Pete Buttigieg is holding the most fundraisers. Elizabeth Warren is headlining scores of town hall-style meetings \u2014 and snapping a record number of selfies. And when Joe Biden isn\u2019t raising money, he\u2019s camping out in the early voting states to keep pace with the others.<\/p>\n
In the months since the former vice president and front-runner launched his presidential campaign, he and Kamala Harris have had to make sacrifices others did not to accommodate their heavier reliance on big-dollar fundraising. Warren and Bernie Sanders, for comparison, are spending fewer days on the road but getting more public face time with voters than Biden and Harris are. POLITICO tallied all the public events and fleshed out the remainder of their calendars, including the private fundraisers \u2014 information being reported here for the first time.<\/p>\n
The figures help sketch out a fuller picture of a primary campaign that most Americans only see flash before them on cable TV. Each candidate is approaching his or her days a bit differently: Warren focuses the majority of her events on medium- to large-scale town halls, which are increasing in size. The Massachusetts senator stays for hours afterward to chat with attendees, answer a few brief questions and take pictures.<\/p>\n
None of the candidates is as active as Beto O\u2019Rourke in small retail settings, though Amy Klobuchar and Buttigieg come closest. Harris\u2019 recent Iowa bus tour helped her rack up nearly 20 stops in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. No one has done more than Harris in Nevada, which borders \u2014 and votes shortly before \u2014 her home state of California.<\/p>\n
Sanders fills his days on the road with back-to-back activities, but he\u2019s kept a close eye on California, returning frequently to the Super Tuesday state that his campaign is treating like an early voting state. Two of Sanders\u2019 three \u201cgrassroots\u201d fundraisers were in San Francisco and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Klobuchar held 60 events in Iowa alone; perhaps more than any other candidate, she\u2019s counting on the state to <\/b>propel her presidential bid. Like Warren, Harris and Sanders, Klobuchar also has to balance her time on the road with votes in the Senate.<\/p>\n
Below is a detailed <\/b>look at how the leading contenders spent their time, from April 25 through Aug. 19.<\/p>\n
Former Vice President Joe Biden<\/span><\/p>\n 116<\/b> total campaign days<\/p>\n 59<\/b> days on the road \u2014 51 percent<\/b> of days<\/p>\n Events: 112<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 70<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 42<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 28<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 54<\/b><\/p>\n Analysis<\/b>: Biden\u2019s strategy is simple: Raise money while pounding the early voting states. He\u2019s skipped or is skipping some big Democratic Party meetings \u2014 the California State Party Convention and recent Democratic National Committee confab in San Francisco come to mind \u2014 but his frequent travels to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina put him on par there with Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren \u2014 candidates doing more public events than him elsewhere. Biden also has the advantage of a well-known surrogate that the others don\u2019t: His wife, Jill Biden, who has been stepping up her own activity around the country.<\/p>\n Mayor Pete Buttigieg<\/span><\/p>\n 116<\/b> total campaign days<\/p>\n 82<\/b> days on the road \u2014 71 percent <\/b>of days<\/p>\n Events: 240<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 140<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 100<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 32<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 76<\/b><\/p>\n Analysis<\/b>: Like Beto O\u2019Rourke’s, though nowhere near as prolific, Pete Buttigieg\u2019s campaign is working to project the image of a candidate who is everywhere \u2014 think: Kansas City, Mo., and Fresno, Calif. The field\u2019s top fundraiser in the second quarter of the year, taking in nearly $25 million, Buttigieg is holding the most fundraisers by far \u2014 30 more than Kamala Harris and 58 more than Joe Biden. In the early voting states, Buttigieg is focusing much of his time in Iowa and New Hampshire, where anything less than strong showings would likely end his campaign.<\/p>\n Sen. Kamala Harris<\/span><\/p>\n 116<\/b> total campaign days<\/p>\n 90<\/b> days on the road \u2014 78 percent <\/b> of days<\/p>\n Events: 165<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 95<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 70<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 27<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 60<\/b><\/p>\n Analysis<\/b>: Kamala Harris\u2019 big-dollar fundraisers from California to New York reflect the reality that she can\u2019t live on online donations alone. Her speeches to Democratic and NAACP audiences in Detroit, Montgomery, Ala., and West Columbia, S.C., undergird her efforts to build a base with black voters Her events total in South Carolina is second only to Beto O\u2019Rourke’s. Lately, she\u2019s been ramping up in Iowa \u2014 with half of her events coming on a recent five-day bus tour \u2014 an acknowledgment that waiting for South Carolina and Super Tuesday would be too late.<\/p>\n Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/span><\/p>\n 116 <\/b>total campaign days<\/p>\n 77<\/b> days on the road \u2014 66 percent <\/b> of days<\/p>\n Events: 245<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 190<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 55<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 49<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 97<\/b><\/p>\n Analysis<\/b>: For Amy Klobuchar, it\u2019s all about Iowa. She\u2019s made 59 stops there in the time period examined \u2014 80 since launching in mid-February. While some others sprinted across the state fair this month \u2014 rushing though a pork chop flip and kernel toss after stepping off the soap box \u2014 Klobuchar spent nearly eight hours<\/i> on the ground there. Klobuchar\u2019s 49 days in the early voting states are the most \u2014 as is the percentage of her time in the early voting states compared with her total days on the road. Also of note: her 25 events in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke<\/span><\/p>\n 116<\/b> total campaign days<\/p>\n 83<\/b> days on the road \u2014 72 percent<\/b> of days<\/p>\n Events: 360<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 352<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 8<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 36<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 98<\/b><\/p>\n Analysis<\/b>: Nobody has packed in near the number of stops as Beto O\u2019Rouke, including in <\/b>the early voting states. Not tethered to a day <\/b>job, O\u2019Rouke has been everywhere<\/i>. He\u2019s done 200 more events than the next-most-active candidate, Pete Buttigieg. Notably, O\u2019Rourke didn\u2019t have the in-person fundraising burdens of several others. He held just eight.<\/p>\n Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/span><\/p>\n 116<\/b> total campaign days<\/p>\n 54<\/b> days on the road \u2014 47 percent<\/b> of days<\/p>\n Events: 112<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 109<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 3<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 29<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 83<\/b><\/p>\n Analysis<\/b>: Bernie Sanders is showing a kind of dual focus, with one eye on later dates. While storming early voting states \u2014 packing a ton of events into fewer days than anyone else \u2014 he\u2019s keeping close tabs on California, which votes March 3 \u2014 and earlier by mail. Sanders, who stumped across the corners of the state in 2016, is applying that blueprint to 2020: His town halls and rallies from Pasadena to San Jose to Santa Monica are the most of any candidate, including Californian Kamala Harris. Meantime, two of his three \u201cgrassroots\u201d fundraisers \u2014 events open to the media \u2014 were in California.<\/p>\n Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/span><\/p>\n 116 <\/b>total campaign days<\/p>\n 58<\/b> days on the road \u2014 50 percent <\/b> of days<\/p>\n Events: 103<\/b><\/p>\n Non-fundraisers: 103<\/b><\/p>\n Fundraisers: 0<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state days: 32<\/b><\/p>\n Early voting state events: 58<\/b><\/p>\n