Trump surrogates swarm Iowa before first caucuses

Outside, traders braved the bitter cold to sell Trump hats, T-shirts and other merchandise. Inside, hundreds of Trump supporters were sporting Make America Great Again (Maga) regalia. They were surrounded by big screens, loudspeakers, TV cameras, patriotic flags and Team Trump logos.

- David Smith

It had all the trappings of a Donald Trump campaign rally but one thing was missing: Trump.

The former US president was content to let South Dakota's governor, Kristi Noem, speak on his behalf at the convention centre in Sioux City, Iowa, last Wednesday. "We would never have the situation going on like we see in the Middle East right now," Noem said. "If he had been in the White House, we would never see what was going on with Russia and Ukraine." It was not the first time Trump had delegated his campaign to a proxy in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses on 15 January, the first of the state-by-state contests in which Republicans choose a presidential nominee to take on the Democrat Joe Biden in November's election.

While Trump's rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have crisscrossed Iowa in search of votes, the frontrunner has been content to stay at home and let allies do much of the legwork. For these campaign surrogates, it is a very public opportunity to stake their claim to a job in a Trump cabinet - or even as vice-president.

Last week's line-up included Ben Carson, a former housing secretary seeking to rally Iowa's Christian evangelical voters; Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right firebrand; and Eric Trump, a son of the former president who followed him into business. Last weekend two "Team Trump Iowa Faith Events" featured the ex-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now the governor of Arkansas, and her father, Mike Huckabee, a former governor of the same state.