In Part 1 of this BBC News Article you'll learn about Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Jay Islee, three Democrats who have thrown their hats in the race for president in the 2020 election.
Amy Klobuchar
In a large and growing Democratic presidential field, Amy Klobuchar is trying to lay claim to the moderate middle. But that can be a tough sell, particularly when many of her rivals are touting big-ticket progressive goals like universal healthcare, free college education and aggressive attempts to address income inequality."I'm being honest, and I think you want honesty," she says.
If the goal for Democrats is to find a candidate who can win the Midwest swing states that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 - places like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - Ms Klobuchar may be an attractive choice.
Her big idea: She offered a number of proposals during her time on stage - bringing broadband to rural areas, lowering prescription drug prices and some kind of transactional tax on technology companies that sell information about their users. When I asked her to name her top idea, she opted for one she hadn't mentioned - passing a law automatically registering all citizens to vote when they turn 18.
Her biggest obstacle: Raising the massive amount of money to fund a presidential campaign was her biggest obstacle, she told me. Allegations that she has been verbally abusive towards her Senate staff have dogged the early days of her campaign, however, and threaten to become a recurring distraction. "I have high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for people who work for me, and most importantly I have high expectations for this country," she said. "I can always do better."
Reception: Moderation and practicality may eventually win support, but they didn't get people out of their chairs here.
BBC Gave 2 Stars
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Elizabeth Warren
The Massachusetts senator arrived at the South by Southwest conference one day after announcing her plan to use the government's antitrust powers to break up big technology companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple. Say what you will about her candidacy, but that took guts.At the beginning of her panel, moderator Anand Giridharadas of Time magazine asked current and former employees of the aforementioned companies in the audience to stand up and face the senator as she explained her proposal.
She compared the current system to a baseball league where participants could either be an umpire or team - but not both. Companies like Amazon, which are marketplace platforms but also participants that use the information they glean from transactions to sell their own products, have an unfair, innovation-stifling advantage.
Her big idea: Ms Warren's campaign sometimes seems fashioned entirely out of big ideas, with her tech-company break-up plan only being the latest. She's also proposed a universal childcare programme and a tax on the wealth of multimillionaires. Personal assets over $50m would be subject to an annual 2% assessment, she says, while those over $1bn would be hit with a 3% tax.
Her biggest obstacle: Saturday's hour-long interview was classic Warren - a mix of history lesson, economic theory and academic research. On the campaign stump it can be a bit clunky, but in a one-on-one format it shines. No one in the Democratic field can talk nuts-and-bolts of policy like her. If a campaign for president was a series of in-depth lectures on issues of importance, she might be running away with the nomination. The biggest obstacle for her is that it's not.
Reception: Ms Warren came to Austin to bury big tech companies, not to praise them. Despite this, she had the best reception of any politician at South by Southwest not named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
BBC Gave 5 Stars
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Jay Inslee
The Washington governor launched his presidential campaign just over a week ago and has been focused laser-like on the issue of climate change ever since. "We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change," he said, "but we are the last generation that can do something about it."He noted that a recent Iowa poll showed that the environment was the top issue for Democratic voters, tied with healthcare. With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal helping to push the topic to centre stage, Mr Inslee could be in position to capitalise on the attention.
"Anyone who says they want to do anything of any significance in the next several years has to be in favour of ending the filibuster or they're not serious," Mr Inslee told me. "So if you say you're serious about climate change and believe that it's an existential threat to the nation, but you're not categorically against the filibuster, then you're dooming the United States to failure."
His biggest challenge: Mr Inslee is starting in the race as a little-known governor from a state in the far corner of America. If he succeeds in raising his visibility by pushing the environmental issue, his biggest challenge will be using that attention to sell Democratic voters on the rest of his progressive record in Washington - on issues like marijuana legalisation, criminal justice reform, raising the minimum wage, abolishing the death penalty and expanding healthcare coverage.
Reception: He had by far the worst time slot - a 9:30am start on the morning after clocks moved forward an hour. Talk of impending climate disaster kept those who did show up engaged in the conversation, however.
