But things were very different Wednesday night as Sanders and Clinton squared off in an often-contentious debate.
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One of the memorable moments from Wednesday night’s debate was the question posed by Guatemalan immigrant Lucia, a mother of five children, who spoke about her husband’s deportation three years ago.
The parties were 180 degrees apart on immigration.
Trump rocked the GOP race last summer with his call for building a wall across the entire length of the U.S-Mexico border and for deporting all 11 million people in the country illegally – a position out of step with the party’s stated goal of comprehensive immigration reform.
At a Democratic debate in February on MSNBC, however, Clinton hammered Sanders for opposing a bipartisan comprehensive effort to reform the immigration system during the George W. Bush administration.
“This is a marathon and a marathon that can only be carried out by the type of inclusive campaign I’m running”, Clinton said.
Despite Hillary Clinton’s historic success in OH, supporters of Bernie Sanders are optimistic about the senator’s odds in Ohio’s primary election Tuesday. Exasperated, she said she wouldn’t even answer the question.
But Sanders said that was a distortion.
Mr. Sanders dealt Mrs. Clinton a surprise blow on Tuesday night after winning MI by 2 percentage points, even though he had trailed the former secretary of state by double digits in every poll taken before the contest.
The biggest disagreement was with Obama.
“I happen to agree with President Obama on many, many issues”, the Vermont senator said.
Sanders, as he has in the past, declined to bite on the issue, saying, “The process will take its course”. “I mean first of all, as I understand him, he’s talking about a very tall wall”.
“Please know how courageous I think you are, coming here with your children to tell your story.
When asked the difference between the fencing and security measures she and Sanders voted for during their time in the Senate and Trump’s proposal, Clinton fired back, “It’s just a fantasy”. “I want to, as I said, prioritize who would be deported: violent criminals, people planning terrorist attacks, anybody who threatens us”. Aho says, “I really thought that trump was going to do well and he did”. Whether that makes them effective legislators, is another matter.
It was a reminder of the 2008 presidential debate when Clinton was asked why people thought she was not as “likable” as her then-competitor Obama. Although Mrs. Clinton lost MI, she defeated Mr. Sanders handily in Mississippi.
Sanders and Clinton promised to help Puerto Rico restructure its enormous $70 billion dollar debt and reaffirmed their commitment to Puerto Ricans as citizens of the United States deserving of and equal opportunity to get back on their feet.
Sanders went after Clinton, saying sarcastically that her words had “intimidated Wall Street” and claiming she had received over $15 million in campaign donations. “And all of these actions, by the way, in Latin America, brought forth a lot of very strong anti-American sentiments”. “But on the other hand, it would be wrong not to state that in Cuba they have made some good advances in health care”.
THE FACTS: Clinton is right that Sanders opposed the immigration liberalization, but that doesn’t make him an opponent of that goal. I did not send or receive any emails marked classified at the time. He also used his catch phrase “yuge”, during the debate.
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“I think that the American people are never going to elect a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims, who insults women, who insults African-Americans”, Mr. Sanders said.
