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 Sanders, a Brooklyn native and self-styled socialist, can be
argumentative, confrontational and quick to anger, according to
political foes who have butted heads with him. He has come a long
way from his first nervous debate performance during a U.S. Senate
run more than 40 years ago, when microphones picked up the sound of
his shaking knees knocking against the table.
The Vermont senator faces the biggest test of his campaign when he
steps firmly into the national spotlight at the first Democratic
debate with Clinton, a former first lady and secretary of state who
is one of the party's most experienced debaters. A win over Clinton,
who has been bleeding support, would be a major coup for Sanders and
his insurgent campaign, giving him more momentum and boosting
fundraising efforts.
Ahead of the encounter, Sanders is eschewing the mock debates that
presidential candidates often use for preparation, his spokesman,
Michael Briggs, told Reuters.
Briggs said Sanders was comfortable with his message and views the
debate as an “opportunity to talk about the issues he's been talking
about for decades."
 Clinton and Sanders have kept to a polite tone on the campaign
trail, avoiding direct criticism of each other. But Briggs said he
expected questions about their differences on issues such as
campaign finance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which
would liberalize trade in a region stretching from Vietnam to
Canada.
"He won't talk about emails," Briggs said, referring to the
controversy over Clinton's use of a private email server rather than
a government account while she was secretary of state. "He thinks
there are more important things to talk about." Sanders has narrowed
the gap with Clinton in opinion polls and has been leading her in
the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, according to a
CBS poll conducted in September, in part by galvanizing the party's
liberal wing with his calls for economic equality and reining in
Wall Street.
FORMIDABLE FOE
Sanders has drawn big crowds at rallies and town halls, but the
Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, will put him on the biggest
political stage to date. The other participants include former
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, former Rhode Island Governor
Lincoln Chafee and former U.S. Senator James Webb of Virginia.
His former political rivals in Vermont, Republicans and Democrats
alike, say the combative Sanders will be a formidable challenger to
Clinton.
"There is nobody better at delivering a message than Bernie," said
Republican Richard Tarrant, a wealthy businessman who lost a 2006
Senate race to Sanders.
"His style is a little gruff. You can poke at him and get him angry,
but he's good at rolling out of it," he said. "He's got numbers,
he's got facts, and if he gets caught by surprise he'll shift really
quickly to his stump message. I don't think Hillary stands a chance
against him."
John MacGovern, a Republican who challenged Sanders unsuccessfully
in 2012, said he was determined not to let Sanders "walk all over
me" during their four debates, including a one-on-one radio
encounter.
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He said Sanders repeatedly tried to interrupt him in one debate as
he answered a question about federal funding for women's healthcare
provider Planned Parenthood but relented once MacGovern pushed back.
'FIGHT BACK'
"If you didn't fight back, he would just badger you," MacGovern
said. "He may not have been on the national stage before, but I do
not think it will faze him in the slightest. He will say what he
believes and it will be very easy for him."
Sanders has had plenty of debate practice over the years. He first
ran for public office in 1972, losing four statewide races before
winning the Burlington mayor's office by 10 votes in 1981. He was
re-elected mayor three times, served eight terms in the U.S. House
of Representatives and is in his second U.S. Senate term.
Paul Lafayette, a Democratic city council member in Burlington who
squared off against Sanders in a series of 1987 mayoral debates,
said Sanders was a natural debater.
"I've never seen him back down from anyone or anything," Lafayette
said, although Sanders has "calmed down" over the years. Sanders'
message has been so consistent that he is "giving the same speech
now that he was giving when he was mayor of Burlington."
Yet Sanders’ consistency is one weakness Clinton could exploit,
MacGovern said. He said Clinton’s campaign “can figure out their
replies to him right now – he’s very predictable.”
Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist who helped former Vermont
Governor Howard Dean make the transition to the national political
stage in the 2004 race, said Sanders should have no trouble with the
jump.
"It's a lot easier when you are the insurgent," Trippi said. "There
is a sort of self selection -- everyone else took a pass, but you
are the one who decided to take on Hillary Clinton. So I don't think
it's in his DNA to be afraid."
(Editing by Ross Colvin)
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