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 Clinton and Sanders attacked each other over Wall Street, gun
control and other issues on Thursday in a series of exchanges that
laid bare the mounting pressures on them both but seemed unlikely to
change the dynamics of the race.
While far short of the brawls that have characterized Republican
debates, the tone reflected a contentious turn in the Democratic
contest. Clinton and Sanders out-shouted each other while a split
crowd roared its approval.
"If you’re both screaming at each other, the viewers won’t be able
to hear either of you," moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN warned during
the debate at the historic Navy Yard in the New York borough of
Brooklyn.
As the two-hour debate ended, social media analyst Brandwatch said
Sanders had more than 173,000 mentions on Twitter, 55 percent of
them positive, while Clinton had more than 191,000 mentions, 54
percent of them negative. Clinton mentions were more negative than
positive in two out of the three previous debates.
A former New York senator, Clinton needs a New York win to stop a
streak of seven victories in the last eight contests by Sanders, and
expand her commanding lead in pledged delegates to her party's
nominating convention in July.
Republicans were gleeful watching the bitter Democratic debate.
“Hillary Clinton was supposed to have the nomination locked up by
the end of March, but she’s instead lost seven straight states and
is having to throw the kitchen sink at a 74-year old Vermont
socialist as her once 60-point lead dwindles," said Reince Priebus,
head of the Republican National Committee.
Sanders, 74, will take a quick break from the campaign trail on
Friday to fly to the Vatican, where he will give a brief speech at a
conference on the world economy and social justice. Sanders, who
will be back in New York to campaign on Sunday, has said the trip is
not a political appeal for the Catholic vote but a testament to his
admiration for Pope Francis.
TRUMP SPEAKS OF NEW YORK VALUES
At a Manhattan hotel across the East River from Brooklyn, Republican
front-runner Donald Trump, 69, spoke at a party fundraiser while his
rivals voiced fears of a disaster in the Nov. 8 presidential
election unless they got the nomination.
As protesters chanted outside and waved signs, Trump aligned himself
with what he said were the "New York values" of hard work and
compassion. Rival Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, charged in a
debate earlier this year that Trump's version of New York values
were basically Democratic positions.
Cruz, 45, pointed to opinion polls showing the New York billionaire
losing badly to Clinton and getting far less support from women and
minority voters. The other Republican candidate, Ohio Governor John
Kasich, 63, said Republican candidates for Congress would be at risk
if the candidate topping the ballot was negative.
Both Trump and Clinton, who represented New York in the U.S. Senate,
have big leads in state polls heading into Tuesday's New York
contest. Trump needs a win to further his drive toward the 1,237
delegates needed for the nomination, and avoid a contested July
convention that could sow Republican chaos.
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Clinton leads Sanders by 251 bound delegates to the July Democratic
convention, where 2,383 delegates will be needed for the nomination.
Her lead balloons to almost 700 when the support of superdelegates -
party leaders who are free to back any candidate - are added.
Sanders, who had questioned the former secretary of state's
qualifications to be president, conceded during the debate she was
qualified but said she had shown poor judgment by taking money from
Wall Street for speeches, by voting as a U.S. senator to back the
2003 Iraq invasion and by supporting free trade deals.
Clinton, 68, responded the charges were also an attack on President
Barack Obama, who as a candidate raised money on Wall Street and
utilized Super PACS, outside funding groups that can raise unlimited
sums of money, but still fought for tough regulations on the
financial services industry.
"This is a phony attack that is designed to raise questions when
there is no evidence or support," she said.
CLASH OVER WALL STREET
Pressed on what Clinton had done to show she was influenced by the
money she had raised on Wall Street or her speaking fees, Sanders
said she was too busy giving speeches to Goldman Sachs to break up
the big banks.
"He cannot come up with any example because there is no example,"
Clinton replied. "I stood up to the behavior of the banks when I was
a senator."
Sanders responded sarcastically: "Secretary Clinton called them out
- oh, they must be really crushed by this."
Clinton, who has repeatedly attacked Sanders for his vote in
Congress for a bill that protected gun manufacturers from being sued
over the criminal use of their products, confronted the U.S. senator
from Vermont when he laughed as she discussed her accusations.
"It's not a laughing matter," she said.
(Additional reporting by Megan Cassella in Washington, Emily Flitter
and Daniel Trotta in New York; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing
by Howard Goller)
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