South Carolina voters who missed Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s breakout performance in the last Democratic presidential debate can get a taste of it in her new TV ad.
The Klobuchar campaign on Saturday launched a six-figure statewide cable, broadcast and digital buy for an ad that features her knockout closing argument from the debate stage last week in New Hampshire.
“There is a complete lack of empathy in the guy in the White House right now. And I will bring that to you,” Ms. Klobuchar says in a video from the debate closer that helped catapult her to a surprise third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday.
As she continues to deliver her direct pitch to middle-class voters and repeating the line “I know you,” the ad presents a montage of the Minnesota senator shaking hands with workers in hardhats, interacting with an elderly woman, holding a baby, and taking a selfie with an African American woman.
“If you have trouble stretching your paycheck to pay for that rent, I know you and I will fight for you. If you have trouble deciding if you’re going to pay for your child care or your long term care, I know you and I will fight for you. I would love your vote, and I would love the vote of America. Thank you,” says Ms. Klobuchar in the 30-second spot.
She made her brand of being “Minnesota nice” and offering a more-moderate Midwestern sensibility the cornerstone of her White House bid.
Ms. Klobuchar’s strong showing in New Hampshire elevated her to a contender in the next two nominating contests in Nevada and South Carolina.
She has struggled to gain traction in South Carolina, where the first-in-the-South primary Feb. 29 will test the Democratic hopefuls’ support among black voters who in 2016 made up more than 60% of the party’s primary electorate in the Palmetto State.
But momentum out of New Hampshire lifted Ms. Klobuchar to a fifth-place tie at 7% with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the Palmetto State, showed a poll this week by East Carolina University.
She has her work cut out for her in South Carolina. The new TV ad is part of an aggressive campaign to seize the momentum and gain ground in the state.
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden has enjoyed a lead in the state since he entered the race. But his lead has narrowed dramatically in recent weeks and took a hit from his disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire.
He led the field at 28% in the East Carolina University poll, followed by Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont at 20%, billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer at 14% and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 8%.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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