Amy Klobuchar praised, clashes with Pete Buttigieg in Democratic debate

Amy Klobuchar produced one of the standout performances from the latest Democratic debate on Thursday night.

The Minnesota senator was among seven candidates who qualified for the debate, and has received praise for her performance, during which she clashed with rival Pete Buttigieg.

Both Klobuchar and Buttigieg are fighting it out for moderate Democratic voters, and Klobuchar called into question the South Bend mayor's political record.

Arguing that Democrats will need moderate Republicans and independents along with a "fired up Democratic base" to beat Trump, she laid out her own credentials of winning counties in Minnesota that Trump himself carried in 2016.

When Buttigieg fired back that he managed to win "as a gay dude in Mike Pence's Indiana," Klobuchar responded by saying: "If you had won in Indiana that would be one thing — you tried and lost by 20 points."

This was referring to Buttigieg's failed statewide run for treasurer in 2010, when he was just 28 years old.

Buttigieg also clashed with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who criticized him for his meetings with wealthy donors, with Warren joining the likes of Sanders in shunning donations from the super rich.

Warren criticized Buttigieg for recently hosting a fundraiser in a Californian "wine cave," before Klobuchar jumped in to defuse the situation between two of her fellow Democrats.

"I did not come here to listen to this argument," she said. “I came here to make a case for progress."

She added: "And I have never even been to a wine cave. I have been to the wind cave in South Dakota, which I suggest you go to."

CNN ranked Klobuchar among the winners of the debate, saying she benefited from the smaller number of candidates on the stage, which allowed her to speak more often.

She also won plaudits for her answer on the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

“This is a global Watergate. In the case of Watergate, a paranoid president facing election looked for dirt on a political opponent. He did it by getting people to break in," she said. "This president did it by calling a political leader to look for dirt on a political opponent,”

Vox.com also had Klobuchar as one of the three winners on the night, saying we saw "a very different" senator on the debate stage, one who was "in a groove all night."

She also offered "clear, substantive responses to policy questions" as she seeks to stand out as the moderate alternative to Joe Biden.