My Lifetime'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Iowa caucuses are just four days away, and lots of folks from Chicago are playing key roles in the first vote in the 2020 presidential election.
CBS 2's Tim McNicholas headed west to the Hawkeye State to see how Chicagoans are helping their candidates get out the vote.
Anthony Quezada is a Chicago guy, but on weekends he volunteers in Des Moines, Clinton, and Cedar Rapids; going door-to-door for his candidate -- who happens to be U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"We're kind of like a strike team. We've been hitting, you know, places where the campaign needs a lot of help. You know, we're Spanish-speaking help, so we're going to places where they need that kind of assistance," he said.
Some volunteers, like Quezada, drive their own personal cars to Iowa. Some campaigns send buses.
Once those buses cross the bridge over the Mississippi River, volunteers know they are in the Hawkeye State, and it's game time.
Dylan Sharkey doesn't need a bus or car. He was already there days ahead of time at a table for former Vice President Joe Biden; a University of Iowa student from west suburban St. Charles.
"This is really the first step in the election," he said.
Volunteers aren't asking people to punch a secret ballot. In the Iowa caucuses, people visibly show their support for a candidate by standing a group, or even raising their hands, often under signage for their candidate.
In other words, you are announcing your preference to your neighbors at an event filled with debate, which could last hours.
"When I first came out here, it was weird. Nobody used the word vote. It was caucus," Sharkey said.
It was a foreign concept to a guy from the Chicago suburbs.
"It's literally just people standing at a table, or a corner, and that's how they mark you down," he said.
Sharkey said Iowa is also key, because it sets the tone for the rest of the election.
When Biden took the stage in Iowa City, Sharkey found a seat right behind him -- along with Ethan Cox, a Northwestern University student who is spending most of his week volunteering in Iowa.
"This is what is important to me. This is what I want to do. This is, again, this is the election of my lifetime," Cox said.
CBS 2 also caught up with other volunteers for other campaigns; just about everyone agreed Feb. 3 might be the most important date right now.