THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Friday, November 8, 2019 |A
Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg’s backers, many from far away, cheered him on at the Iowa party’s big dinner in Des Moines last week.MICHAEL BUCHER/THE WALL STREET JOURNALGabriel Figueroa with Trixie. He makes vegan meals for his cats.GABRIEL FIGUEROAPete elected,” said Chris
Meagher, a spokesman for Mr.
Buttigieg. Mr. Meagher said the
campaign plans to harness the
energy in a variety of ways, in
states that hold the first nomi-
nating contests and in others
where Barnstormers live.
Mr. Buttigieg has seen a re-
cent growth spurt in his polling
nationally and especially in
Iowa, where he is selling his cre-
dentials as a Midwesterner with
a more moderate message than
Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders
ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses.
A Quinnipiac University poll
of likely Iowa Democratic cau-
cus-goers released Wednesday
showed him at 19%, just below
Ms. Warren at 20%. Mr. Sand-
ers was at 17%, followed by
former Vice President Joe Bi-
den at 15%.
The Iowa trip, the first for
the Barnstormers, started witha conversation on Facebook.
Kat Sosnick, 50, a portfolio
manager in New York City, was
talking to another supporter
of Mr. Buttigieg’s on the plat-
form. That supporter, who was
from Iowa, told Ms. Sosnick
she should come out to the
state ahead of the caucuses.
Ms. Sosnick floated it to
some friends, and one sug-
gested they target last week-
end’s event because a similar
dinner 12 years ago helped
boost Barack Obama’s candi-
dacy. They then started to
spread the word, posting up-
dates in 350 different groups
devoted to Mr. Buttigieg.
Within 48 hours, 400 peo-
ple had signed up, Ms. Sosnick
said. By the end, at least one
person from all 50 states com-
mitted to travel to Iowa.
—Tarini Parti
contributed to this article.DES MOINES, Iowa—Wear-
ing their team’s colors of blue
and yellow, they arrived here
from around the country at
their own expense to support
the Democratic presidential
bid of Pete Buttigieg.
Barnstormers for Pete, a
grass-roots effort organized
online, helped give the mayor
of South Bend, Ind., one of the
biggest cheering sections at a
closely watched Democratic
Party event last Friday. Mem-
bers of the group are planning
to show up again in Iowa and
other states early on the nom-
ination calendar.
“I want to contribute to his
effort to win Iowa because ev-
eryone’s head will turn if he
does that,” said Laura Nibbi, a
58-year-old stay-at-home
mom. She said people back
home in Redwood City, Calif.,
say they like Mr. Buttigieg but
worry he isn’t viable. “If he
places in Iowa, that ‘but’ gets
erased,” she said.
Mr. Buttigieg isn’t the only
candidate with a passionate
following. Those backing Cali-
fornia Sen. Kamala Harris are
well-organized on digital plat-
forms, using “#Khive,” a refer-
ence to singer Beyoncé’s fans
who call themselves Beyhive.
BYELIZACOLLINS
ANDJOHNMCCORMICK
U.S. NEWS
Tech entrepreneur Andrew
Yang also has an active group
of followers who have dubbed
themselves the “Yang Gang.”
On Twitter, they identify
themselves with a small emoji
of a blue baseball hat.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sand-
ers and Massachusetts Sen.
Elizabeth Warren, both in the
top four in national polls, and
Ms. Harris have all drawn
crowds of more than 20,000.
Still, the Barnstormers—
many of whom appeared to be
middle-aged or older, even
though their candidate is the
youngest in the field at 37
years old—gave Mr. Buttigieg a
clear advantage in out-of-state
supporters last weekend. Barn-
stormers organizers estimated
they had about 1,000 people in
Iowa for the dinner, the last
big event where candidates
could show off their organizing
muscle before the caucuses.
Mr. Buttigieg’s ability to
draw a crowd of roving volun-
teers could provide a boost, or
it could backfire, as it did for
previous candidates.
In 2004, Democrat Howard
Dean’s campaign bought neon-
orange hats for his small army
of door-to-door canvassers
and organizers. The hats were
supposed to be a show of force
highlighting his volunteer sup-
port, but instead the gear
marked them as outsiders and
turned off some Iowans.
“As excitement and momen-
tum continues to grow, we are
seeing more and more enthusi-
asm from more and more vol-
unteers who are working to getButtigieg
Barnstormers
Flock to Iowa
Group organized on
Facebook plans to
show up in other
early-voting states
found in meat, while some pet
owners play chef.
