“We’re not having a contest, we’re having a coronation,” Bisignano says, and that’s a hardship for Iowa Democrats. With a Republican governor, two Republican senators, and a Republican House, the only body the Democrats control is the Iowa senate, and that’s by the closest of margins (26 – 24).  To build excitement, they need competition. “I don’t think Clinton’s brief appearances here are going to cut it,” says Bisignano.

Iowa Democrat Jim Lykam agrees, that’s why he agreed to sign a letter along with several other Iowa lawmakers urging Biden to run.

Lykam, a long-time Biden supporter, said when the veep is in town Biden will have the secret service call ahead that he wants to see Lykam, which makes the eight-term Davenport lawmaker feel pretty special. In their last conversation about 2016, Biden said, “Jim, you’re going to be one of the first to know,” a promise the veep no doubt has made to countless others who consider him their friend.

Primary fights can get very bitter and personal, yet what’s most striking about the Draft Biden effort is how civil everything seems to be, at least so far. If Biden declines to get into the race, Draft Biden ‘16 will support Clinton, no question. The doubts that emerge around Clinton for these Democrats center on her struggle to relate to voters in the same way her husband is able to do, and that Biden does so easily.