MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Democratic presidential primary debate began Friday with Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg piling on Bernie Sanders, expressing concern that a self-described democratic socialist won’t be able to defeat President Donald Trump.
Asked by moderator ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos if they would be afraid of having a democratic socialist on top of the ticket in November, Klobuchar, D-Minn., was the only one to raise her hand.
Meanwhile, Biden opened the debate saying he would “probably” suffer an underwhelming performance in New Hampshire after a fourth-place showing in Iowa earlier this week.
“I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll probably take a hit here,” the former vice president said.
The candidates launched into a back-and-forth on health care, during which Klobuchar and Biden ganged up on Sanders, claiming his “Medicare for All” plan was unrealistic. The Minnesota senator said it would never happen because a majority of Democratic senators don’t back it.
“Imagine you’re going to unite the country, walking into the Congress and saying, ‘I got this bill. It’s going to provide Medicare for everybody,” Biden said. “I can’t tell you how much it’s going to cost. We’ll find out later.'”
The Vermont senator fired back, suggesting Biden’s plan will cost more than $50 trillion over the next decade. “That’s the status quo, Joe,” Sanders said.
Buttigieg wasn’t clear of incoming fire himself. Biden and Klobuchar took him on for saying that the country needs a leader who hasn’t been a part of Washington politics.
“The politics of the past, I don’t think we’re all that bad,” Biden responded, before ticking off his accomplishments.
“We have a newcomer in the White House, and look where it got us,” Klobuchar said.
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She also criticized the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for saying in Iowa that the impeachment hearing “was exhausting to watch and that you wanted to turn the channel and watch cartoons.”
The debate features seven of the top Democratic presidential primary contenders squaring off in New Hampshire, days before the state holds its crucial first-in-the-nation primary vote Tuesday.
The face-off is also the first time the Democratic candidates have taken to the debate stage since Trump was acquitted on impeachment charges in the Senate. Three of the candidates on Friday’s stage voted to convict Trump on both the abuse of power and the obstruction of Congress charges.
Candidates also were asked about Republican probes into Biden’s son Hunter, which appear to be ramping up with the impeachment trial having ended.
Buttigieg said that effort does not concern him.
“And we’re not going let them change the subject,” he said. “This is not about Hunter Biden or Vice President Biden or any Biden. This is about an abuse of power by the president.”
“Look, the vice president and I and all of us are competing, but we’ve got to draw a line here,” he continued.
He charged that Trump was trying “to weaponize a son against his own father” and called it “an unbelievably dishonorable thing.”
Biden thanked Buttigieg for his remarks and called the effort to investigate his son “a diversion.”
“But here’s the deal: whomever the nominee is, the president is going to make up lies about,” Biden said. “He thinks he has free rein right now.”
Biden then called on the audience to stand up and cheer for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council official who testified in the impeachment probe and Friday was removed from his job and escorted off the White House grounds.
“And by the way, Col. Vindman got thrown out of the White House today,” Biden said. “I think we should … be pinning a medal on Vindman and not on Rush Limbaugh. I think we should all stand and give Col. Vindman a show of how much we supported him. Stand up and clap for Vindman.”
The crowd rose to its feet and cheered.
On stage are Biden, Sanders, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and billionaire activist Tom Steyer. The debate is hosted by ABC News and Apple News and is being held at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.
Recent polling shows Sanders ahead in the state, followed closely by Buttigieg. Warren and Biden are further back and tied for third, according to the RealClearPolitics average of New Hampshire polls.
Expected to run about three hours, the debate comes after days of chaos stemming from the Iowa caucus confusion as results were delayed after what organizers said was a problem with a new smartphone app built to report the totals. The state party said problems with reporting those results were partly due to “coding issues” with the app.
Although the Iowa Democratic Party has now reported 100 percent of the total, an NBC News Decision Desk review of the data found that the totals are rife with potential errors and inconsistencies that could affect the outcome of the election, and the Democratic National Committee has called for a recanvassing. As it stands, Buttigieg was reported to have finished with 26.2 percent of the state delegate equivalents, while Sanders finished with 26.1 percent.
Both candidates have claimed victory.
While Buttigieg, fresh off the strong performance in Iowa, is likely to face incoming fire from his Democratic rivals in Friday’s debate, the contest carries added weight for candidates such as Biden, Warren and others who seek a strong New Hampshire finish in order to build momentum heading into Nevada, South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states over the coming weeks.
