Buttigieg eyes wide margin of victory
LAS VEGAS — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is joking that he’d let Donald Trump stay in the White House after the November election “if he’s willing to do the chores.”
The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was asked at two consecutive town halls in Nevada on Monday about what he’d do should Trump refuse to leave the presidency after losing the election.
After making the same joke at each stop, Buttigieg said the question makes it important to win the general election by as big a margin as possible.
He told a group of veterans in Reno that he wanted to win “big enough that this election is beyond cheating distance.” Buttigieg repeated that at a Carson City town hall and tied it to his pitch that he can assemble the broadest coalition in November.
Nevada’s Democratic Party says more than 26,000 people cast votes during the first two days of early voting in the state’s presidential caucuses.
The state party said Monday that more than half of those voting on Saturday, the first day, were firsttime caucus-goers.
Nevada Democrats are under intense pressure to pull off smooth caucuses and had to reconfigure their plans after problems at Iowa’s caucuses.
For the first time, Nevada’s Democratic Party is offering four days of early caucus voting, when voters fill out a paper ballot marking at least their top three choices for president. Those votes will be combined with in-person votes at about 2,000 precincts in caucus meetings next Saturday.
Democratic officials did not report any major problems over the weekend, but party officials were overwhelmed by long lines at some caucus sites.
About 84,000 people participated in Nevada’s Democratic presidential caucuses in 2016.
Meanwhile, billionaire Mike Bloomberg, under fire from Democratic rivals who say he’s just an opportunist who’s trying to buy his way to the White House, pushed back with an attack at Sen. Bernie Sanders and supporters, suggesting the socialist is unelectable.
On Monday, the former New York mayor posted a video mashup on Twitter showing aggressive and threatening comments by people who appear to be Sanders supporters, juxtaposed with Sanders calling for “civil discourse.”
Bloomberg tweeted: “We need to unite to defeat Trump in November. This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there.”
That was a slap at claims by Sanders that he is commanding the excitement and energy in the Democratic race.
Most of the leading candidates are campaigning in Nevada for the caucuses Saturday. Bloomberg isn’t competing there. But he might qualify for his first debate, coming Wednesday.