Despite facing criticism of his own billionaire donors, Pete Buttigieg fired his charges in Wednesday night's debate against Mike Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for not being "actual Democrats."
"We've got to wake up as a party – we could wake up two weeks from today, the day after Super Tuesday – and the only candidates left standing will be Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg, the two most polarizing figures on this stage," Buttigieg said during the Democratic presidential primary debate in Las Vegas.
"And most Americans don't see where they fit, if they've got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil, and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power.
"Let's put forward someone who actually lives and who works in a middle class neighborhood, in an industrial midwestern city.
"Let's put forward somebody who's actually a Democrat.
"Look, we shouldn't have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better."
Sanders fired back, reminding Buttigieg's campaign accepted donations from 46 billionaires, included endorsements from Wall Street hedge-fund managers.
"What we are trying finally to do is to give a voice to people, who after 45 years of work are not making a nickel more than they did 45 years ago," Sanders said. "We are giving a voice to people who are saying, we're sick and tired of billionaires like Mr. Bloomberg, seeing huge expansions of their wealth while a half a million people sleep out on the street tonight.
"What we are saying, Pete, maybe it's time for the working class for this country to have a little bit of power in Washington, rather than your billionaire campaign contributors."