(Bloomberg) -- The Des Moines Register endorsed progressive favorite Senator Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination, a little more than a week before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, saying the Massachusetts lawmaker would “push an unequal America in the right direction.” 

The influential newspaper in Iowa’s largest city revealed its pick for the first-in-the-nation nominating contest on its website Saturday evening."At this moment, when the very fabric of American life is at stake, Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs," the Register's editorial board said.The Register said that many of Warren’s ideas “are not radical. They are right.  They would improve life in America, and they are generally shared by the other Democratic candidates, who bring their own strengths to this race.” The candidate is “tough and compassionate,” the newspaper said.   

Warren, 70, is polling at 16.3% in Iowa, trailing Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, in the RealClearPolitics polling average. In a New York Times poll released on Saturday, Warren’s standing had slipped. The newspaper said Warren is ``a capitalist” but one that ``wants fair markets, with rules and accountability. She wants a government that works for people, not one corrupted by cash.” Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, ``believes government should actively work to prevent and respond to abusive practices that jeopardize individuals and the country’s economy,’’ the Register’s editorial said. 

While coveted by candidates, the Des Moines Register’s endorsement has been a poor predictor of caucus-night performance. Since the Register started making recommendations in 1988, only three of its endorsed candidates went on to win the state’s caucuses: Republicans Bob Dole in 1988 and 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000, and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. (Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.  

To contact the author of this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny

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