With five days to go until the Iowa caucus, the Hillary Clinton campaign attacked Bernie Sanders for even considering running negative campaign ads.
Sanders and his top advisers will reportedly gather on Wednesday to discuss whether to unleash a tougher line of advertising against Clinton. Thus far, the Vermont senator has vowed not to direct any negative attacks toward the former secretary of state.
“While this is a clear escalation, attacks from the Sanders campaign have been building for months,” the Clinton campaign wrote.
When Sanders launched his campaign in April, he pledged not to run any negative ads, stating, “I’m not running against Hillary Clinton.”
Since then, whenever asked about Clinton on the trail, Sanders will explain differences between the two. But if questioning veers into Clinton’s personal life or scandals, Sanders makes a plea to keep talking “about the issues.”
But, as the democratic socialist candidate has climbed in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, voters have begun to ask Sanders to define the differences between him and the former secretary of state. Two weeks ago, the Clinton campaign attacked Sanders for releasing a “negative” ad titled “Two Visions,” in which he compared his plans to regulate Wall Street against Clinton’s.
“It’s disappointing that Senator Sanders has abandoned his claims of a positive campaign in order to parrot Karl Rove’s attacks against Hillary Clinton,” Hillary for America Deputy Communications Director Christina Reynolds said in a statement. “From comparisons to Dick Cheney to personal attacks, Bernie Sanders and his campaign have repeatedly violated their pledge to run a different kind of campaign.”
In Washington on Wednesday, Sanders rejected the idea that he’s going negative on Clinton, or even thinking about it.
“People will say anything,” he said. “So let me be as clear as I can. You are looking at somebody who has run in many, many campaigns. I have never run a negative ad in my life, and I will not run a negative ad against Hillary Clinton.”
