Buttigieg takes back-to-back hits from Klobuchar, Steyer, and Yang in New Hampshire debate

After his impressive Iowa showing, the knives were out for former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at Friday's Democratic debate.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) went after Buttigieg, who is narrowly leading Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in state delegate equivalents in Iowa, early on in the debate, comparing him to President Trump by saying, "We have a newcomer in the White House, and look where it got us. I think having some experience is a good thing." Klobuchar also criticized Buttigieg for having called the impeachment proceedings "exhausting" and saying it "makes you want to watch cartoons instead."

Soon after, businessman Tom Steyer launched a similar line of attack, saying "you have to have experience" to "take down" Trump.

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"That's why I'm worried about Mayor Pete," Steyer said. "You need to be able to go toe-to-toe with this guy and take him down on debate stage, or we're gonna lose."

Then, it was entrepreneur Andrew Yang's turn to get a hit in. After Buttigieg described how he plans to beat Trump, Yang cut in, telling Buttigieg specifically he's "missing the lesson of Donald Trump's victory," describing Trump as "not the cause of all of our problems" but rather a "symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years and decades." Brendan Morrow