MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden spent Tuesday trading insults — sometimes almost simultaneously— as they stumped across Iowa in split-screen moments that could preview a ferocious fight ahead if the two face off for the presidency next year.

Biden’s name recognition and a sense among Democrats that he could beat Trump has helped him climb to the top of his party’s crowded presidential field. But Trump said Biden only gained in the polls because he went on the offensive against the president himself, and he linked the former vice president to 2016 foe Hillary Clinton.

“People don’t respect him,” Trump said after touring a renewable energy facility in Council Bluffs. “Even the people that he’s running against, they’re saying: ‘Where is he? What happened?'”

With a dose of exaggeration, the president added: “He makes his stance in Iowa once every two weeks and then he mentions my name 74 times in one speech. I don’t know. That reminds me of Crooked Hillary. She did the same thing.”

At almost the same moment in Mount Pleasant, Biden noted the attention he has been getting from Trump. Biden’s appearances from earlier in the day were playing on TV screens when Air Force One landed in Iowa.

“I guess he’s really fascinated by me,” said Biden, who mentioned Trump by name about a dozen times during his first two events in Iowa. “I find it fascinating.” He started to say more but then stopped himself, quipping: “My mother would say: ‘Joey, focus. Don’t descend. Stay up.'”

Pressed later by reporters about his repeated assurances that he wouldn’t openly criticize Trump while campaigning, Biden said, “By not talking about him personally — talking about where I disagree with him on the issues, why he’s doing such damage to the country — that’s totally different than attacking his character or lack thereof.”

Still, the back-and-forth laid bare the rising political stakes for each man, even with the election about 17 months away. Trump has zeroed in on Biden as a potential threat to his reelection chances and is testing themes to beat him back. Biden, meanwhile, is campaigning as a front-runner, relishing the one-on-one fight with Trump while making sure he doesn’t ignore the demands of the Democratic primary.

“I’d rather run against Biden than anybody,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before flying to Iowa. “I think he’s the weakest mentally, and I like running against people that are weak mentally.”

Biden began the day in Ottumwa, the heart of Wapello County, a meat-packing and agricultural manufacturing center that Trump was the first Republican to carry since Dwight D. Eisenhower. It’s part of Biden’s dual track approach: campaigning for the caucuses while projecting himself as someone who can win in territory Trump snatched from Democrats in 2016, such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

There, the former vice president hit Trump on the economy — an issue the president often promotes as his chief strength in a time of low unemployment.

“I hope his presence here will be a clarifying event because Iowa farmers have been crushed by his tariffs toward China,” Biden said. “It’s really easy to be tough when someone else absorbs the pain, farmers and manufacturers.”

Biden added that Trump “backed off his threat of tariffs to Mexico basically because he realized he was likely to lose” in manufacturing states such as Michigan and Ohio. He broadly branded Trump “an existential threat to this country” and said his behavior is beneath the office of the presidency.

For Trump, the power of incumbency was on display in this state dominated by agriculture interests. As the president toured a plant that produces and sells the corn-based fuel additive ethanol, he signed an executive order to “promote agricultural biotechnology.” He said the measure would help farmers by speeding up the scientific review of their innovative products and help get them to market faster.

“I fought very hard for ethanol, but you proved me right,” Trump said, adding that he fought “for the American farmer like no president has fought before.”

But he then again mocked Biden.

“He was some place in Iowa today,” the president said, “and he said my name so many times that people couldn’t stand it.”

DNR Conservation Officers say charges have been filed a charge and warnings issued, as a result of a boat incident that happened at Browns Lake in northwest Iowa’s Woodbury County on May 25th, that left two people seriously injured.

A citation was issued to Nicole Baker for violating speed and distance rules. Baker was the operator of the boat pulling behind two tubers when the tubers crashed into a stationary boat. Baker was also issued a warning for boat registration violation. Chad Riker, the operator of the stationary boat, was also issued a warning for boat registration violation.

Both tubers are still hospitalized but the DNR does not have specific conditions on either of them.

The Iowa Transportation Commission will hold a public input meeting in Council Bluffs at the Mid-America Center, One Arena Way on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, to hear about transportation matters from representatives of local government, interest groups, and individuals. Items that may be discussed at the meeting include the Iowa Transportation Improvement Program; transportation policies; and highway, aviation, rail, river, bicycle, pedestrian, and public transit issues.

A brief business meeting will begin at 8 a.m. immediately followed by the public input meeting. A detailed agenda will be posted on https://www.news.iowadot.gov/ prior to the meeting.

For more information concerning the meeting or to obtain a scheduled time on the agenda, contact the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Office of Program Management, 800 Lincoln Way, Ames, Iowa 50010, telephone 515-239-1288 or email shawn.majors@iowadot.us. Please include the general topic you wish to discuss. The statements, presentations, or suggestions should be 10 minutes or less.

On Monday, July 8, the commissioners will meet informally and tour transportation projects in western Iowa. No action will be taken on transportation-related matters during the tour.

The Iowa Transportation Commission today approved more than $8.2 million in funding for 69 new rural and urban public transit vehicles for 18 different public transit systems. The new vehicles will replace vehicles past their useful life.

Funds are granted through the Federal Transit Administration’s Bus and Bus Facilities Formula Program as well as the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program.

In Creston, Region 14, the program provides for a minivan with a video surveillance system.

The Iowa Department of Transportation will be closing southbound Interstate 29 from I-80 to Bunge Ave. for approximately two hours this (Tuesday) afternoon for an event that requires traffic control. Through traffic should follow eastbound I-80 to southbound I-35, and local traffic should use eastbound I-80 to southbound U.S. 71.

A portion of the inside lane of northbound I-29 will be closed, but the outside lane will remain open to traffic. Digital message boards will alert travelers to the closures.

Detour information and the latest traveler information is available anytime through the 511 system. Visit 511ia.org; call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide).

Police in Red Oak this (Tuesday) afternoon, arrested a man on a Shoplifting charge. 36-year old Samuel Jacob Whiteaker, of Red Oak, was charged with Theft in the 5th degree. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.