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Clinton offensive sharpens against Dem rival Sanders

The short trip to the Granite State comes as Sanders’ campaign is riding high, buoyed by strengthening poll numbers against Hillary Clinton nationally, in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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In the past three weeks, Sanders’ campaign has spent about $4.7 million on ads to Clinton’s $3.7 million, an investment that so far has meant 1,000 more Sanders commercials than Clinton ads on broadcast TV, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media’s CMAG.

Clinton is also hemorrhaging supporters, many of whom have switched over to support Bernie’s campaign after learning just how heinous her claims are.

Sanders’ ad hit the airwaves as a new poll sponsored by The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics showed a tightening race in Iowa, with Clinton at 42 percent and Sanders at 40 percent.

After noting she and Sanders are close, host Jimmy Fallon reminded Clinton that she once “had a 20-point lead at one point”.

Sanders has vowed to break up large Wall Street banks that were bailed out during the financial downturn in late 2008 and 2009 and suggested that Clinton would be more lenient in how she would address the financial industry. Barack Obama did it during the 2008 Democratic primary.

Sanders has argued that his message of economic justice should resonate with African Americans once they get to know him better, and in recent months he has put a big emphasis on criminal justice reform, another priority for many black voters.

“I doubt if there’s another figure in public life that could have stood there for 11 hours, answered every question, never
lost her cool, and kept on
going”, he said to loud applause in Keene.

Just behind that ad in frequency is one featuring a registered nurse in Vermont, Mari Cordes. New Hampshire Democrats will vote on February 9.

Finally, Clinton said she was open to considering a woman to be her vice president, if she gets to make that choice.

Clinton’s campaign appears confident that Sanders will not be able to conjure up a similar brand of political magic this time around. “We would pay for it obviously through increased-through premiums”, Sanders said. After spending much of past year engaged in polite policy disagreements, even going long stretches without mentioning Sanders by name, Clinton’s team has unleashed a torrent of attacks on Sanders, focusing in particular on his record on gun control and his refusal to detail the cost to taxpayers of his health care plan.

Clinton pushed back. “What I think people reacted to is that it was a very broad assertion that caught up all Democrats”, Clinton replied. “It’s time to pick a side”, she says, implying that she and Sanders are on different ones.

“One can only draw the conclusion that the Sanders campaign does not want to outline what would amount to a massive tax hike on working families”, said Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s senior policy adviser.

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“The way the legislation that we have introduced in the past was written, and obviously is what we believe in, is that if a Republican governor doesn’t want it, it will be implemented by the federal government”. But Maddow wasn’t buying it. “I have seen the ad that you’re referring to”.

Feel the Bern! Clinton offensive sharpens against Sanders