Klobuchar campaign to focus on smaller states

Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) presidential campaign will work to stay viable in coming primaries with investments in smaller states, according to a memo detailing the strategy ahead of Super Tuesday.

“We will be making new investments on TV and digital in ​Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas and Utah,” campaign manager Justin Buoen said in the memo. “We are also making another six-figure investment on South Carolina TV, as Amy continues to ramp up efforts in the Palmetto state.”

After a surprise third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, the Klobuchar campaign will target states with more conservative, less diverse electorates, particularly those where the other candidates are spending less time.

Establishment Democrats have expressed increased worry that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would win the party’s nomination, especially with several centrist candidates, including Klobuchar, former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, splitting up the anti-Sanders vote.

The field also includes billionaire Tom Steyer, who has been spending aggressively in South Carolina, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-N.Y.), who had a strong performance in last week’s debate, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is set to formally begin competing for delegates on Super Tuesday on March 3, when more than a dozen states will hold contests.

Democrats worried about Sanders have hoped that some of the other candidates might drop out of the race, but there has been little sign that the field will narrow before March 3.

Klobuchar’s campaign said it is preparing an “aggressive schedule” in states such as Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia as well as “key congressional districts where we can acquire delegates, in places like California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Utah, Texas and Maine.”

“Amy currently has 7 delegates, which puts her just one delegate behind Elizabeth Warren. And in the coming weeks, we expect Amy to continue to significantly grow her delegate count,” Buoen added.

“We continue to see that an increase in turnout is at least partly attributable to the record number of Independents and disaffected Republicans who are deciding to vote in the Democratic primary. Amy continues to remain a top choice for persuading Republican and Independent voters we need in order to beat Donald Trump in the fall,” he wrote.

Though Klobuchar finished third in New Hampshire, she fell behind Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg and Warren in Nevada and polls do not show her with high support in South Carolina.

A recent poll of her own state, which votes on Super Tuesday, shows her in the lead but with Sanders just 6 points behind.