A senior aide to Hillary Clinton kept up the heat on Bernie Sanders Monday by saying the Vermont senator was going to campaign in New York like a “Brooklynite,” while Clinton was campaigning in the state as a “senator.”
Clinton strategist Joel Beneson says Sanders is going to “campaign like a brooklynite, while Clinton is going to campaign like a senator.”
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) March 28, 2016
Sanders will campaign like a Brookynite in NY while Clinton will campaign like a senator, senior Clinton strategist tells reporters
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 28, 2016
Joel Benenson, who serves officially as Clinton’s chief strategist, appeared to be making the case that the former secretary of state has made a broader appeal to all of New York, while Sanders, who was raised in Brooklyn, has maintained a narrow focus.
However, considering Clinton once represented New York in the U.S. Senate, and considering there is a Democratic primary scheduled for the Empire State later this month, his remarks raised a few eyebrows Monday afternoon.
Benenson later clarified his remarks, saying on social media, “Of course ‘Brooklynite’ was a compliment! I’m an outer borough guy from Queens and we are all proud New Yorkers.”
Of course “Brooklynite” was a compliment! I’m an outer borough guy from Queens and we’are all proud New Yorkers. https://t.co/GrHaP42whg
— Joel Benenson (@benensonj) March 28, 2016
Clinton’s campaign headquarters are located in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Benenson made his “Brooklynite” remark after he said in a CNN interview Monday that the Democratic front-runner would not agree to do anymore presidential debates unless Sanders changed his “tone.”
Sanders has said he wants a debate in New York, but Clinton’s team is saying no dice so long as Sanders is critical of the former secretary of state.
“I think the real question is what kind of campaign is Sanders going to run going forward,” Benenson said.
He pointed specifically to a Washington Post report alleging Sanders’ campaign is flirting with the idea of running more negative ads against their chief primary rival.
“This is a man who said he’d never run a negative ad, ever. He’s running them. They’re planning to run more. Let’s see the tone of the campaign before we get to other questions,” Benenson responded.
He didn’t rule out the chance of a New York debate completely, and said they’d consider it, but as long as Sanders plays nice.
“[W]e’ll talk about it. We’ll see what kind of tone he sets. If his campaign wants to run the kind of negative campaign and run negative ads like they did in North Carolina and Illinois all over the country on March 15th, that’s going to be disappointing to a lot of Democrats who feel we have to start focusing on Republicans, whether it’s Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, and about our differences so we win in November,” Benenson said.
