During the event, North Carolina Rep. G. K. Butterfield sought to distinguish Clinton from Sanders as a candidate with foreign policy experience, achievable goals and an awareness of issues affecting African-Americans. It’s a problem for the former secretary of state as she tries to build the coalition of voters needed to win the Democratic nomination, and she knows it, saying of young voters as she conceded New Hampshire to Sanders that, “even if they are not supporting me now, I support them”. Expect to hear more about the Flint water crisis, criminal justice reform, voting rights and immigration reform. The state is home to a Republican-controlled state government, a polarizing fight over collective bargaining and onetime GOP presidential candidate Gov. Scott Walker.
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Though polls show Clinton has the overwhelming majority of the state’s black voters, Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon said after New Hampshire, she needs a big win to sustain the notion that she has a wider appeal than Sanders.
“We know Hillary”, said Charles E. Shaw, a retired auto body fix worker who lives in rural Kingstree. Jaime Harrison, chairman of the state’s Democratic Party, says they may not even be the majority. It’s not like we’d ever see anything happen where a senator from, say, Minnesota would be whisked into office by a likely illegitimate 312 vote margin, where he would then cast the deciding vote for Obamacare.
Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders snaps a selfie with supporters at a campaign town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, August 1, 2015.
“Yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top”, Clinton said.
Another Republican presidential hopeful, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the son and brother of two USA presidents, is bringing his older brother, former President George W. Bush, to SC to campaign for him.
Ms. Clinton has acknowledged she has “work to do” to introduce herself to young women and new voters.
‘I was involved in the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the march from Selma [Alabama] to Montgomery and directed the voter education project for six years.
Sanders was a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer and participated in the August 1963 March on Washington, where the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
After seeing the two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination go head-to-head for the first time just a week ago, we’re set to see round two of the Clinton-Sanders one-on-one debate dynamic. “I think when Bernie Sanders entered the race, he definitely pulled Hillary to the left… which I think is a good thing”.
If Clinton gets more aggressive, look for whether Sanders attacks her back.
“He only started talking about the issues concerning African-Americans in the past 40 days”, said SC state legislative leader Todd Rutherford, who formally endorsed Clinton on Wednesday. “That is the only way real change will happen”, Sanders’ blurb said, referring to the author of the book, Bill Press. But she’s under pressure to find a way to slow Sanders down and the first chance she’ll get is tonight’s debate.
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Clyburn, who commands a significant political operation in SC where voters will weigh in on February 27, said he will spend the weekend mulling his endorsement. RealClear Politics shows Clinton leading Sanders 62 to 32, on average, but it hasn’t factored in any new polls since January 23 – more than a week before the Iowa caucuses.
