Pete Buttigieg cancels Florida fundraisers citing sickness
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has cancelled a string of events in Florida because of an illness.
A spokesman said Mr Buttigieg was sick with a cold. He will attend an event in South Carolina and meetings in Washington next week as planned.
Three of the Florida events were fundraisers, with Mr Buttigieg hoping to raise $13m for his campaign before the Super Tuesday primaries on 3 March.
Mr Buttigieg has been knocked by other candidates for accepting money from billionaires and for holding a California fundraiser in what his adversary Elizabeth Warren called a “wine cave”.
Florida may prove to be a crucial primary state when it votes on 17 February thanks to its large haul of delegates. However, Mr Buttigieg must first get through primaries in South Carolina, the Super Tuesday states and several others.
Mr Buttigieg scored two important results at the start of the primary process, claiming victory in the disputed Iowa caucuses and placing a close second after Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.
But he came a mediocre third in the Nevada caucuses and has yet to pull away from the rest of the candidates in national polls, where Mr Sanders is surging.
He has also been criticised for apparently plagiarising Barack Obama’s back catalogue of inspirational speeches.
