MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sen. Amy Klobuchar, looking to rise in New Hampshire ahead of its upcoming primary, swiped repeatedly at her leading rivals in Friday night's Democratic presidential debate.
Early on, Klobuchar raised her hand first when the moderator asked if any of Sen. Bernie Sanders' opponents were worried about a socialist leading the party's ticket in November.
"Bernie and I work together all the time," Klobuchar said of the Vermont senator. But, she said, "I think we need someone to lead this ticket that brings people together rather than shutting them out."
Klobuchar said Democrats need a candidate who can "bring people in from the middle," saying that would be "Donald Trump's worst nightmare." She said she's in the best position to be that candidate.
Within minutes, Klobuchar was mounting an even sharper attack on her fellow Midwesterner, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. She cited a remark he made in Iowa that the Senate impeachment trial was "exhausting" and "makes you want to watch cartoons."
"It is easy to go after Washington, because it's a popular thing to do," Klobuchar said to Buttigieg. "It is much harder to lead and take difficult positions. But it's popular to say and it makes you look like a cool newcomer. We have a newcomer in the White House and look where it got us."
Buttigieg responded that "the reason I raise that sense of exhaustion is that I see it. I see that temptation of folks to walk away from it."
Klobuchar's early hits on Sanders and Buttigieg reflect the new landscape in the Democratic race, with the former Indiana mayor and the Vermont senator on the rise after their close first- and second-place finishes in the Iowa caucuses.
