EXETER, New Hampshire — Amy Klobuchar is about to find out how far her late surge in Iowa and New Hampshire can propel her through the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Klobuchar, 59, exceeded relatively low expectations in Iowa, finishing fifth closely behind Joe Biden, 77, a two-term vice president with significantly greater name recognition.
Now, two tracking polls released in recent days have the Minnesota senator on the precipice of taking third place in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, behind Bernie Sanders, 78, and Pete Buttigieg, 38, but ahead of Elizabeth Warren, 70, and Biden.
The White House hopeful has also raised $3 million and drawn bigger crowds since last Friday’s debate, where the more center-left candidate distinguished herself from the field by being the only contender to confidently raise their hand to indicate they didn’t want Sanders, a socialist, at the top of the ticket in November.
“A lot of people did not think that I was going to make it through the summer or make it to that debate stage. But I more than made it to the debate stage,” she said during a local Rotary Club address Monday in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Klobuchar’s pragmatic, no-nonsense worldview and Midwestern good humor have won her a slither of the Democratic electorate, whether through old-fashioned retail politics or via her stronger debate performances, particularly when she’s confronted Sanders and Warren, for example, over “Medicare for all” and free college, as well as Buttigieg over his lack of experience. It’s earned her endorsements from the New York Times and the New Hampshire Union Leader too.
“I believe that we need a leader, and I think that is me, that will unite our country instead of the infighting,” she said at a more boisterous rally later Monday in Exeter. “I think when you think of the three words that best describe Donald Trump’s political playbook, it is to ‘divide and demoralize.’ Mine is ‘unite and lead.'”
Allan Alec, 70, understands Klobuchar’s appeal. The registered Republican, who doesn’t want to vote for Trump, told the Washington Examiner in Exeter he was considering changing his party affiliation so he could cast a ballot for Klobuchar, but he wouldn’t do the same for Buttigieg or Biden.
“I thought she was very mature, adult, calm, collected, nice sense of humor, but she wasn’t volatile. She wasn’t excited. I thought she was very good the way she handled herself and her questions,” Alec, a local who is in commercial real estate, said after seeing her for the first time at the debate.
Her dark horse status has served as an advantage in that she’s avoided microscopic scrutiny of her record as a corporate lawyer, as the chief prosecutor for Minnesota’s most populous county, her 13 years in the Senate, and whether she can connect with minority Democrats.
But she’s far behind rivals, such as Sanders and Buttigieg, in terms of fundraising and building an effective organizing network, which are both crucial ahead of “Super Tuesday” on March 3, when the candidates are expected to contest 14 states at the same time.
Independent Ted Leffel’s No. 1 voting issue is booting Trump from the White House, and though still undecided, he’ll back the person he believes is best positioned to do that, including Sanders. The Newfields child psychiatrist, 65, noted that Klobuchar’s campaign could have done a better job of advertising her newspaper endorsements.
“I think there are financial issues,” he said at the same Exeter event of her team’s less active ground game. “I think the problem is I don’t know how much time she’s been able to spend in Nevada and South Carolina. I have no idea. That may be just too much of a reach.”
Klobuchar averages 11.7% support in New Hampshire, according to RealClearPolitics, trailing Sanders’s 28.7% and Buttigieg’s 21.3%.
