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Klobuchar and Steyer couldn't name Mexico's president while campaigning in Nevada

2020 Democratic hopefuls Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer both couldn't name the president of Mexico when asked during a Telemundo interview while campaigning in Nevada this week.

Posted Updated

By
Paul LeBlanc
, CNN
CNN — 2020 Democratic hopefuls Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer both couldn't name the president of Mexico when asked during a Telemundo interview while campaigning in Nevada this week.

"I forget," Steyer said when asked. Klobuchar offered a simple "no" in response.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was the only one of the three candidates interviewed to correctly name President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

"Yeah, President Lopez Obrador, I hope," Buttigieg responded with a smile.

Obrador was sworn in as president of Mexico in December 2018.

The bungled answers from Klobuchar and Steyer come as 2020 candidates turn their attention to Nevada, which has a large Latino population, ahead of the state's caucuses on February 22.

A notable concentration of Latino voters in the state are in Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas. And with powerful labor groups like the Culinary Union and a political machine built by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the state remains a valuable primary prize. The Culinary Union said this week it would not endorse any candidate before the February 22 caucus.

After Nevada, candidates will turn to South Carolina along with a busy slate of more diverse states that will vote on Super Tuesday like California and Texas.

A Quinnipiac national poll released earlier this month found Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic primary race.

Following Sanders are former Vice President Joe Biden with 17% support, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 15%, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 14%, Buttigieg with 10% and Klobuchar with 4%.

No other candidate received above 2% in the poll.

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