You hate me! You really HATE me!
Posted on 01/12/2016 5:25:40 PM PST by familyop
The Vermont senator vaults past Clinton in Iowa, as the rivalry heats up for the Democratic nomination.
The intensifying rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders spiked a few degrees on Tuesday with two new polls showing the Vermont senator catching fire in not only his regional stomping ground of New Hampshire but also in Iowa, where Clinton enjoyed a double-digit lead as late as mid-December.
Monmouth University's survey of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters out Tuesday showed 53 percent expressing support for Sanders, compared to 39 percent for Clinton. In Iowa, Sanders recorded his first victory over Clinton in a Quinnipiac poll released later in the day, grabbing 49 percent to her 44 percent. The latest NBC News/Marist/Wall Street Journal poll conducted between Jan. 2-7 and released on Sunday suggested a race within the margin of error, with Clinton holding a lead of 48 percent to 45 percent.
Sanders' surge explains why, after a primary season marked by each side's reticence to bare their fangs, the Clinton campaign started railing against his gun control record in recent weeks and more explicitly contrasting her positions and proposals on financial regulation and health care. It also suggests that both sides may not be able to sustain the velvet-glove approach that has so far marked their interactions.
"It's been very collegial, a bit gentle," said former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Clinton backer who was also by her side in her 2008 battle against Barack Obama, and who now advises the pro-Clinton super PAC Correct the Record. "Sanders and Clinton have been quite disciplined in not allowing themselves to be drawn into the personal, and therefore the surrogates have respected that. Once you start to cross that line, all bets are off. And that's what happened in 2008. You saw them start to cross that line, and then surrogates slung mud all over the place."
"Any time you get closer to D-Day there will be further efforts on the part of both candidates to draw those distinctions, for sure," she said. "That's true of both sides."
The Iowa Black and Brown Forum on Monday night offered some evidence of those tougher criticisms to come. Sanders, who had remarked earlier in the day that Clinton's campaign was in "serious trouble," said one potential reason for his opponent's newfound antagonism "could be that the inevitable candidate for the Democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today."
Sanders now peppers his once-unchanging stump speech with references to Clinton's; on Monday, he laid out a litany of criticisms for an Iowa interviewer who asked about his biggest policy difference with the front-runner.
"If you look at foreign policy, she voted for the war in Iraq, I voted against it. In terms of Wall Street, I regard Wall Street as a very dangerous institution in this country," he said. "Trade issues, I was a leader in opposition to the TPP, she came on that issue very, very late. Keystone pipeline--I was one of the opponents of it, she came on very, very late.
Sanders' team has been distributing anti-Clinton material throughout recent months--starting when it was the first to circulate opposition research against her during their first debate in October, and continuing into recent fundraising appeals signed by the candidate that implicitly criticize her campaign's financing model. But his top aides now say Sanders' own harsher message was spurred on by Clinton's attacks on his gun control record.
"The change in tone was spurred by Hillary Clinton's drop in the polls and Bernie Sanders' rise, and I think they have affected their campaign," said chief Sanders strategist Tad Devine, a veteran of Kerry's and Gore's campaigns, among others. "They've decided they're going to begin to challenge him on front after front."
In recent days, Clinton has pushed the general idea that she is the more electable candidate--that is, the only one with a serious shot at winning the White House.
"We're getting into that period before the caucuses that I call the 'let’s get real period,'" Clinton told supporters in Ames, Iowa, on Tuesday. "I think it's time and very important for people to understand what those differences are."
She directly called out Sanders on health care, characterizing the senator's plan as rolling up government and private health care programs into a national system.
The previous day, Clinton told a Waterloo, Iowa, crowd, "I think it’s time for us to have the kind of spirited debate that you deserve for us to have."
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who ran in 2008 after chairing Democrats' national convention in 2004, said he's surprising it's taken so long for things to heat up.
"Compared to the other primaries, like the one I was involved with in 2004, this is a love feast," he said. "This is a love feast between the Democratic candidates, and what you're seeing is not, basically, negative attacks. You’re seeing a drawing of differences that’s all in a very polite way. I've never seen the politeness index so high on both sides."
Strategists aligned with both sides didn't expect the two campaigns to start putting serious money into negative ads, like the tough paid media distributed by Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt in 2004.
“There's an effort to find [policy] places where, without getting very personal--which I don't think would work for her at all--there's some distinction," explained Bob Shrum, a lead strategist for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, recalling the comparatively tough 1999-2000 fight between Gore and Bill Bradley over Bradley's leaving the Senate in the Newt Gingrich era. "There may be, beneath the surface, some animosity [between Sanders and Clinton]. But I don’t see it."
One reason is that neither side is eager to sprint too far away from Obama--nor do they want to alienate the other’s voters and risk dampening Democratic enthusiasm.
"As long as the criticisms are fair, factual and focused on the public record, I am a happy Democrat," said Paul Begala, the chief strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 bid who is now an advisor to pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action.
Bernie “dont eat the brown acid” sanders from the parasitic state of vo-mit
Time for Bernie to hire a food taster?
You hate me! You really HATE me!
I wonder if Fauxahontas is regretting not getting into the race when she had the chance. No matter because I think she’s Biden’s running mate in the fall unless the Dems can find a Latino to stick on the ticket.
Sanders’ votes in favor of citizen privacy, votes against a couple of gun control efforts and votes against free trade must be driving Hillary nuts. On nearly everything else, of course, “the Bern” is wrong. We need much less socialism—not more.
Sanders is not good for gun rights. FAR from it. Probably worse than Hillary.
It appears that the DemocRATS’ “Plan B” is kicking itself in. LOL! Clinton is such a loser. If she was a real grandma, she’d be home knitting booties and blankets for her new grandkid instead of gallivanting around the country telling her worshipers how she’s going to use the “government” to steal more of other peoples money and give it to them.
Karma. That’s all I can say about Hillary. She may avoid prosecution but all of her lies and misdoings have finally, it seems, cost her the presidency. Hate to say it but I think she’s gonna have a major meltdown when this all shakes out.
Heaven forbid the dems getting the Presidency again after obama. But should that be, Sanders is the lesser evil compared to Hitlery.
Sanders appears to be pro 2nd Ammendment, among a few other good points, but most importantly:
1. He is not a woman or a Black person, so the RINO’s should not fear him.
2. Sanders is not mentally ill (obama being a narcissist) nor is he a career criminal (as in Hitlery).
And while I’m pointing this out, it’s interesting to note the gun grab wants to start under the pretense of making certain the mentally ill and criminals should not own guns. It’s on the order of a thief hating a fellow thief.
her wig in that pic
is the version with maximum dark roots.
do you know when it was taken?
Rocky
>>do you know when it was taken?<
No idea — I was just looking for one with the right expression for the sentiment.
And I am sure she knows exactly that.
Bernie! BerNIE! BERNIE!
Dream election = Sanders v. Trump
Voted YES on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains. (Apr 2009)
Voted YES on prohibiting foreign & UN aid that restricts US gun ownership. (Sep 2007)
Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers. (Oct 2005)
Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse. (Apr 2003)
Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1. (Jun 1999) Hillary would be far worse.
Voted YES on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains. (Apr 2009)
Voted YES on prohibiting foreign & UN aid that restricts US gun ownership. (Sep 2007)
Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers. (Oct 2005)
Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse. (Apr 2003)
Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1. (Jun 1999)
I am wondering g when the Democrat machine kicks in. They have to be worried and time is short.
Forgive student loans and free four more years of high school-President Sanders!
Forgive student loans and free four more years of high school-President Sanders!
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