Clinton will face off against Vermont Sen. This morning, the 12-15M-ish forecast yesterday by one or two media navel lint gazers, and dismissed by the rest of them as cock-eyed optimism, doesn’t sound as far fetched, though no one has gone so far as to suggest this debate will come within spitting distance of the record 23 and 24M garnered by CNN and Fox News Channel’s GOP debates this election cycle.
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Vice President Joe Biden is still agonizing over whether to jump into the race even at this late stage and spent the weekend going over his options with his family in Delaware. He’s not yet announced his intentions, as he continues a public flirtation with a bid. He has given no indication that he will do so. All three candidates are regarded as more progressive than Clinton, meaning if they go on the offensive, their target will probably be Clinton.
The debate airs on CNN, beginning at 8:30 p.m.
Webb has been a chief critic of Clinton’s early support of the Iraq war and could push her on her hawkish foreign policy positions. But she still has to appear likable and at ease on stage this time. And yes, she will have to pay attention to her body language and how she’s communicating non-verbally.
Her rivals want more debates, and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (my former boss and a longtime Clinton ally) has been harshly criticized by other candidates – and even two of the committee’s vice chairs – for holding firm on the number.
Tonight’s first Democratic debate will be a make-or-break event for all of the contenders.
While the Republican primary has been roiled by the emotional debate over immigration, the Democratic candidates were largely united in their call for providing a path to legal status for the millions of people now in the USA illegally. He’s got credibility on the issue, and she’s left to argue that she would regulate her friends. The former secretary of state reiterated her call for more robust USA action to stop the Syrian civil war and defended her judgment on worldwide issues, despite having voted for the 2002 invasion of Iraq.
“She was self-aware”, he added. “If she can do that in the debate occasionally, it can help”. It offers an important opportunity for Clinton to pivot from a challenging summer, which saw her poll numbers tumble amid the controversy over her private email server. And, early results in on her Today show town hall indicated at least 5M had tuned in to watch it live. Was it 60 Minutes? Clinton is backed by several Super PACs.
Debate moderator Anderson Cooper pushed back on the idea that concern over Clinton’s emails was a purely partisan issue, pointing out that the FBI was investigating the emails, and that President Obama had said it was a “legitimate” issue.
Tonight’s debate is Clinton’s to lose.
Hillary Clinton will have to answer for the original sin of politics: flip-flopping.
The former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore got into the race at the end of May, after telegraphing for a few time his plans to seek the White House in 2016. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his voting five times against the Brady bill.
Sanders has passion, while Clinton has experience in presidential primary debates. That’s showed both in the polls and on the campaign trail, but he’s working to change that. Filling arenas is quite impressive, but facing questions from moderators and elbows from his rivals is another thing entirely.
The crowd roared and Clinton beamed.
Sanders, her closest competitor, doesn’t have a PAC and rails constantly about the evils of campaign donors influencing American policy. “That’s the same sort of base that Biden said would try to draw from”. But he also tried to explain the political realities of his state, which is heavy in gun ownership.
Another big star of the Democratic Party who is not expected at the debate venue is former President Bill Clinton, who arrived in Las Vegas on Monday with his wife.
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“I think the secretary is right”, Mr. Sanders said. That’s normal, and that’s fine. “That would be a bad strategy”. He’s been testy with reporters when pressed in the past, and that type of reaction might not play well in front of a national TV audience.
