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BOONE, Iowa — The youngest contender in the 2020 presidential race, 38-year-old Democrat Pete Buttigieg, is using an old-fashioned strategy in his closing argument for the Iowa caucuses.

He’s taking aim at the political center and says his campaign won’t apologize for trying to woo Republican and independent voters to join him at Iowa’s Democratic caucus next week.

“It’s about the fact that we need to bring as many people as possible into this process now, to demonstrate how we’re going to win in the general election,” he said in comments after the event.

It’s why he spent part of the day Monday in this city of about 12,000 people in west-central Iowa and why he plans another swing through western Iowa on Friday, including a 2 p.m. stop at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs.

Buttigieg said Democrats must connect, compete and win in places like Boone County, which voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016.

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, participated in a Fox News town hall Sunday night in Des Moines, fielding questions from Chris Wallace, an anchor for the cable TV channel watched by many conservatives.