Bernie Sanders clashed over USA involvement in the Middle East, gun control and economic policy in the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, outlining competing visions for a party seeking to keep the White House for a third straight term. And when she could, she pivoted away from Democratic divides to draw distinctions with Republicans. Prior to last night, the highest-rated Democratic presidential primary debate on cable was CNN’s January 2008 Los Angeles debate, which averaged 8.3 million viewers.
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Clinton’s performance solidified her position as the Democrat to beat. “He didn’t join the democratic party, the democratic party joined him. the things that would be career killers when Bernie Sanders was running…for mayor of Burlington in the 1980s, the things that would have been insane in the Bill Clinton era Democrat Party, are now conventional wisdom. that was an explicitly socialist, redistributionist party, that, as Bernie said, thinks America ought to be should be a large Sweden. good luck trying to have Sweden for 300 million people”. The former secretary of state reiterated her call for more robust US action to stop the Syrian civil war and defended her judgment on global issues, despite having voted for the 2002 invasion of Iraq. “Nobody does, Senator Sanders”, Clinton interjected.
In Trump’s world, no one matters – because they aren’t Donald Trump. “Who knows, maybe a star will be born (unlikely)”, Trump wrote shortly before the debate was to begin.
Democratic presidential candidates from left, former Virginia Sen. Most tellingly, Pivit’s estimation of the chances of Vice President Joe Biden entering the race were down to 35 percent this morning from 84 percent Tuesday morning – it’s just harder to see the need for him.
But Clinton did give Republicans ammunition as she came out strongly in favor of gun control and tighter regulation of banks, and brushed off Chafee’s concerns about her email use.
“I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States”, she said.
“Hillary Clinton looked head and shoulders, above the rest of the field”, said Christy Setzer, a Democratic Strategist and President of New Heights Communications. She often brings up Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s boast about the political damage to her campaign caused by the congressional panel that uncovered her email practices, citing it as evidence of partisanship. Several others states have ballot deadlines in November.
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“They want a president who is truly independent from those relationships of the past”, he said. Pressed specifically on her newly announced opposition to a Pacific Rim trade deal she touted while serving in the Obama administration, Clinton said she had hoped to support it but ultimately decided it did not meet her standards.
