With the first-in-the-nation primaries less than a month away, newspapers in Iowa and New Hampshire are beginning to put out their endorsements in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race.
Unlike the controversial choice by the New York Times to endorse two candidates, so far the major newspapers in the two states have all chosen just one candidate as their pick for the Democratic nomination, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and former Vice President Joe Biden landing key endorsements.
Saying that she “is not the radical some perceive her to be,” The Des Moines Register threw its support behind Warren’s campaign with an editorial published on Saturday.
“We need a president who can work the levers of government to translate ideas into signed laws and effective regulations,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote. “We need a president who understands that the American Dream itself is at risk: the ideal that someone who works hard and plays by the rules can get ahead, and that their children will do even better. With Warren, the Oval Office will be occupied by someone who has made rebuilding the middle class her life’s work.”
The endorsement is a big win for Warren who, along with Klobuchar, was one of the recipients last week of the New York Times endorsement, as it comes just slightly over a week before the Iowa Caucus.
Biden, however, also picked up an endorsement in the Hawkeye State when the editorial board of the Sioux City Journal threw its support behind the former vice president.
Biden “possesses a greater breadth and depth of knowledge on issues domestic and foreign — experience forged over more than 40 years of elected office in Washington, D.C. — than his rivals,” the newspaper’s endorsement, published late Saturday, reads.
The endorsement continues: “He articulates moderate positions on issues more in line with the nation as a whole. Unlike some candidates in this race, he doesn’t guarantee a world he can’t deliver and most Americans don’t want.”
While Klobuchar so far hasn’t picked up any endorsements from news outlets in Iowa, she did grab one in New Hampshire where Democrats go to the polls on February 11.
The New Hampshire Union Leader pitched Klobuchar in their endorsement on Sunday, saying she doesn’t have the “weaknesses” that her rivals do.
“[President] Trump doesn’t want to face her. He is hoping for [Sen.] Bernie [Sanders (I-Vt.)], [former Vice President Joe] Biden, [former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete] Buttigieg or [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren [(D-Mass)]. Each has weaknesses, whether of age, inexperience or a far-left agenda that thrills some liberals but is ripe for exploitation in a mainstream general election,” Union Leader Editor Joe McQuaid and Publisher Brendan McQuaid wrote.
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“Sen. Klobuchar has none of those weaknesses and the incumbent needs to be presented with a challenger who is not easily dismissed,” the endorsement added.
With the Iowa Caucus a little more than a week away, Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are in a statistical dead heat in the state, according to a new CBS poll released on Sunday.
In the Real Clear Politics national average of polls, Biden still holds a commanding lead of just over 26 percent. Sanders is 6 points behind the former vice president with Warren rounding off the top three, more than 8 points behind her Senate colleague. Klobuchar is trailing far behind – pulling in just under 4 percent of the vote in the average of national polls.
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