Tulsi Gabbard’s spoke to a house party at the home of state Rep. Mary Beth Walz and Harry Judd, a member of the Bow board of selectmen. Paul Steinhauser / For the Monitor

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii said any of her 2020 rivals who’ve pledged to take action through an executive order as president if Congress doesn’t act are wrong.

During a campaign stop Thursday in Bow, Gabbard described how Republicans railed against President Barack Obama for his increasing reliance during his second term on the use of the executive order, which is a rule or order by the president that carries the weight of law. It has been used by presidents to get around inaction from Congress.

Gabbard then noted Democratic criticism of President Trump for a flurry of executive orders he’s issued the past couple of years.

Then she turned to some of her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“We’ve heard from some of the other candidates running for president, ‘well if Congress doesn’t do this, I’m going to do it by executive order. If Congress doesn’t do their job, I’m going to do it by executive order,” she noted. “That’s what’s Trump is doPoling…. and that’s wrong.”

The two contenders she may have been referring to are Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who’ve both discussed taking action by executive order if elected – if Congress fails to pass their proposals.

“I have a great respect for the legislative authority that Congress has and understand how important it is that the executive branch not overstep those bounds because our legislative branch is built to represent the people,” said Gabbard, who’s serving her fourth term in Congress.

“If you take that power away – that representative form of government away – you put all that power in the hands of one individual – from whatever party – then you’re undermining this form of governance that our founders laid out for us of this representative democracy,” she added.

Gabbard’s comments came as she headlined a house party at the home of state Rep. Mary Beth Walz and Harry Judd, a member of the Bow board of selectmen.

Coming Soon: Biden ads

Former Vice President Joe Biden will spend $6 million to run digital and TV commercials in the early-voting primary and caucus states, his campaign said Thursday, as he attempts to keep pace with Warren, currently his main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz said time is being reserved on “prime advertising space on traditional television and on digital platforms like YouTube, Hulu and news and sports streaming services” in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, the first four states on the presidential nominating calendar.

The move comes a week after Warren’s campaign said it would shell out at least $10 million to run digital and TV spots in the same four crucial states.

Schultz was in New Hampshire on Tuesday, for his first early state visit since coming on board as Biden’s campaign manager.

“I know that the path to victory does not run through a national headquarters,” he noted during a conversation with the Monitor and two other Granite State based news organizations.

Schultz highlighted the campaign’s Granite State operation, noting “we have eight field offices. We have another we’re going to be opening up, announcing here very soon. We have 50-plus staff in the state. That number will be growing.”

And pointed out “that’s very much in-line with other tier-one candidates” such as Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Schultz emphasized that the electorate that will vote in February’s primary is much larger than the activist class that’s making a lot of noise right now on Twitter.

“I think there’s an under-appreciation of what the Democratic Party looks like and who actually makes up the Democratic Party. Joe Biden is the candidate who most represents the current Democratic Party. What happens is the louder part of the party – which is often driven by social media – often gets a larger bandwidth than it represents as part of the narrative,” he said.

Schultz predicted that “given the coalition we have built and the type of candidate Joe Biden is and the way we structure our visits here to the state, we’re going to appeal to those voters who may not be showing up on social media.”

Schultz also said visits by Biden to New Hampshire will pick up in frequency as the primary nears.

Bartlett endorses Booker

Four-term state Rep. Christy Bartlett of Concord is backing Sen. Cory Booker’s bid for the White House

“After years of Trump’s division, we need a nominee who will work to bring together and heal our country and our world, which is why I’m endorsing Cory Booker for president,” Bartlett said Wednesday in a statement.

Bartlett said she decided to back Booker after watching his speeches last month at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s annual convention and later at “Politics and Eggs.”

The Booker campaign highlighted that Bartlett – who represents Concord Ward 10 – is the 85th Granite State endorsement for the senator from New Jersey – more than any other Democratic presidential candidate.

Booker’s big plans

Booker released a plan on Thursday that he says would cut the U.S. child poverty rate by over two-thirds.

“When it comes to child poverty, we cannot be silent. In the richest country in the world, we have a moral responsibility to look after each other and make sure that every child living in America has the opportunity to grow and thrive,” Booker said in a statement.

Booker noted projections that his plan would cut childhood poverty from nearly 15% down to 5%, lifting 7.3 million children out of poverty.

He released his plan days after a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that in New Hampshire one-in-10 children are living in poverty, nearly one-in-10 families are food insecure, and that New Hampshire’s one of just 10 states where the percentage of children living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty is rising.

Warren also released a plan on Thursday – to strengthen the rights of workers and labor unions. And she vowed to “remake the federal courts with nominees who support working people.”

Her proposal outlines five broad goals – extending labor rights to all workers, strengthening collective bargaining and the right to strike; raising wages and protecting pensions; increasing worker choice and control; and expanding worker protections, combating discrimination and improving enforcement.

As recently spotlighted by the Monitor, a report from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute found that Granite State workers saw their wages decline compared to inflation over the past decade.