Democrats make last-minute pitches before Iowa caucuses

Three Democratic candidates for president pitched their electoral viability on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, making last-minute pitches on the Sunday morning talk show circuit.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, argued the party needed a nominee minimally associated with the Washington establishment, just as the past three Democratic presidents — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama — campaigned on that appeal.

Minnesota's Sen. Amy Klobuchar pleaded her case, that she has a track record of appealing to Midwestern voters that Democrats desperately need to take back the White House.

And New York entrepreneur Andrew Yang highlighted the core issue of his campaign, enacting the "Freedom Dividend," which would involve the government paying $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18.

Buttigieg, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," said Sunday: "Every time my party has won the White House, it has been with a candidate who is new in national politics, who doesn't work in Washington or at least hadn't been there very long, and who was opening the door to a new generation of leadership." He continued: "And at a moment like this, why would we take a chance on anything else?"

Asked about Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is leading some Iowa polls, Buttigieg suggested that Sanders would seem too controversial to more moderate voters.

"We can't afford to polarize it at a moment like this," Buttigieg said on CNN. "And it's just not true that you would have to choose between the status quo or a total revolution. There's another way. And that other way happens to be what most Democrats and what most Americans want."

Klobuchar said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday" that the campaign "is an open game here."

She said she trekked across Iowa Saturday, hitting everywhere from the Quad Cities region to Beaverdale, where people were "literally signing up yesterday, committing to caucus."

Commenting on her prospects for the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11, Klobuchar said she's been to the Granite State 22 times. "I'm going to New Hampshire, no matter what," she told Fox anchor Chris Wallace.

"I'm one of only two candidates from the middle of the country, where we need to win as Democrats. I'm someone that's won with moderate Republicans and independents in the reddest of red congressional districts over and over again, because I bring people with me."

Yang, speaking on ABC's "This Week," said of his dividend program that "we need to put the gains of this economy directly into our hands, into families' hands around the country."

He continued, "It’d be a game-changer for tens of millions of Americans, and get this economy working for us again, not the big corporation."

Yang predicted he would perform well in New Hampshire and other states' nominating contests. "I can't wait to take this vision to the rest of the country starting here in Iowa on Monday night. But we'll be in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Super Tuesday."

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.