Until now, they have each had good reason for avoiding full contact with the other. And the distinctions they’ve subtly staked out on a range of issues are only likely to grow sharper.
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On Tuesday night, October 13, CNN will host the first Democratic debate for Las Vegas, Nevada with five candidates on stage including frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Clinton has spent months on the defensive, due to the controversy over her private email server and surprised by the strong progressive surge that’s powering Sanders to her left.
While Clinton’s name recognition hasn’t helped her campaign, Sanders has surpassed Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, even though, according to the August CNN/ORC poll, 25 percent of voters have “not heard enough” of the Vermont senator.
While Clinton still elicits more unfavorable than favorable reactions among United States adults (49 percent to 47 percent), she is far more popular than Sanders among Democrats, who view her favorably by 79 to 19 percent, compared to Sanders’ 47-24 percent split, a Washington Post-ABC News poll out Tuesday shows.
Sanders has struggled to improve those numbers so far. “That could be a problem”, Peter Beinart, a foreign policy expert and CNN contributor, said Monday. Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee, the Republican-turned independent-turned Democrat from Rhode Island.
Clinton also knows the unsafe potential of debates.
However, it was Bernie Sanders, using the same intelligence as Clinton and Bush, who opposed the Iraq War. Sanders is 74, and was born months before America entered World War II.
The electronic billboard ad, featuring Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and other Democratic Party contenders is reminiscent of those used for heavyweight fights.
Another area where Sanders seems more in tune with the progressive Democratic base is on Wall Street, especially since he has raised most of his money from small donors – unlike the former secretary of state, who has been relying on big budget fund-raising events with rich contributors. Therefore, it’s likely that Clinton will have to defend her email practices throughout the Democratic primaries while Sanders continues to energize a Democratic base longing for a genuine candidate.
“People will have to contrast my consistency and my willingness to stand up to Wall Street and corporations with the secretary”, Sanders told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. But it’s still possible that Clinton’s rivals – perhaps Webb or O’Malley – will gingerly point to the issue on Tuesday as a way of suggesting that she abhors transparency and scrutiny. Last week, she reversed her support as secretary of state for the Pacific trade deal backed by Obama. “This is a conclusion that I reached from day one”.
Sanders has broadcast that he’s not bothering with formal preparation for the debate.
She has been promising a forthright effort to enact new gun control laws after a string of recent mass shootings.
Once seen as a fresh and accomplished new Democratic voice, the former Maryland governor – partly due to his failure to command much media coverage – is badly in need of a fresh boost of energy. Both are key early-voting states in the nomination process, setting momentum for the rest of the primary race.
“Clinton will no longer be running against herself”: Though frontrunner Clinton is a seasoned politician and consequently the most experienced debater of the candidates, this is her competitors’ chance to change the game.
“She’s rolled out Latinos for Hillary, she has rolled out Women for Hillary, she has met with the leadership of Black Lives Matter, she has checked a lot of boxes walking into this debate”, she noted.
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Clinton’s support among Democratic voters fell 10 points within less than a week.
