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Pete Buttigieg's campaign called on Michael Bloomberg to drop out of the Democratic presidential race following his rough debate performance, flipping the Bloomberg campaign's argument about the threat of Bernie Sanders back onto Bloomberg.

"Bloomberg had the worst debate performance in the history of presidential debates," the presidential campaign for the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor said, referencing Bloomberg's inability to weather a barrage of attacks from rivals in Wednesday's Democratic debate. "Buying ads isn’t enough to win. You have to show up and answer tough questions. Not only did Bloomberg show that he cannot defeat Bernie Sanders, he showed he isn’t capable of defeating Donald Trump."

The Buttigieg memo was a response to a memo the former New York City mayor's campaign released Wednesday that called on fellow centrist candidates Buttigieg, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to drop out of the race to stop the socialist Vermont senator from amassing a delegate lead in March 3 contests, the first primaries for which Bloomberg will be on the ballot.

"If Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar remain in the race despite having no path to appreciably collecting delegates on Super Tuesday (and beyond), they will propel Sanders to a seemingly insurmountable delegate lead by siphoning votes away from [Bloomberg]," the Bloomberg memo read.

Buttigieg's memo borrowed language from the Bloomberg memo and turned it back on him.

"If Bloomberg remains in the race despite showing he can not offer a viable alternative to Bernie Sanders, he will propel Sanders to a seemingly insurmountable delegate lead siphoning votes away from Pete, the current leader in delegates,” the Buttigieg campaign wrote.

Photo gallery: Key moments from the Las Vegas debate (Reuters)

After the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses and Feb. 11 New Hampshire primary, Buttigieg holds the lead in nominating delegates to the Democratic National Convention. He has 23 delegates, while Sanders has 21, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has 8, Klobuchar has 7, and Biden has 6.



Although Buttigieg holds a lead in delegates, Sanders won the popular vote in both contests. Both the Sanders and Buttigieg campaigns have requested a partial recount of Iowa results, which could potentially change the delegate count.

"During the debate, while others were consumed with Bloomberg, Pete was the ONLY CANDIDATE focused on offering voters an alternative to Sanders's 'burn the house down' approach," the Buttigieg campaign said. "He decisively made the case that Sanders’s polarizing approach was too great a risk to put up against Donald Trump in November."

[ Read more: The Republicans' 2020 plan to turn every Democrat into a 'Bernie Bro']