The Democrats are holding their first presidential debate since Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, giving the Vermont senator momentum against Hillary Clinton for the first time going into one of these forums.
Clinton narrowly beat Sanders in Iowa the week before, and the calendar is about to move to states that are more favorable to her than New Hampshire. What can we expect?
Both candidates on offense
Clinton is likely to keep up the attacks on Sanders after her Granite State loss. On the trail in New Hampshire, Clinton ramped up her attacks on Sanders’ policy proposals, hitting his healthcare plan for dismantling Obamacare, his college affordability plan for “paying for Donald Trump’s kids to go to college” and his plans to reign in Wall Street.
While campaigning in Manchester last week, Clinton claimed that Sanders accepted donations from Wall Street too, but indirectly through Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee contributions. Sanders has accepted $200,000 from the group in total, but Clinton’s assertion that this money is majority Wall Street cash has yet to be proven.
Sanders is going to keep talking about his independent streak from Wall Street and is likely to mention Clinton’s hefty fees from Goldman Sachs speaking engagements. He will probably also bring up Clinton’s vote for the Iraq War. He has been hesitant to weigh in on how classified information was handled on Clinton’s email server, but might be willing to be more assertive now.
The battle for black and Hispanic voters
Polls show over 80 percent of African-Americans leaning in favor of Clinton in South Carolina, where blacks are about 27.8 of the population and a large slice of the Democratic primary electorate. Nevada is another state coming up and is has a relatively high Hispanic population. Both are considered advantages for Clinton.
To capitalize on New Hampshire and have any chance of winning South Carolina or Nevada, Sanders is going to have to do much better with both groups. He has recently met with Al Sharpton and has been emphasizing civil rights and criminal justice more in his stump speech.
Building on Obama or starting a revolution?
On the campaign trail, Sanders rallies call for a “political revolution,” whil eClinton vows to build on President Obama’s legacy. Clinton says Sanders’ healthcare plan would undo Obamacare, while Sanders says more sweeping changes are needed.
During a Thursday interview with MSNBC, Sanders said, “There’s a huge gap between Congress and the American people.” On the campaign trail, many Clinton supporters note that they don’t support Sanders because he doesn’t have the ability to work on both sides of the aisle or reach out to those who do not agree with him.
Sanders and Clinton will face off in Milwaukee in a debate broadcast by PBS at 9 p.m.