Gabriel Figueroa of Austin,
Texas, prepares homemade ve-
gan meals with ingredients like
chickpeas, tofu and pumpkin for
his three cats Peanut, Trixie and
Baby. To ensure the meals are
nutritionally sound, he follows
recipes recommending precise
quantities and adds commercial
supplements. “One of the gifts
of modern science is that we’re
able to do this,” he says.
Cheryl Devine, of Redding,
Calif., feeds her cat, Jackson, a
vegan diet due to concerns over
animal cruelty and the environ-
ment. But she says she’s noticed
a surprising side benefit: It
seems to make him less appeal-
ing to parasites. “He doesn’t re-
ally need flea or tick medicine
very often,” she says.
Not everyone is impressed.
“The vast majority of vets would
advise against it,” says Daniella
Dos Santos, president of theBritish Veterinary Association.
She says that studies are yet to
prove that synthetic nutrients
are properly absorbed by cats’
guts and that a deficiency can
cause eye and heart problems.
Plant-based alternatives are
resolving a moral dilemma long
faced by vegan cat owners, who
until recently had little choice
but to provide meat for their fe-
line friends. “If there wasn’t
such a thing as vegan cat food
I’d stop taking them in,” says
Ms. O’Carroll, whose cats were
all once either strays or feral, or
their offspring.
Hank Rothgerber, a social
psychologist at Bellarmine Uni-
versity in Louisville, Ky., con-
ducted a survey that found high
levels of guilt among vegan and
vegetarian pet owners who feed
their animals meat.
The results resonated with
him. “Every day we were feed-
ing our two cats this food that
contradicted our own valuesand were wondering if it was
undoing what small impact we
had,” says Dr. Rothgerber, a
longtime vegetarian. His two
cats, Moxie and Pitino, died a
few years ago. Now, the family
has seven vegetarian hermit
crabs, cared for by his 6-year-
old daughter.
The issue sometimes sparks
heated exchanges, especially
across social media. Elisha
Clegg, of Barnsley in northern
England, reported a fellow Face-
book user to a British animal-
welfare charity for feeding two
dogs and a cat a vegan diet. Ms.
Clegg says the charity investi-
gated the individual, but she
wasn’t told the outcome.
“Just because a human
wishes to change their lifestyle
doesn’t mean they should force
their pets to do so also,” she
says. “They cannot speak for
themselves.”
Ms. Clegg has two cats,
Klaustreich and Yuichiro, which
both eat meat. She briefly tried
out veganism for herself but
says it made her feel tired and
lightheaded.
Ms. O’Carroll, who lives in
Dublin, switched to vegan cat
food because she worried about
animal cruelty, and her cats ap-
peared to empathize.
She says her cat Kecha, once
an avid mouse-hunter, seemed
to lose the taste for meat after
switching to vegan cat food. One
of Ms O’Carroll’s former cats,
Blackie, gave up her bird-killing
habit after making the switch.
She says her cats are doing well
on a vegan diet, and her vet
doesn’t see it as a problem.
“They can see the cats,” she
says. “They’re not starving.”group called “Vegan Cats” has
8,500 members.
Veterinarians and animal-
nutrition specialists agree it is
possible to cut out meat for
dogs, which are naturally om-
nivorous, but the question of ve-
gan cat food stirs controversy.
Cats, they say, are “obligate car-
nivores,” meaning they need
certain nutrients that are only
found in meat. In the wild, they
get virtually all their nutrition
from hunting. Some argue that,
because of this, veganism isn’t a
healthy option for cats.
“Meat absolutely needs to be
on the table when you are feed-
ing a cat,” says Tina Wismer, a
medical director at the Ameri-
can Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals.
Others counter that all cat
food—meaty or vegan—fails to
match the natural diet of hunted
rodents, birds and insects. “The
domesticated house cat today is
fed an assortment of body parts
from animals it would never
naturally eat: cows, fish, pigs,”
says Andrew Knight, professor
of animal welfare and ethics at
the University of Winchester in
southern England. “It is logically
inconsistent.”
Vegan-cat-food makers add
synthetic versions of the miss-
ing nutrients that would be
ContinuedfromPageOne
Cat Owners
Serve Up
Vegan Fare
Two leading progressive
candidates, Sens. Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts and
Bernie Sanders of Vermont,
cheered the potential of an-
other billionaire joining Tom
Steyer in the 16-person race.
