ATLANTA — Two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination stumped in Atlanta Monday, visiting the city ahead of Wednesday’s debate at Tyler Perry Studios.
Democrat Pete Buttigieg of Indiana was inside the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on Morehouse College's campus to chat with African-American voters, and trying to build on polling gains he has reportedly made in the first caucus state of Iowa.
He was named the front-runner in Iowa by a Des Moines Register / CNN poll released over the weekend – ahead of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Minnesota US Sen. Amy Klobuchar took a smaller step up the candidate ladder in the Iowa poll.
Like Buttigieg, she was in Atlanta to prepare for Wednesday’s debate – in part, by talking with a panel about voter suppression. That’s been a go-to topic among Georgia Democrats for more than a year. Klobuchar joked afterward that the session also gave her a pre-debate workout.
“We’re practicing how I answer questions and then go back and and (staff) tell me, ‘oh you messed up,’” Klobuchar said.
Like other Democrats running for president, Klobuchar is fixated on Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primary and caucus states. Georgia’s March 24 primary is more than halfway down the primary calendar – a time when the candidate field is likely to be much smaller.
But Klobuchar predicts Democratic voters will want a more centrist candidate, like her, to be on the ballot in November. Klobuchar opposes some of the more liberal stances of candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, opposing Medicare for all and universal free college tuition.
“I think we want someone who heads up a ticket that’s going to allow Democrats to win in Georgia. We need someone who is going to bring people in and not shut them out,” Klobuchar said.
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