Source: AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Well, a day after former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
dropped out after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary, Sen. Amy
Klobuchar has now done the same.
She pitched herself as a moderate Midwesterner. Now, she's ended her presidential campaign and endorsed
Joe Biden.
The Minnesota liberal, who ran for over a year, was
marked by solid debate performances that increased her profile, gave her a nice
boost in her war chest numbers, and allowed her to perform above expectations.
Who would think she could finish third in the key New Hampshire primary? Again,
it’s more of a feel-good story; finishing third isn’t good—but it showed that
Amy could hit above her weight class in a field dominated by the Democrats’
lurch to the left.
Klobuchar tried to cast herself as the sensible candidate,
one who isn’t willing to Bern it all down. Her main competition in that
narrative fight was former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg who dropped out this
weekend.
Yet, the fairy tale started to fall apart in Nevada. Klobuchar needed
another solid debate performance to keep treading water at least, and she was
attacked aggressively by Mayor Pete. She did okay in that bout, but it was
clear after Nevada and South Carolina that her stock would only go down from
there.
Bernie Sanders was cleaning up with key groups in the Democratic Party,
like Latinos, young people, and very liberal voters. All demographics under the
age of 45 were feeling the Bern and in a crowded field like this, continued
growth for Amy was probably not going to happen.
With Pete dropping out, the odds of a contested
convention increased according to some pollsters. That would be messy, though
highly entertaining.
I’m not saying Klobuchar dropped out because of this, as
she was a longshot from the get-go, but now the door is truly shut. After Joe
Biden's solid victory in South Carolina, both Amy and Pete dropped out, with Amy throwing her support behind Biden.
So, expect some
collusion stories about this, and whether this is enough to block the Bernie
train (via NYT):
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who entered the Democratic
presidential race with an appeal to moderate voters and offered herself as a
candidate who could win in Midwestern swing states, has decided to quit the
race and endorse a rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., according
to a person close to Ms. Klobuchar.
Ms. Klobuchar will appear with Mr. Biden at his rally in
Dallas Monday night.
The decision comes one day after former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., departed the race,
and after weeks of Democratic Party hand-wringing about a crowded field of
moderate candidates splitting a finite field of centrist votes, allowing
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to march forward unopposed among
progressives and amass delegates.
Joe Biden, who was written off for dead, is now back in
the race—and it very well could be Joe and Bernie duking it out for the top
spot.
The question now is who drops out next?
All eyes on Liz Warren who is
also in the ‘doesn’t have a shot in hell to win the nomination’ category.
