Buttigieg faces backlash from rivals
Candidates Biden and Sanders critique his lack of goverment experience ahead of New Hampshire primary.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Rivals of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg moved with urgency Sunday to slow his momentum, sharply critiquing his struggles with nonwhite voters, lack of government experience and indebtedness to wealthy donors.
The 38year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is consistently polling at the top of the field here, just behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, jabbed back. He emerged on all five of the Sunday morning political talk shows — the only candidate to do so — where he made the case that the movement to stop him embodied an arrogant Washington mindset turning voters against Democrats.
“We know that we might look small from the perspective of Washington but for us it is what is going on in Washington that is small and small-minded,” Buttigieg said on CNN’s “State of the Nation.” He said communities in the industrial Midwest and rural America “are frustrated by being made into a punchline by Washington politicians.”
Buttigieg was responding to stepped up attacks led by former Vice President Joe Biden, who posted a new digital ad this weekend mocking Buttigieg’s achievements in South Bend. Biden also unleashed on the former mayor at a news conference Saturday, during which he said “this guy’s not a Barack Obama.”
“He’s right,” Buttigieg said on CNN. “I am not. Neither is he. Neither is any of us running for president. This is not 2008. It is 2020.”
Also on Sunday, Associated Press reported that Sanders’ campaign said it plans to ask for a “partial recanvass” of the results of last week’s Iowa caucuses.
A campaign aide confirmed the plans, ahead of a Monday deadline for candidates to ask the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvass the results. A recanvass is not a recount, but a check of the vote count to ensure the results were added correctly.
The state party released updated results Sunday showing Buttigieg leading Sanders by two state delegate equivalents.
The Associated Press remains unable to declare a winner because it believes the results may not be fully accurate and are still subject to potential revision.
Tracking polls suggested the critiques may be having an effect as New Hampshire voters prepare to go to the polls Tuesday. But those reconsidering Buttigieg are not necessarily aligning with Biden and the one who has arguably been hurt the most as Buttigieg began to dominate the centrist lane of the race following a strong showing in Iowa last week.
While the race remains fluid, Biden is showing little sign of gaining ground. He stepped up efforts to reignite his candidacy Sunday with an interview on ABC’s “This Week” in which he repeatedly critiqued Buttigieg.
“No one has ever won the nomination without being able to get overwhelming support from the African American community,” Biden said. “And, so far, no one’s been doing that but me.”
The former vice president went on to take aim at the scant support Buttigieg has among nonwhite voters.
“He hasn’t been able to unify the black community,” Biden said, pointing to an African American councilman in South Bend who endorsed Biden without even being asked. “To win. you’re going to have to be able to win states like Pennsylvania, you’re going to have to be able to win Florida. We’re going to have to be able to win in a lot of places that in fact have very diverse populations, and so the assertion that he’s ready across the board, I don’t see it.”
The increasing tension in the race was evident as several candidates pivoted to avoid a weak showing in New Hampshire, which could be devastating to their White House aspirations. Biden also directed his fire at Sanders, warning the Vermont senator that identifying as a democratic socialist could hurt Democrats down the ticket.
“You’re going to win with that label, you’re going to help somebody in Florida win with the label democratic socialist?” Biden said.
But even as Sanders attacked Buttigieg, arguing he would not be a champion to working people because he is too indebted to CEO donors, he affirmed on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he would work to get him elected if Buttigieg is the nominee. Sanders said the same about billionaire candidate Michael Bloomberg, a favorite nemesis of his campaign.
But Buttigieg was the focus Sunday because Bloomberg is skipping the first four contests and is not on the ticket in New Hampshire.
“At last count he has about 40 billionaires who are contributing to his campaign, the heads of, the CEOs of the large pharmaceutical industries and the insurance companies,” Sanders said on CBS.
Sanders released a new digital ad in which he makes that case and calls out Buttigieg by name.
The argument was echoed Sunday by fellow New England candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who appeared on ABC’s “This Week.”
Warren is struggling to break into the top tier in New Hampshire, a state that is crucial for her to win.