Democratic presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar speaks to supporters at her New Hampshire primary night rally in Concord, New Hampshire, U.S. February 11, 2020.
Gretchen Ertl | Reuters
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s campaign for president has raised over $12 million online since last week’s New Hampshire debate, the Democratic candidate told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
Klobuchar had eyed the New Hampshire debate as a chance to further her momentum as a leading centrist candidate, while former Vice President Joe Biden falls behind the pack. She has had a strong run of debate performances, but faces competition from a crowded field of centrist candidates including Biden, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But as Biden has lost pace, a crack for Klobuchar appears to have opened.
Sen. Klobuchar came in third in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary Tuesday, putting her behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Buttigieg. Both Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Biden missed the 15% threshold needed to win pledged delegates.
Klobuchar is hoping she will continue that momentum in Las Vegas, where she will take the debate stage this Wednesday.
New debate rules have opened up the chance for her to go head-to-head with Mayor Mike Bloomberg has he continues to pour money into advertisements and rises in the polls. Klobuchar said Sunday that even as Bloomberg’s record-breaking ad campaign eclipses the other candidates, the playing field will be leveled at the debate stage.
“Is it daunting?” Klobuchar said of Bloomberg’s ad-spend. “Yes. Because I go on your show, take tough questions, and then at the same time he’s running more ads on whatever he wants at the same time, that’s what life is,” she said.
“I think what happens here, is he needs to go on more shows like this, which he hasn’t done. He just can’t hide behind the airwaves, he has to answer questions. And, of course, I think he should be on that debate stage, which eventually he will be. I can’t beat him on the airwaves, but I can beat him on the debate stage.”
The influential Nevada union UNITE HERE Culinary Workers Union Local 226 has said it will not endorse a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate ahead of the state’s caucuses. The Las Vegas Sun endorsed both Biden and Klobuchar.
