Warren, with girl power plug, boosts Klobuchar in New Hampshire speech
February 11, 2020It was clear Sen. Elizabeth Warren was highly unlikely to win New Hampshire as the early results flowed in. So in her election night speech Tuesday, Warren gave a boost to someone else — the top remaining female contender in the first-in-the-nation primary.
Initial returns showed Sen. Bernie Sanders out to a comfortable lead, followed by former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. But it was Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar who quickly shot out to third place, where she hovered a few points behind Buttigieg.
Warren conceded that she would not come out on top in the Granite State, telling supporters, “Right now, it is clear that Sen. Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg had strong nights.”
But, she added, “I also want to congratulate my friend and colleague Amy Klobuchar for showing just how wrong the pundits can be when they count a woman out.”
While Warren and Klobuchar have somewhat different ideological beliefs — Warren is further left than the moderate Klobuchar — the women share the endorsement of The New York Times, which selected both in part because of uncertainty about whether Democratic voters want to veer further left or tack to the center.
While Klobuchar had been expected to perform well in New Hampshire if not come out on top, evening returns had her 10 percentage points ahead of Warren and even further ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden, who entered the race last year as a huge frontrunner. Klobuchar's strong performance Tuesday will likely be a huge boost to her campaign, which had hovered near the middle of the Democratic primary field for much of 2019.
Warren dropped in another compliment for Klobuchar toward the end of a speech that focused on her recent pitch as the party's unity candidate and emphasized that despite stumbles in the first two states, her campaign is "built for the long haul."
“Amy and I are the only candidates in this race who are not billionaires or supported by Super PACs,” Warren said, repeating a line from last Friday’s primary debate that highlights her focus on removing the influence of money in politics.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
