Democrats trade barbs

MANCHESTER, United States: Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg locked horns in their fight for the US Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday as they scrambled for votes with just two days to go before New Hampshire’s closely-watched primary.

The 78-year-old Vermont senator and the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana came top of the first contest in Iowa -- marred by messy confusion about the result -- giving each momentum as Democrats seek a candidate to take on Donald Trump in November.

Sanders, a leftist who won the New Hampshire primary by a landslide in 2016, led in four polls released Sunday, each of which had the moderate Buttigieg in second followed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and then former vice president Joe Biden.

"I think we have an excellent chance to win," Sanders told CNN as he started a final push on the ground in the small northeastern state. With the primary season underway in earnest, earlier collegiality among Democrats has fallen away.

"I am running against a candidate, Pete Buttigieg, among others, who has raised contributions from more than 40 billionaires," Sanders told CNN. "Our support is coming from the working class of this country."

His campaign, based heavily on small donors, says it raised $25 million last month. Buttigieg, appearing separately on CNN, turned aside the billionaire charge, quipping, "Well, Bernie’s pretty rich, and I would happily accept a contribution from him."

Turning serious, he said he was "building the movement that is going to defeat Donald Trump," boosted by donations from some two million people.

Both Buttigieg and Biden -- whose status as national frontrunner for the nomination was shaken by taking fourth-place in Iowa’s caucuses -- said it would be much harder for the party to defeat Donald Trump in November if Sanders is its flag-bearer.