32 hours in Iowa: Sanders packs schedule during mid-impeachment dash

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- The months-long speculation about how the U.S. senators-tuned-Democratic presidential candidates would juggle their dueling impeachment trial and campaign responsibilities came to a head this weekend, with Sens. Michael Bennet, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren each returning to the trail as proceedings at the Capitol broke Saturday afternoon.

For Sanders, I-Vt., the trial and forced-break from the campaign trail arrived at a particularly inopportune time as he is steadily climbing state and national polls. But with substantial cash on hand, the Vermont senator enjoys the ability to call upon private aircraft more frequently than his rivals -- something he took advantage of last weekend in order to spend as much time in Iowa as possible.

After a rally in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was canceled last Wednesday when it became evident that the impeachment trial would stretch late into the evenings, Sanders, and his fellow senators, were limited to a half-weekend to court voters.

The Vermont senator ultimately spent just under 32 hours in the Hawkeye State, from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening, but made seven stops and covered more than 330 miles on the ground. At his two largest events, in Ames Saturday evening and Sioux City Sunday night, Sanders drew crowds in the thousands in both a showing of force and a final effort to reach as many potential supporters as possible before the Feb. 3 caucus.

Here's how the weekend unfolded (all times ET):

Saturday, 10 a.m. — Sanders arrived on Capitol Hill relatively late, skipping his usual stop at his office to go straight to the Capitol. Asked by reporters about that morning's NYT/Siena Iowa poll that showed him with a relatively substantial lead over former Vice President Joe Biden, he said there was more work to do.

"I’m feeling good but we take nothing for granted. We have a very strong volunteer network. We’re going to be knocking on doors. As soon as the session is ended, I’m going to be on a plane going to Iowa," Sanders said. "Gonna work as hard as we can.”

Saturday, 12:30 p.m. — With impeachment proceedings Saturday wrapping up earlier than expected, Sanders departed the Capitol, where he was asked by ABC News if he was happy to be heading to Iowa.

"Very," Sanders replied.

Saturday, 12:55 p.m. — Sanders arrives at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and boards his charter flight to Ames, Iowa.

Saturday, 3:05 p.m. — The flight lands in Ames, where Sanders and his team decide, due to the speed with which they made it to Iowa, they can make an event about 40 minutes away in Marshalltown that was originally supposed to feature only filmmaker Michael Moore and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., two of the campaign's more high-profile surrogates.

Saturday, 6:50 p.m. — Sanders takes the microphone in Marshalltown to a smaller-than-usual crowd, given that the campaign only announced his attendance an hour earlier. There, he deviates from his stump remarks to deliver a personalized message, applauding Iowans for the seriousness with which they take their caucus responsibilities.

"I don't have to tell you this because I've been all over this state, and I know how seriously the people of Iowa accept their responsibility of being the first state to vote," he said. "I know that, and I know that there are people in this room tonight who have probably gone to other meetings to hear from other candidates, and that is exactly the right thing to do."

Saturday, 9:24 p.m. — More than 1,200 people have arrived at the Ames Auditorium, which seats less than 900, so more than 400 people, according to the campaign, have spilled into an overflow room, which Sanders swings by and addresses for a few minutes before the main event.

"This is the overflow room?" he exclaims as he begins his remarks to cheers.

Saturday, 9:59 p.m. — After a musical performance by Grammy award-winning rock group Portugal. The Man and introductions by Moore and Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders delivers a closing argument centered around electability -- a trait typically associated with the race's moderates.

"If you think it is absolutely imperative to defeat Donald Trump, take a look at what our campaign is about," he says, adding, "All these candidates are my friends and I’ve known them for years, they’re good people. But if you look at the structure of our campaign, our ability to mobilize millions of people all over this country, our ability to raise funds from the grassroots, not from the wealthy and the powerful, our ability to put together an agenda that speaks to the working class of this country in a unique way, I think you’ll conclude our campaign is the strongest to defeat Trump."