Ms. Warren, who has made her
wealth tax a signature part of
her agenda, welcomed Mr.
Bloomberg and referred him to
her campaign’s “calculator for
the billionaires.”
Mr. Sanders tweeted, “The
billionaire class is scared and
they should be scared.”
Mr. Bloomberg, 77 years
old, would add to the septua-
ContinuedfromPageOne
genarians in the field, joining
Messrs. Sanders, Biden and
Ms. Warren, against Mr.
Trump, 73.
Mr. Bloomberg’s move to-
ward running comes as some in
the party—especially wealthy
donors—grumble about the left-
ward lurch of the party, with
Ms. Warren on the rise and Mr.
Biden faltering in early states.
Joe Trippi, a Democratic
strategist and veteran of presi-
dential politics, said Mr.
Bloomberg’s potential entry
could serve as a “big disrup-
tion” in the race. “There’s
plenty of obstacles, but the
fact is, he’s got the resources
to compete,” Mr. Trippi said.
He said Mr. Bloomberg and his
advisers were unlikely to be
“entertaining this unless they
sawapath.”
But he would enter the field
with fewer than 100 days before
the Iowa caucuses and months
after most top candidates have
plowed millions of dollars intoorganizing in early states. The
filing deadline for New Hamp-
shire, the second nominating
contest, is next week.
Most Democrats are satis-
fied with their choices for
presidential nominee, a Wall
Street Journal/NBC News poll
found late last month. Some
85% of the party’s primary
voters said they were satisfiedwith the candidates, including
31% who said they were “very
satisfied.’’ By contrast, 13%
said they were unsatisfied.
Mr. Bloomberg’s public im-
age nationally remains some-
thing of a blank slate, Journal/
NBC News polling has found.
In a 2016 survey, the most re-
cent one testing Mr.
Bloomberg, about one-third of
voters said they had a neutral
view of him, and about one-
quarter said they were unsure
of their impression or didn’t
know his name. Some 16% of
voters in the poll said they had
a positive impression of Mr.
Bloomberg, and 27% said they
had a negative one.
The New York Times re-
ported on Mr. Bloomberg’s
plans Thursday.
Mr. Bloomberg, the founder
and majority owner of
Bloomberg LP, the parent com-
pany of Bloomberg News, flirted
with the idea of running late
last year.He had invested tens of mil-
lions of dollars to help Demo-
crats in the 2018 midterm elec-
tions and made several stops in
December 2018 in Iowa, where
the nomination season begins
with the Feb. 3 caucuses.
Mr. Bloomberg had been a
lifelong Democrat before joining
the Republican Party ahead of
his run for mayor in 2001. He
left the GOP and became unaf-
filiated with any party when he
contemplated running for presi-
dent in 2008. He re-registered
as a Democrat last year.
A person familiar with his
plans said he didn’t fully close
the door to a 2020 campaign
when he made public his deci-
sion not to run earlier this
year. Mr. Bloomberg’s team
had an internal deadline of
about a year before Election
Day, which will be Nov. 3,
2020, to decide, the person
said. Members of his team re-
cently spoke to Democratic
strategists, another person fa-miliar with the talks said.
Mr. Bloomberg spoke Thurs-
day to former Senate Demo-
cratic leader Harry Reid of Ne-
vada, a longtime power broker
in the early-voting state, and
discussed the possibility of
running, a spokesman for Mr.
Reid confirmed. Former Iowa
Gov. Tom Vilsack said in an
email that Mr. Bloomberg left
him a phone message on
Thursday.
Michael John Gray, chair-
man of the Democratic Party
in Arkansas—another state
with a coming filing deadline—
said his office received a call
from a Washington, D.C., firm
inquiring about the filing pro-
cess. The representatives from
the firm declined to name the
candidate, “but the word ‘mys-
tery’ was used,” a spokesman
for the party said.
—Sabrina Siddiqui, Emily
Glazer, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
and John McCormick
contributed to this article.Bloomberg
Prepares
2020 Bid
Michael Bloomberg would bring
money and centrism to the race.MARTIN SYLVEST/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCKProtect
home like
apro.
Meet SimpliSafe. It’s protection for every
room, door and window of your home. Against
intruders, fires, floods, medical emergencies
and more. With security experts to keep your
family safe, 24/7. If there’s a break-in, we get
eyewitness evidence to the police. So they can
catch the bad guys. That’s what it’s like to
protect home like a pro.
SimpliSafe.com/wall