Pundits Declare ‘KLOBMENTUM’ as New Hampshire Results Come in: ‘She’s Starting to Catch Fire’

The results from the New Hampshire 2020 Democratic primary are still coming in, but political pundits are declaring a momentum winner: Amy Klobuchar.

Early projections show the Minnesota senator in third place among her fellow Democrats, seemingly exceeding the expectations of many in the media. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are both ahead of Klobuchar as of this writing, but even as CNN’s Gloria Borger acknowledged that, she noted the “Klobmentum” that has been bubbling up since last week’s primary debate.

“When I was in New Hampshire over the weekend, I went down a line of people and asked ‘did you watch the debate?’ Every single person waiting to get in a Pete Buttigieg rally told me they watched the debate carefully. We all know that Amy Klobuchar did well in that debate. I believe now she’s in a battle with Pete Buttigieg for second which would be incredibly surprising.”

Van Jones heaped similar praise on the Minnesota senator, saying, “I think the biggest excitement is Amy Klobuchar,” adding  “she’s starting to catch fire” despite having been “written off.”

“That’s the thing about politics: you never know when your moment is gonna come,” Jones said. “Her moment came on Friday.”

On MSNBC, Steve Kornacki noted how Klobuchar is behind Buttigieg and Sanders, but excelling in several areas while topping Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. Since Klobuchar was projected to be neck and neck with Mayor Pete, Kornacki summed up the situation by saying “we talked about the polling in the last few days, the indications over the weekend there might be late movement to her. The numbers you’re seeing are absolutely consistent with that. Amy Klobuchar is real right now.”

At Fox News, Marc Thiessen said it would Warren will be electable “dead” if Klobuchar beats her in New Hampshire. As Bret Baier acknowledged how Biden has been bleeding supporters lately, Kristen Stolis Anderson noted Klobuchar’s debate performance and the indications that many New Hampshire voters made their voting decision in the last few days.

Outside of the TV talking heads, here’s what the online conversation has been like

Bernie Sanders will have a decisive victory tonight.

Klobuchar surging and Pete continuing to do well are note worthy, but the story is Bernie Sanders will win NH by a comfortable margin.

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) February 12, 2020

Raise your hand if you thought a few months ago a 5th place Klobuchar finish in IA could translate into a top-three finish in NH. Turns out, debates matter.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 12, 2020

Klobuchar just inched past Buttigieg in the battle for the middle. https://t.co/WibrasVB8N

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 12, 2020

The Amy Klobuchar election night party is starting to fill up. There are tons of reporters here. #fitn #nhpolitics pic.twitter.com/VvPdtGUaYu

— Cate Martel (@CateMartel) February 12, 2020

Klomentum!

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) February 12, 2020

A few early observations:
–Klobucharge is real
–Warren and Biden, yikes.
–Sanders, like in Iowa, is doing quite a bit worse in older rural areas than ’08. Wasn’t really sure whether that was likely in NH for a few reasons, but here it is

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 12, 2020

Newly-released CNN exit poll at 8pm (2,500 respondents): Topline totals are in line what we’re seeing so far.

age 18-29: Sanders 53%, Buttigieg 18%.
age 65+: 35% Klobuchar, 22% Buttigieg, 15% Sanders.

Sanders way up among liberals (33%).
Klobuchar up among moderate/cons (28%)

— Taniel (@Taniel) February 12, 2020

Watch above, via CNN, MSNBC, Fox News.