WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in Tuesday’s debate that Sen. Elizabeth Warren needs a “reality check” if she is going to accuse her rivals in Democratic presidential nomination of coddling billionaires.

“I want to give a reality check here to Elizabeth because no one on this stage wants to protect billionaires - not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires,” Ms. Klobuchar said, alluding to billionaire Tom Steyer, who wants higher taxes on the wealthy. “We just have different approaches. Your idea is not the only idea.”

The retort came after Ms. Warren suggested that her rivals were going soft on the rich.

“My question is not why Bernie [Sanders] and I support a wealth tax, it is why does everyone else on this stage think it is more important to protect billionaires than it is to invest in an entire generation of Americans?” Ms. Warren said.

Ms. Warren has been on the rise in the 2020 race, and had a bigger target on her back in the fourth debate here in the Columbus suburbs, where she shared center stage with former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and clashed with her rivals over health care, spending and taxes.

Mr. Biden also pushed back against Ms. Warren, saying “no one is supporting billionaires.”

Ms. Warren stood her ground, saying that the federal government will have to start taxing the assets of the uber-wealthy.

“I understand that this is hard, but I think as Democrats we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard - not dream small and quit before we get started,” she said.

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