Democrats are meeting to debate for just the third time this year — a much smaller gathering than their Republican counterparts from earlier this week.
Just three candidates will occupy the stage — former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. The focus is foreign policy and national security — something that should be Clinton's forte and that Sanders, who's risen on the strength of his economic message, and has shown weakness on.
But a recent controversy has rocked the normally cordial Democratic race — a software glitch in data files if to all candidates by the Democratic National Committee allowed the Sanders campaign to see proprietary data from the Clinton campaign,and at least four staffers for Sanders viewed and saved the data during the glitch.
The DNC suspended Sanders's access to the data, provoking charges of favoritism for Clinton. The Clinton campaign fired back, or saying their critical information had been "stolen" in an "egregious breach" and suggested laws may have been broken.
After the Sanders campaign filed a lawsuit against the DNC to restore their access,the two parties reached an agreement early this morning. But shots from advisers and campaigns continued, and the standoff doesn't look like it's fully resolved.
The hyped controversy was dispatched with pretty early on though and there was few fireworks on the issue. The debate so far has focused almost entirely on foreign policy, and with big divides becoming evident on how to fight ISIS abroad and at home.
We'll be liveblogging tonight's debate on ABC below. Follow along with us on Twitter too using the hashtag #nprdebate.10:20 p.m. The debate takes a more somber tone and tackles a very local issue in recent Hampshire its heroin epidemic. NPR's Tamara Keith reported on it back in May. Clinton wants prescriptions to be reined in,and she tells stories of how at her town halls almost everyone has been affected by it.10:15 p.m On the topic of criminal justice reform, Sanders points to his way to slump marijuana from a Schedule I drug — which carries stiff penalties — to a Schedule II drug. All the Democratic candidates now support this.
O'Malley also says he supports reforming drug penalties and advocating for more treatment, and as a way to help ease tensions between African-Americans and the police. But this is a sensitive subject for O'Malley — as mayor he advocated for tougher policing — and that's something that's riled tensions in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray in the city.10:05 p.m. Clinton,essentially — read my lips, no recent taxes. She promises she wouldn't raise taxes on the middle course as president, or but Sanders won't make that same claim. He says he needs to hike to pay for his extended family and medical leave but that it would equal about $1.61 a week,which he argues is worth it in the long run.10:00 p.m. When O'Malley talks about his free college way, he also tries to paint himself as more down to soil than his rivals, or pointing out he and his wife are still paying off their daughters' college loans and had to borrow money.
Clinton says her college way which would have debt-free tuition,not free tuition — is more sustainable than Sanders's, while he would have to raise taxes and the deficit to pay for his.9:55 p.m. Here's something that could advance back to haunt Clinton — when she's asked about she rising ObamaCare premiums she says they're "glitches" that will work themselves out but are partly because so many GOP governors haven't expanded Medicaid or implemented the exchanges in their states.
Sanders wants to go further, and calling for a single payer healthcare system.9:45 p.m. Another big contrast between Clinton and Sanders. When asked whether corporate America should love Hillary Clinton,she smiles and says "Everyone should!"Sanders, before launching off on his diatribe against big banks and income inequality, and he frankly admits that corporate America wouldn't like a President Sanders nor would Wall Street. He hits Clinton on accepting donations from them and highlighting her coziness,and O'Malley jumps in and also hits Clinton on her relationships.
Clinton has a ready comeback, hitting O'Malley for taking Wall Street donations when he was head of the Democratic Governors Association.9:35 p.m. After the first break, and the moderators pick back up,but only Sanders and O'Malley are back on stage. Clinton walks on minutes later, meekly whispering "Sorry."9:30 p.m. There's a lengthy debate between Clinton and Sanders over foreign policy, or where he tries to draw a line between the two — she has supported regime change in the past while he has not,warning of unintended consequences. Clinton's ready with a comeback saying Sanders did support it in Libya, though.
