Bernie Sanders headed to Iowa

Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is planning a trip to Iowa next month at the same time Hillary Clinton will be stumping in the battleground state.

Sanders announced Monday that he will attend a series of town-hall meetings on Sept. 13 and 14 in Iowa, which will host the first contest of the 2016 presidential primary.

{mosads}Clinton, the early front-runner in the 2016 Democratic primary, will be in Iowa the same weekend as Sanders. She plans to attend Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) annual steak fry.

Sanders has flirted with the idea of running for president, saying he would consider a campaign if no credible alternative on the left emerged to take on Clinton. He’s also said Democrats should not anoint Clinton as their candidate.

And Iowa isn’t the only early-voting state Sanders is visiting.

He will travel this week to South Carolina, an important early primary state, to speak in Columbia at an event sponsored by Progressive Voters of America, South Forward and South Carolina Progressive Network.

Sanders also will attend the Fighting Bob Fest, an annual gathering of progressives in Wisconsin, on Sep. 12 and 13. The event is named after the late progressive stalwart Sen. Bob La Follette (R-Wis.).

An announcement issued by Sanders’s political operation stated that Sanders will be in Iowa Sept. 12 and 13, but a senior Sanders aide said his boss would be there Sept. 13 and 14, instead.