Former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg on Saturday fought off intensifying attacks from his Democratic rivals as they battled for votes in New Hampshire, stop two on the road to picking a challenger to US President Donald Trump.
The candidates glad-handed their way across the small, predominantly white northeast state that votes tomorrow, after the 38-year-old moderate Buttigieg and US Senator Bernie Sanders emerged in a dead heat atop the field in a messy Iowa caucus.
Buttigieg has been widely branded by his opponents as too young and inexperienced to take on Trump, and after his Iowa finish the attacks have only sharpened.
Former US vice president Joe Biden, fighting to keep his White House hopes alive after finishing an unnerving fourth in Iowa, tore into Buttigieg as they jostled for support from moderates.
Biden, 77, released a video contrasting the accomplishments of his decades-long political career against Buttigieg’s as mayor.
The ad highlighted Biden’s work on Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal, while belittling Buttigieg’s efforts to install decorative bridge lights and lay new sidewalks in South Bend.
Buttigieg’s campaign responded that the ad “speaks more to where [Biden] currently stands in this race than it does about Pete’s perspective as a mayor and veteran.”
Speaking to supporters in Keene on Saturday, Buttigieg said that the election would define “what it’s like to be an American for the next four years.”
“I am the candidate that is prepared to defeat Donald Trump,” he said.
Buttigieg was scheduled yesterday for what is known in Washington as the “full Ginsburg”: appearances on the five major morning talk shows.
Later on Saturday, at a dinner hosted by the state Democratic Party, Buttigieg appeared to take aim at Sanders, 78, who has been challenged over his age and his “Medicare for All” health plan, which has been labeled as too expensive.
“With a president this divisive, we cannot risk dividing Americans further, saying you must either be for a revolution or you must be for the ‘status quo.’ Let’s make room for everybody in this movement,” Buttigieg told thousands of attendees in a university arena, some of whom replied with jeers.
Sanders used his appearance to tamp down tensions, saying to the crowd: “I know there are differences of opinion in the room. I feel that. I sense that.”
“I know that whoever wins the nomination, we are going to come together to defeat the most dangerous president in this country’s history,” he said.
US Senator Amy Klobuchar — who assailed Buttigieg as a newcomer to national politics during a debate on Friday — kept up the attacks as she rallied supporters in New Hampshire.
Despite the Iowa setback, Biden sought to cast himself as best-placed to mount a centrist challenge to the Republican Trump, who this week survived an impeachment trial that did little to dent his electoral support.
Referring to the deaths of his wife and daughter in a car accident and losing son Beau to cancer, he told the dinner: “I’ve lost a lot in my lifetime, like a lot of you have, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand by and lose this election to this man.”
Yet Biden has all but conceded defeat in New Hampshire, saying that in 2016 Sanders, who represents Vermont, won the New Hampshire primary by 20 points.
At a Biden rally on Saturday, Erin Kerry, a 49-year-old financial analyst from neighboring Massachusetts, said she wished Biden had done better in the debate, but added: “I’m not ready to count him out yet.”
Cameron Landry, a 24-year-old student, said he liked Biden’s experience, but questioned whether he had the grit to take on Trump.
“I think we need somebody that can compete with the reality star. People love reality TV. It’s a dumpster fire and people want to watch,” Landry said.
After New Hampshire, the candidates turn to Nevada on Feb. 22, South Carolina on Feb. 29 and then Super Tuesday on March 3, when 14 states vote.
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is surging in the polls after spending a record US$260 million of his personal fortune on his campaign. He is skipping the first four nominating contests, focusing on Super Tuesday.
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