With the Democrats' first presidential primary contests only a few weeks away, long shot candidate South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has gone on the offensive against the national front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, The Daily Beast reported on Monday.
This marks a change in strategy for the moderate Buttigieg, who during the campaign up to now had avoided any significant direct confrontation with fellow moderate Biden.
This week alone, Buttigieg has attacked Biden for both the former senator's vote on the Iraq War, which he called the "worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime," and for Biden's son Hunter serving on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company while his father was vice president.
Experts said Buttigieg's change in tactics reflects an attempt to maximize attention as the candidates all compete for momentum with the first states voting soon.
But Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright told The Daily Beast, "I don't think it's a smart strategy, because those who have gone after the VP on the Democratic side have not lived politically to tell about it."
Although the latest national polls show Biden with a large lead over Buttigieg, the South Bend mayor is actually slightly ahead of Biden in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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