Expect considerable contrasts tonight in the presidential debate.
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With the top of the polls tightening, Clinton and Sanders will look to have a strong showing at the debate in Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of the February 1 Iowa caucuses.
The Democratic presidential debate Sunday night may be the liveliest one yet.
According to Goldford, the recent surge by Sanders was not anticipated by the Clinton campaign. Sanders is convinced his campaign can steal some of Trump’s disaffected white, working-class voters, and at times Trump has shown at least some worry about what Sanders can do. His latest TV ad suggests he would be tougher than Clinton on Wall Street. And in New Hampshire, Sanders – a longtime senator from next-door Vermont – leads Clinton by six points.
NBC Anchor Lester Holt will serve as moderator, and the debate is expected to spotlight race relations.
In the days before the debate, Clinton has railed against Sanders’ support for a 2005 law that gave immunity to gun manufacturers, saying he was unwilling to stand up to the National Rifle Association.
Additionally, it’s opened Hillary up to valid charges of hypocrisy; in the early 1990s, she supported reform that stopped just short of enacting single-payer health care, and she openly supported universal health care when campaigning against Barack Obama in 2008.
Clinton, 68, released her medical records in July. There’s a risk in going negative, but more so for Clinton.
Sanders faced a similar quandary. If Hillary wins: The campaign favourite asserts her rightful place over the paper tiger outsider.
Here’s what she said: “Senator Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the [Children’s Health Insurance Program], dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance”.
It seemed unimaginable that a Clinton, particularly a Clinton who could become the first female president in USA history, could be overshadowed in a political campaign this year, and yet that’s now the case. She has stepped up her criticism of her rival, a self-described democratic socialist, after carefully avoiding that during the campaign.
The discussions on these issues have been civil between Sanders and Clinton, but as the race gets tighter, that could change.
Sunday’s debate is in the city where a 21-year-old white man shot and killed nine people attending a prayer service at an African-American church last summer. In the last poll, Clinton led Sanders by 9 percentage points. Hillary Clinton smiled and said, “When I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started”, and she talked about reining in the excesses of capitalism while honoring it as an engine of middle-class growth. The accused Charleston shooter, Dylann Roof, was able to buy the gun used in the shooting in part because of the provision. Clinton offered a forceful endorsement of President Barack Obama, casting herself as his natural heir.
The former secretary of state received 59% support from Democratic primary voters, while 34% support the Vermont senator. “But I ought to get some credit for knowing something about how to run the economy”. She promises to build upon his health care law, take up his push to overhaul immigration laws and curb gun violence.
Winning Iowa remains paramount at this moment, and there is still confidence among Clinton loyalists that the ground operation there is sturdy enough to withstand the challenge from Sanders.
The Sanders campaign had raised more than $3 million since Tuesday, when Clinton ratcheted up her health care critique. Also participating is former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, whose campaign continues to flounder.
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The debate is the last the Democrats will have before the nation’s first ballots are counted. But he can not afford to be a quiet bystander as Clinton and Sanders duke it out.
