Even after Hillary Clinton left her position as secretary of state following Obama’s reelection in 2012, the president still regularly meets informally at the White House with Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner.
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The results of the latest poll are virtually unchanged from the results of a poll conducted earlier this month, which showed Sanders with a 49 percent to 44 percent lead.
“We have no plans to sanction any further debates before the upcoming first-in-the-nation caucuses and primary, but will reconvene with our campaigns after those two contests to review our schedule”, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in response to the proposed debate.
Obama hasn’t publicly taken sides – but in a recent interview he said Clinton would be ready to go on Day One, while suggesting that Sanders needs some more scrutiny.
“There’s nothing more in this life that I would look forward to than running against Donald Trump”, Sanders said. “We think there should be at least three or four more debates following the ones that are now scheduled”.
Sanders reminded reporters that both he and Obama voted against the Iraq war, and he praised Obama for lowering the number of American military casualties in the Middle East.
His campaign said Sanders will talk about a wide range of issues, including getting big money out of politics, combating climate change and making college affordable.
In a wide-ranging interview, Sanders called the notion that he must win Iowa’s caucuses against Hillary Clinton “mythology”, but appeared to lower expectations about his challenge to the Democratic front-runner in next Monday’s lead-off caucuses.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday’s meeting has been planned for weeks and doesn’t have a “formal agenda”.
Despite claims that the Democratic National Committee rigged the debate schedule to favor Clinton, campaign staffers have reportedly said privately that additional debates would be welcome because she has been a strong debater.
Asked whether Obama, who beat Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008, had given him advice on how to defeat her, Sanders laughed and said: “No, no”.
APPHOTO WHMC109: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. “That’s work that they’ve obviously done in the past, and that’s work that the president hopes they can do together in the future”, he said.
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Tuesday’s announcement is a boon for Democrats, who have fewer prime-time debate opportunities to appeal to voters. Currently, the next official debate is scheduled for February 11 in Wisconsin, two days after the New Hampshire primary.
