As the Democratic presidential-nomination race closes in on the Iowa caucuses, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is beginning to feel like its hare, rather than its tortoise, and both she and her husband are ruing their decision not to attack her strongest rival, Sen.
Advertisement
The Clintons believe she can still win the February 1 caucuses in Iowa and the February 9 primary in New Hampshire despite Sanders’ now being virtually tied with her in many polls.
During campaign swings last week, Bill Clinton appeared at tightly controlled events and didn’t given any interviews.
Sanders tends to get support from liberal Democrats while centrists prefer Clinton, but the endorsements this week don’t fit that pattern precisely. “The problem though for Clinton is that she’s moved to the left to guarantee that she gets the nomination which might make it a little bit harder for her to move back to the right or to the center in the general election”. The Real Clear Politics average shows Clinton with a four point lead, with some polls showing the two tied and a recent Quinnipiac poll actually showing Sanders with a five point lead. Clinton’s campaign has gone from practically ignoring Sanders’ presence to directly engaging with him in debates and acknowledging him as a serious opponent.
Sanders, speaking to reporters in Hanover, New Hampshire, dismissed the Clinton charges. It will feature Clinton and Sanders as well as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. But asked about what differentiated Clinton from Sanders, Ford said it was really more about timing – about his view that, this year, she is the more qualified to be president.
KCCI political analyst Dennis Goldford said one reason for Sanders’ increase is that some Clinton supporters are leaving her camp and becoming undecided voters.
Hillary Clinton said that Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders has changed his mind on gun control. “The danger is that you also make yourself an exponent of governance the way people see it today”.
Instead Clinton, who entered the race as the prohibitive favorite, played it safe, opting for as few debates as possible, scheduled at times when viewership was likely to be low, like a Sunday on a long holiday weekend.
“No one knows who the hell Bernie Sanders is”, said New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, an African-American Clinton backer who attended a dinner Saturday night for South Carolina Democrats. Students will have the opportunity to meet with Sanders and his campaign officials as well as with influential Black leaders in their communities. “That really explains the division in the party”, pollster J. “She said, ‘Are you out of your mind?” Sanders has also gained a 5-point lead over the Democratic front-runner in Iowa, another key state, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. She agreed with the roughly half of Democrats that told Reuters/Ipsos that the former president “should take a prominent role” campaigning for his wife and that it would help her.
And look at former presidential candidate and single-payer advocate Howard Dean, Bernie’s fellow Vermonter, who went on MSNBC this week and said that the Sanders plan “would in fact undo people’s health care…”
Advertisement
The last Democratic debate – and Clinton has done consistently well on televised debates, airs on Sunday, 17 January and betting markets for the first time are predicting a bigger post-debate bump for Sanders.