Saturday overnight -- Sanders and campaign staff retire to a hotel in Ankeny, Iowa

Sunday. 11:25 a.m. - Though it was not on his public schedule, Sanders starts his day by attending a canvass launch event at his Ankeny field office where he thanks volunteers for their work and emphasizes the importance of face-to-face interactions vs. television and radio advertisements. He notes, however, that he happened to catch one of his commercials earlier in the morning and thought it was "pretty good."

Sunday, 12:59 p.m. - The senator follows Moore and Ocasio-Cortez again and mostly sticks to his stump speech, except for a quick moment when he responds to Biden, who expressed doubt Friday about the feasibility of components of Sanders' Green New Deal.

"Now, I have been criticized roundly by a whole lot of folks, including one of my opponents, for the sweeping proposal on climate change that I introduced," Sanders said. "And we have introduced the most sweeping, comprehensive climate change proposal ever introduced by a candidate for federal office. It is based on the principles of the Green New Deal."

"Now, my good friend Joe Biden has recently said, and I quote, 'not a single, solitary scientist' end of quote, agrees with my plan," he continued. "Well, Joe, you're wrong. Many leading scientists agree with our plan. And in a few days we're going to have a long list of scientists who agree with our plan because the scientists understand that we have a crisis. And that we need bold and aggressive action, and we need it now."

In a rare move, Sanders also acknowledges some of the polling that has come out Sunday morning. But instead of focusing on the ABC News/Washington Post poll that shows strong national gains for his campaign, or the CNN/UNH poll that gives him a sizable New Hampshire lead, he hones in on a CBS poll where he and Biden are neck-and-neck in Iowa:

"You will be the first state voting in the 2020 election cycle. So what happens here is enormously important. It is enormously important," the senator said. "So I am here this afternoon to very humbly ask for your support. Today, there was a poll that came out, which had us, leading by all of 1 point. So this is going to be a very close election, my opponents are working very hard to try to win it."

Sunday, 3:33 p.m. - Sanders attends another unpublicized canvass launch at his Fort Dodge office, again speaking briefly, but also turning the microphone over to his Iowa state director, who announced that in the 36 hours prior, the campaign knocked over 102,000 doors in Iowa.

Sunday, 5:43 p.m. - The senator launches into his stump speech at the King's Pointe Resort in Storm Lake, where a crowd of a few hundred listen as he references some of the uncertainty that continues to swirl around the impeachment trial schedule, saying he's not sure he'll be back next Saturday, but "certainly hopes to be back here for a victory celebration" on caucus night.

Sunday, 9:17 p.m. - Another Portugal. The Man set and Moore and Ocasio-Cortez help to draw a 1,100-person crowd to the Sioux City Convention Center for the final event of the trip, where Sanders shares instructions with the crowd for how to help push his campaign across the goal line.

"Say 'hello' to your neighbor, your coworker, your friend and say, 'You know what, this is why I'm supporting Bernie Sanders, ask me any question that you want, let's discuss what's going on in America, let's discuss where we have got to go from the here, and don't complain come out and vote on caucus night," he said.

At his most energized moment of the trip, Sanders touted the fact that his various rivals were beginning to notice the strength of his campaign.

"Suddenly, Donald Trump is talking about our campaign. Suddenly the Republican National Committee is tweeting about our campaign," he said. "Suddenly we have the Democratic establishment very nervous about this campaign. We've got, we've got the insurance companies nervous. We've got the drug companies nervous. We've got the fossil fuel industry nervous. We've got the military industrial complex nervous. We got the prison industrial complex nervous."

"They're starting to think, 'Could this really happen?'" he continued. "'Could there really be a political movement in America, where it brings together blacks and whites, and Latinos and Asian-Americans and Native Americans, gay and straight, to stand up as working class people fighting for change?'"

"We are their worst nightmare. This is their 'Nightmare on Elm Street,'" Sanders states, to thunderous cheers.

Sunday, 10:35 p.m. - Sanders boards his plane at Sioux Gateway Airport for his flight back to Washington, D.C.

Monday, 1:00 a.m. - The plane lands at Reagan airport.

Monday, 12:32 p.m. The senator arrives on Capitol Hill for the impeachment trial but declines to take questions from reporters, saying he's late for a meeting.