Most of the attention will be paid to the two frontrunners, but don’t forget that Martin O’Malley will also be on the stage. Though the campaign has promised it would do so ahead of the Iowa caucus, it has at times waffled on that pledge, and Clinton’s team is growing impatient. The NBC/YouTube/Congressional Black Caucus Institute debate will air on NBC broadcast stations and livestreamed on NBC digital platforms, including its YouTube channel. The location lends a new tone to the debate over gun control.
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Clinton and Sanders seem to be fired up about the campaign. Sander’s recent ad may have broken this agreement. As I said, this is not a normal election cycle.
During campaign swings through Iowa and New Hampshire, Bill Clinton treaded fastidiously through tightly controlled campaign events. She’s gotten away from her answer in the first debate that she’s “a progressive who likes to get things done”. If Clinton repeatedly were to attack Sanders, the “Feel the Bern” crowd might not forget it. The setting may give Clinton a chance to confront Sanders on his past votes related to gun control.
Get ready for a new attack: “The Charleston loophole”. Sanders and Clinton have both supported the Iran nuclear deal. The accused Charleston shooter, Dylann Roof, was able to buy the gun used in the shooting in part because of the provision. Had that background check been completed in time, Roof, due to a prior drug conviction, would have been denied the firearm.
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. But they blame supporters of that amendment for having to fight for that three-day waiting period in the first place. “The killer in Charleston who brought that gun, if they had just spent a little more time, it would’ve been discovered, he should not have been able to buy the gun, because he had a federal record”.
Saying that starting over on health care legislation was not politically viable, Clinton told voters, “We still need to live in the reality-based world”.
Sanders, on the other hand, has on the campaign trail discussed a national, single-payer health care system – essentially, expanding Medicare to cover everyone.
Clinton has tried to dismiss Sanders’ proposals as unrealistic and disingenuous. For instance, when Sanders blasted Trump for making derogatory comments about Hillary using the bathroom while the debate went on a commercial.
“I am pleased that Senator Sanders has flip-flopped on legal immunity for gun makers and sellers”.
After Iowa and New Hampshire, the calendar seemingly swings in Clinton’s favor. Barack Obama’s in 2008.
Sanders has a passionate following among young voters and liberals.
The Vermont senator continues to lead the polls in New Hampshire, and now he has closed the gap in Iowa, the state where Clinton’s campaign fell off the tracks eight years ago. Sanders is playing with house money, which puts all the pressure on Clinton to outperform exepctations.
Clinton has worked to make that hard.
Hillary Clinton heads into the next Democratic presidential debate with a 25-point lead over Bernie Sanders, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
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The former Maryland governor has never managed to turn the Democratic primary into a three-way race – he feels farther now than ever from the center of the action.
