{"id":2455004,"date":"2020-02-25T13:22:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T20:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321500"},"modified":"2020-02-25T13:22:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T20:22:02","slug":"democrats-warm-up-for-big-debate-in-south-carolina-unloading-on-front-runner-sanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/democrats-warm-up-for-big-debate-in-south-carolina-unloading-on-front-runner-sanders\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats warm up for big debate in South Carolina, unloading on front-runner Sanders"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
The stage is set for a Democratic presidential primary debate, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in Charleston, S.C.<\/strong>
AP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

CHARLESTON, S.C. \u2014 Bernie Sanders\u2019 Democratic rivals prepared to unleash a new wave of attacks against the party\u2019s presidential front-runner, in a high-stakes debate Tuesday night, It\u2019s likely to be the final prime-time opportunity for several candidates to change the direction of the 2020 nomination fight.<\/p>\n

Almost all of the six other candidates set to debate in South Carolina went after Sanders in the hours leading up to the 8 p.m. EST affair.<\/p>\n

Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, highlighted Sanders\u2019 call for a government-financed health care system as an example of his \u201cpolarization.\u201d Former Vice President Joe Biden accused Sanders of trying to undermine President Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection. And former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg assailed Sanders\u2019 record on gun control.<\/p>\n

Five Bloomberg supporters, all current or former black elected officials, blasted Sanders\u2019 record on gun control as well as other priorities for the black community on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo often, Bernie Sanders has been on the wrong side of history, missing in action or unable to make progress on virtually every issue for black voters,\u201d New York Rep. Gregory Meeks told reporters, predicting that viewers would \u201csee a 180-degree shift tonight\u201d from Bloomberg after his lackluster showing in last week\u2019s Democratic debate.<\/p>\n

The new wave of infighting came as Democrats were set to meet for the party\u2019s 10th \u2014 and perhaps most consequential \u2014 debate of the 2020 primary season. Bloomberg was the focus last week for his highly anticipated debut, but after a bad performance that froze his momentum, the knives are out for the 78-year-old Vermont senator.<\/p>\n

The night marks a major moment in Sanders\u2019 political career. After spending decades as an outside agitator accustomed to attacking the party establishment, he\u2019s suddenly the one on defense as the Democratic establishment fears he could build an insurmountable delegate lead as soon as next week.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019handling of the pressure could be crucial in determining whether he stays at the top of the Democratic pack. During a town hall Monday night televised on CNN, Sanders said he expected the attacks. But he still seemed to be adjusting to his new status.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a little funny to find myself as the so-called front-runner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other candidates also have a lot on the line for Tuesday\u2019s forum, which comes just four days before South Carolina\u2019s first-in-the-South primary and one week before more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Biden is looking to make a big impression in South Carolina, where he was long viewed as the unquestioned front-runner because of his support from black voters.<\/p>\n

Campaigning in the state the day before the debate, he predicted he would win \u201cby plenty\u201d on Saturday<\/p>\n

Having finished on top in three consecutive primary contests \u2014 including a tie in Iowa \u2014 Sanders is eyeing a knockout blow, however. He has shifted new staff into the state from Nevada, expanded his South Carolina advertising and added events to his schedule.<\/p>\n

Sanders senior adviser Jeff Weaver said there was an \u201cair of desperation\u201d to the fresh attacks on his candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got candidates, you\u2019ve got super PACs, all piling on to stop Bernie Sanders,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cThey know he has the momentum in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

One candidate who hasn\u2019t yet taken Sanders on directly: Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Though she shares many of Sanders\u2019 liberal policies and could benefit if he were to stumble, she\u2019s been reluctant to tangle with him throughout the campaign.<\/p>\n

She was Bloomberg\u2019s fiercest critic during last week\u2019s debate and has signaled she may continue to target the former New York mayor Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Sanders may benefit most from the sheer number of candidates still in the race. They are still fighting among themselves \u2014 and splitting up the anti-Sanders vote \u2014 to emerge as the strongest alternative to him.<\/p>\n

Heading into the debate, there was no sign that any of those candidates was close to getting out.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who finished in a distant fifth or sixth place in Nevada over the weekend, announced plans to launch a $4.2 million ad buy across several Super Tuesday states.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sanders\u2019 critics in both parties unleashed a flood of new attacks focused largely on his long record in elected office and unique perspective on some controversial issues.<\/p>\n

Critics in both parties jumped on comments Sanders made in a CBS News \u201c60 Minutes\u201d segment aired Sunday in which he praised the late Cuban ruler Fidel Castro for establishing what Sanders called a \u201cmassive literacy program\u201d when he took power.<\/p>\n

Sanders stood by his comments during the CNN town hall, saying he\u2019d criticized \u201cauthoritarian regimes all over the world,\u201d including Cuba, Nicaragua and Saudi Arabia, But he added that, after Castro took power in 1959, \u201cthe first thing he did\u201d was initiate a literacy program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think teaching people to read and write is a good thing,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThat is a fact. End of discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders was also in a dispute with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an establishment group that advocates for strong U.S.-Israel relations. Sanders said he would skip the group\u2019s conference because he was concerned about the event giving airtime to \u201cleaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, called that characterization \u201coffensive\u201d and \u201cirresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stage is set for a Democratic presidential primary debate, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in Charleston, S.C.AP Photo\/Matt Rourke CHARLESTON, S.C. \u2014 Bernie Sanders\u2019 Democratic rivals prepared to unleash a new wave of attacks against the party\u2019s presidential front-runner, in a high-stakes debate Tuesday night, It\u2019s likely to be the final prime-time opportunity for several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 13:45:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}