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U.S. NEWSThursday 15 October 2015
Sanders, Clinton look to build on debate performances
BILL BARROW
JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary
Rodham Clinton and Ber-
nie Sanders looked to build
Wednesday on their strong
Democratic presidential
debate performances that
appeared to narrow any
opening for a White House
bid by Vice President Joe
Biden.
Sanders, a Vermont sena-
tor, has built an insurgent
campaign that draws
huge crowds — nearly al-
ways bigger than Clinton’s
— and boasts far more in-
dividual donors than the
former secretary of state.
But he’s still introducing
himself to voters national-
ly — a task made obvious
Tuesday night as he had
to explain his identity as a
“democratic socialist.”
Clinton, meanwhile, al-
ready is widely known to
the electorate, and she is
working methodically not
to repeat the mistakes of
her 2008 campaign, when
then-Sen. Barack Obama
used an impressive nuts-
and-bolts operation to
overtake Clinton’s favored
campaign.
The debate was the first for
the Democratic hopefuls
Trump sets sights on Sanders for new target
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump greets supporters after a speech at a rally in Rich-
mond, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015.
RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) front-runner Donald Trump barbs: Democratic con-
— Republican presidential has a new target for his tender Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Democratic residential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, speaks during a fundraiser at
the Avalon Hollywood, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, in Hollywood, Calif.
with nearly four months to
go before primary voting
begins and more than a
year before Election Day.
On the Republican side, bil-
lionaire Donald Trump has
surprised the political world
with his rise to the top of the the president, who remains
polls, but no clear favor-
ite has emerged among a
crowded field of contend-
ers.
Clinton defended her re-
cord on foreign affairs, in-
(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
cluding her 2003 vote to judgment, and I spent a
authorize the Iraq War — lot of time with him in the
and issue that Obama suc- Situation Room, going over
cessfully hammered her on some very difficult issues.”
in their 2008 primary battle. Perhaps most important for
Clinton used the discus- Clinton, she left many ob-
sion to align herself with servers wondering whether
Biden still has an opening
extremely popular among for a late entry into the
Democratic voters. race.
“After the (2008) elec- At a White House meeting
tion, he asked me to be- Wednesday, Biden said he
come secretary of state,” was proud of all the candi-
she noted. “He valued my dates who took part in the
Trump told thousands of
people at a rally at the
Richmond Internation-
al Raceway in Virginia
Wednesday evening that
Sanders is a “maniac”
who is pushing Democratic
front-runner Hillary Rodham
Clinton to the left.
He says the self-described
“democratic socialist” tin O’Malley, former Rhode
should be described as a
“socialist-slash-communist”
because he wants to tax
the rich at such high rates.
The billionaire business-
man’s campaign also re-
leased an online ad ear-
lier in the day questioning
Sanders’ strength.
The appearance marked
Trump’s first in the state
and his first since the de-
bate between the Demo-
cratic contenders Tuesday
evening. It was interrupted
(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
at one point by a small
group of rowdy protesters
who were escorted out of
the venue.q
debate and thought they
did well.
David Axelrod, an un-
aligned Democratic strat-
egist who helped master-
mind Obama’s 2008 cam-
paign, said on Wednesday
Clinton emerged stronger
with a “very self-assured,
powerful performance”
that should give Biden
pause, while Sanders had
a strong performance but
still fell short of projecting
the persona of a nominee.
Sanders, he said, appears
to be running to pull the
party leftward.
The senator delivered one
of the most memorable
moments when he de-
cried the focus on Clin-
ton’s use of a private email
server while serving as sec-
retary of state. The contro-
versy had raised security
questions that Republicans
have seized on.
Sanders he made clear
that he wasn’t necessar-
ily defending Clinton but
bemoaned the atten-
tion the controversy takes
away from other matters,
particularly his focus on an
uneven economy tilted to
those already at the top.
“I think the American peo-
ple want substantive de-
bate on the issues affect-
ing their families,” he told
CNN late Tuesday after
the debate, during which
he outlined his pitch for
universal health care, free
college tuition and paid
family leave, ideas he said
he’d pay for with tax hikes
on wealthy Americans.
Both Clinton and Sanders
camps declared the de-
bate a success.
Sanders’ campaign says
that he raised more than
$1.3 million since the start of
the debate and that social
media measures showed
Sanders led Google
searches and some Twit-
ter metrics during and after
the debate.
Three other candidates,
former Maryland Gov. Mar-
Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee
and former Virginia Sen.
Jim Webb, struggled to
make an impact that
would lift them from the
bottom of the polls.q