Amy Klobuchar has racked up another newspaper endorsement as her campaign races to compete with her rivals for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination.
The third-term Minnesota senator, 59, on Sunday earned the support of the Houston Chronicle, an influential newspaper in the Super Tuesday state of Texas, where Democrats will decide on March 3 how its 228 pledged delegates will be split between the eight White House hopefuls still in contention to become the party’s standard-bearer.
“It’s time for Democrats to look beyond fiery speeches, beyond big ticket promises devoid of price tags, and if possible, beyond the cinematic beckoning of that billionaire button-down Messiah stalking your smartphone, and ask: Who can really get things done?” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote.
The outlet added, “In the current field only Klobuchar and Joe Biden have a track record of bipartisan effectiveness in Washington. Biden, in his third bid for president, hasn’t articulated the fresh vision needed.”
Klobuchar and the former two-term vice president, 77, this week, were endorsed by the Las Vegas Sun ahead of Nevada’s Feb. 22 caucuses.
“We remain puzzled at why Biden is not a more effective salesperson for his own policies. A close read of his policy papers makes it abundantly evident there is a genuine vision for a good and prosperous America there. Biden just struggles to express it to voters,” that newspaper’s editorial board wrote.
Both candidates will face different tests during the next three rounds of voting for the Democratic nod.
While Biden has pinned his White House ambitions on Nevada, South Carolina, and Super Tuesday, when more diverse members of the electorate will weigh in on the primary, critics have expressed skepticism over whether Klobuchar’s Midwestern appeal will translate outside of Iowa and New Hampshire, where she exceeded expectations by finishing fifth and third, respectively.
In Nevada, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the pack with an average of 21.5% support, compared to second-placed Biden with 18.5%. Klobuchar trails by a distance with 7%, behind Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, in that order.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Biden’s the front-runner with an average of 28% support, in contrast to Klobuchar’s 3.3%. Klobuchar is edged out in the state by Sanders, Warren, and Buttigieg, as well as billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
At the same time, Klobuchar, who is trying to catch up with her opponent’s more established ground games and touted on the Sunday news shows that she’s raised more than $12 million since New Hampshire, is also facing renewed criticism of her eight years as the top prosecutor for Minnesota’s most populous county.
