MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Pete Buttigieg took heavy fire from his 2020 rivals, who were desperate to blunt his momentum after a stronger-than-expected finish in Iowa.
The six Democrats onstage at the New Hampshire debate Friday night with the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, touted their own electability and the need for party unity as they tried to counter the 38-year-old’s surge in the state ahead of the primary election next Tuesday.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, directed the first blow against Buttigieg, knocking him as the “mayor of a small city.” (South Bend’s population is just under 102,000.) Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, dug at him over the “40 billionaires” who have donated to his efforts.
Amy Klobuchar piled on, criticizing him for his attitude toward President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, reminding her opponent the country already had “a newcomer in the White House.”
“I think having some experience is a good thing,” said the Minnesota senator, 59, who delivered a much-required strong debate performance to keep her presidential ambitions alive.
Even entrepreneur Andrew Yang, 45, returning to the stage after failing to qualify for the Iowa round, took a shot at the mayor, claiming he was “missing the point” of the Democratic race for the nomination.
“Donald Trump is not the cause of all our problems, and we are making a mistake when we act like he is,” he said.
Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, 62, also reprised his undercut at Buttigieg over his struggles to appeal to minority Democrats ahead of the early voting contests in Nevada and South Carolina. The issue was raised again when a moderator pressed him on his criminal justice record as his city’s executive.
In response, Buttigieg pushed how he believed he would bring to the Oval Office “the perspective” of “someone whose life has been shaped by the decisions made in those big, white buildings in Washington, D.C.”
“I freely admit that if you’re looking for the person with years of experience under their belt, you got your candidate and it’s not me,” he said, before adding that “this moment is different” and that the nation needed “to leave the politics of the past in the past.”
Buttigieg, in turn, jabbed at Sanders, his chief competitor in New Hampshire, according to tracking polls since Iowa, for not standing for “politics of addition, inclusion, and belonging” but rather a “politics that says, ‘It’s my way or the highway.’”
When candidates were asked whether they were concerned about having a socialist at the top of the ticket in the fall, only Klobuchar raised her hand with conviction, arguing the Democratic Party could not “out-divide the divider-in-chief.” She later admitted she liked the senator “just fine” after Hillary Clinton’s recent comments asserting he had few friends in Congress.
Meanwhile, Sanders pressed the importance of unity, promoting the turnout of his supporters in Iowa in the Feb. 3 botched caucuses, despite it being on par with 2016 levels rather than the high watermark of 2008.
As in previous debates, “Medicare for all” and foreign policy were wedge issues among the contenders.
Biden grilled Sanders for being unable to provide costings for his vision of “Medicare for all.” Klobuchar said he lacked the backing in the Senate for his signature bill to be even brought to the chamber’s floor and that “it would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance.”
Yet they were united in their scrutiny of Michael Bloomberg, 77, who is only competing in the 14 “Super Tuesday” states that weigh in on the primary on March 3.
Elizabeth Warren, 70, had been seeking a solid showing to kick-start her flagging presidential bid, but the Massachusetts senator had a quiet night.
A notable moment during the three-hour event was when the former vice president implored the studio audience gathered at St. Anselm College in Manchester to stand up and applaud Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in Trump’s House impeachment investigation who was frog-marched off White House grounds Friday afternoon.
The seven White House hopefuls, fresh off of Iowa’s bruising opening caucuses marked by more pointed attacks and vote-counting irregularities, faced questions ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11.
Biden was honest about his own chances in New Hampshire, days after his stinging fourth place finish in Iowa.
“I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll probably take a hit here,” he said. “Bernie won by 20 points last time, and usually, the neighboring candidates do well.”
Sensing the significance of the debate as an opportunity to reassert themselves in the race or prepare for a barrage of anticipated salvos coming their way, many of the contenders disappeared from the campaign trail or had quieter schedules than reporters had grown accustomed to in the run-up to Iowa.
Qualifying hopefuls still in the contests will next meet on a debate stage at Nevada’s Paris Las Vegas on Feb. 19 before the state’s caucuses three days later on Feb. 22.
