Top Iowa Democrats say Joe Biden has done everything wrong in the state

Joe Biden is far from inevitable, especially in Iowa.

While other candidates doubled down in the early-caucus state immediately after joining the 2020 race, Biden didn't enter the fray until April, after most top Iowa hires were already picked up. That, along with a host of other mistakes, could cost the former vice president Iowa if he doesn't shape up, 11 top state Democrats tell Bloomberg.

Biden may have hopped into the 2020 competition and immediately claimed first place, but that hasn't held up as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has taken the lead in the state. Top Democrats attribute the fall to Biden's reliance on big-dollar fundraisers. Instead of spending time with voters who "expect to meet candidates face-to-face," Biden is "criss-crossing the country," only spending three days of September in Iowa, Bloomberg writes. It all leaves Biden risking "a humiliating third or fourth-place finish in Iowa early next year," the top Democrats tell Bloomberg.

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That's not to say losing Iowa will cost Biden the entire race, seeing as he'll almost certainly win South Carolina not long after. But it would severely damage his frontrunner reputation and "would slice into his chief argument — that he's best suited" to beat President Trump, Bloomberg writes.

In a statement, Biden's team says the former vice president has 70 endorsements and more on the way, and that his wife Jill Biden and other pro-Biden officials are campaigning strongly on his behalf. Read more at Bloomberg.