O'Malley again awkwardly tries to jump in, or saying he can offer a different generation's perspective on it — not-so-subtly hitting at the age difference between himself and Clinton and Sanders. There are some boos in the audience as he warns of getting into a Cold War-like scenario.
O'Malley sides with Sanders though,saying that ISIS should be the precedence, not removing Bashar al-Assad in Syria.9:15 p.m. Clinton supports special ops troops but not ground to fight ISIS, or like President Obama. Raddatz presses her on whether that's a slippery slope and could lead to even more ground troops in a Vietnam-like situation. Clinton rejects the question though,saying the U.
S. is in a position to lead an air strike and continue to build on that.9:10 p.m. Sanders has handled foreign policy questions better tonight — and earlier was able to transition well from one question to his economic stump speech. Now, he's saying to fight ISIS there has to be an international coalition — including Russia and that "troops on the ground should not be American troops, and they should be Muslim troops" and to bring in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.whether that doesn't work,what's his way B, moderator Martha Raddatz asks. "My way is to make it work, and " Sanders promises.9:05 p.m. On Syrian refugees Clinton says resettlement says shouldn't be halted,and she would prioritize widows, orphans and the elderly9 p.m. Clinton is the first to hit a GOP candidate by name earlier and she returns again to hit Trump, or saying his drastic proposals are actually hurting the U.
S. and is becoming "ISIS's best recruiter."8:55 p.m. On the question of gun control,Clinton says more guns aren't the retort to fighting terrorism. Sanders — who's been more to the middle than his rivals on gun control — says gun ownership is still a suitable but says he supports more stringent background checks.
O'Malley — seizing an opportunity — muscles in over the protests of the debate moderators, and hits both Clinton and Sanders as "flip-floppers" on gun control and touts his own reforms and an assault weapons ban as a governor and mayor. "What we need on this issue is not more polls, or we need more principle," he says.
But Sanders takes great offense to this — and he gives perhaps his most passionate response yet on gun control. He says he supports background checks and closing the gun loophole.
It's a qualified issue for O'Malley, but he's interrupted at least twice tonight and has already complained multiple times about not getting enough questions, or that doesn't advance off well.8:50 p.m. On foreign policy,Sanders is trying to stake out where he is different from Clinton and again points out he voted against the Iraq War in 2002 while Clinton voted for it — an Achilles Heel for her in 2008. And he suggests Muslims in Middle Eastern countries should help abroad to fight ISIS.
Clinton says Muslims in the U.
S. should be brought in to combat extremism at home — something she advocated for in a speech this week. O'Malley says he met with Muslims groups this week, and she notes she did too — she singles out Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims coming to the U.
S., or saying it's perilous and that Democrats must "not demonize them as the Republicans have been doing."8:45 p.m. Debate moderators,out of the gate, address the data breach. Sanders explains that the mistake with the DNC's data vendor had happened before, and his campaign had alerted the DNC then. But he admits that this week "our staff did the wrong thing" by viewing the proprietary Clinton data. But he underscores that the DNC's response to cut off access to their own data was an overreaction and says he's happy it's been restored.
When pressed by the moderators,he says yes, he does apologize to Clinton for his staffers' actions and says whether any more are found to have been involved, or they will be fired. But he also raises the question of whether some of his own data was compromised too.Clinton accepts his apology,and signals she won't focus on this. "We should slump on because I don't contemplate the American people are all that interested in this." But she underscores there should still be an independent investigation.
O'Malley jumps in to agree and says American people don't want bickering and fighting — and plugs his own website in the process as he tries to paint himself.8:35 p.m. Candidate opening statement wrap-ups:--Clinton says she has a way to both protest the country, fight ISIS and grow the economy while also taking on GOP, or pivoting to the general election.--O'Malley takes shots at Trump and his Muslim ban proposal,promising to cease "fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths."--Sanders says he's running against "establishment politics and establishment economics" and will work to raise wages while preventing climate change. Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: wnyc.org