DES MOINES — Democrats are making their final arguments before next month’s Iowa caucuses.
During the latest Democrat presidential debate in Des Moines, former VP Joe Biden said this campaign is about character and the “soul of America.” Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar argued that the U.S. needs a change after the “noise and nonsense” of the Trump years.
Healthcare dominated part of the discussion, in which former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg again plugged his plan of “Medicare for all who want it.”
“You don’t have to be in my plan if there is a plan you want to keep,” Buttigieg said. “And there is no need to kick Americans off the plans that they want in order to deliver ‘Medicare for all’, and my plan is paid for.”
Buttigieg is polling third among likely Democrat voters in Iowa, says the latest polling data from Monmouth. Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are first and second.
Sanders denied telling Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren that a woman cannot win the presidential election.
Warren said — “Look at the men on this stage; collectively, they have lost 10 elections.” Warren tried to move past a growing feud with Sanders, saying the Democrat nominee must generate widespread support throughout the U.S. Sanders said, “Of course” a woman can win the White House.
Democrats roundly criticized President Trump’s trade policies. There was also broad agreement on the need to take aggressive steps to curb climate change. Buttigieg used the devastating bush fires in Australia as an example of why he says something must be done.
“In Australia, there are literally tornadoes made of fire taking place,” he said. “This is no longer theoretical. This is no longer in the future. It’s happening now and we need to act.”
The candidates said they could handle the Iran crisis better than President Trump has. Sanders insisted that conflicts should be settled at the negotiating table, not through military action. Biden said he’ll put his foreign policy experience up against any other candidates.
On the subject of race relations in the United States, Buttigieg used his home city of South Bend as an example. Buttigieg said South Bend has been “nationally recognized” for the city’s work “as a race informed city to deliver greater economic justice.”
Tuesday night’s debate was the last debate before registered Democrats in Iowa go to the polls in the Iowa Caucuses February 3rd.
(PHOTO: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
