Maria Teresa Kumar did not allow Chuck Todd to derail the truthful narrative that Bernie Sanders will add excitement that will encourage a new base that includes a group of diverse young people.
Maria Teresa Kumar corrects Chuck Todd on Sanders
Chuck Todd came close to throwing his hand up in the air. But he still had time to undermine Bernie Sanders.
“María Teresa, where is this all headed?” Chuck Todd asked. “I mean, it’s a mess”
“Grab the popcorn,” Maria Teresa Kumar answered. “I think the biggest challenge right now is with Bernie Sanders I think the question is that he will grow that electorate base that the Democrats desperately need in order to win. I think he’ll bring in the young people.
“But did he?” Chuck Todd asked about Iowa and New Hampshire. “He hasn’t yet.”
At this point, Kumar did not allow Chuck to get away with the slight.
“No,” Kumar responded. “He has.”
“In this, and so far,” replied Todd. “I mean, youth turnout was down, not up.”
Again, Maria Teresa Kumar made the record clearer.
“No, but in Iowa, you actually saw a constituency of the Latino vote and you actually saw a constituency of young African American votes actually outperform,” Kumar replied. “That is where the new base is coming from. The challenge though is that is he going to turn off a lot of the moderate Republicans and independents that Bloomberg will actually be able to siphon off?”
“Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg won those voters in New Hampshire as well,” said Todd.
In her own way, Kumar pointed out that Buttigieg and Klobuchar did not even bother have a serious ground game.
“Yes, but I think the challenge is that– this is the challenge with both Buttigieg and Klobuchar is that, coming into Nevada, they do not have a base,” Maria Teresa Kumar. “Biden has a base, Warren has a base, and Bernie has a base. Those are the three. And so when you start talking about, and they’ve been working it for a long, long time. And I have to say Elizabeth Warren’s camp, she brought in all the folks from Julian Castro’s camp, but also the same people who made sure that Hillary won last time.”