US election: Bernie Sanders under fire in Democratic presidential debate
In the most heated presidential debate so far, the frontrunner was assailed from all sides over his big-spending, far-left agenda | WATCH
Bernie Sanders arrived at the latest Democratic presidential debate with a target on his head, and his rivals made sure they did not miss.
Senator Sanders was assailed from all sides over his big-spending policies, including how he would fund his Medicare-for-all plan, his record on gun control, his admiration of authoritarian regimes and how he would win the votes of moderate voters with his socialist agenda.
Just a week ago, the leading Democrats tried to maul billionaire newcomer Michael Bloomberg on the debate stage, but that was before the 78-year-old Senator Sanders rocketed to the lead in the primary race after a crushing caucus victory in Nevada.
Now it is Senator Sanders who is racing towards the party’s nomination and his six Democrat rivals on the debate stage in Charleston, South Carolina, were literally shouting over themselves to attack the democratic socialist, hoping to stop his run before it is too late.
Two of the leading moderates, Mr Bloomberg and former mayor Pete Buttigieg, warned that if Senator Sanders won the party’s nomination to challenge Donald Trump he would not only lose the election but probably also the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives.
“Bernie will lose to Donald Trump. And Donald Trump, and the house, and the Senate and some of the state houses will all gored and then between gerrymandering and appointing judges for the next 20 or 30 years, we’re going to live with this catastrophe,” Mr Bloomberg said.
Mr Buttigieg asked how Senator Sanders, with his far-left agenda, would win the votes of those Midwest moderates who switched from Mr Trump’s Republicans to the Democrats to retake the house in the 2018 mid-term elections.
Mr Buttigieg said that nominating Senator Sanders ‘“adds up to four more years of Donald Trump, (Republican) Kevin McCarthy is the Speaker of the house”.
“Not only is this is a way to get Donald Trump re-elected, we have a house to worry about, a Senate to worry about,” he said.
“If you want to keep the house in Democratic hands, you might want to check with the people who actually turned the house blue — 40 Democrats who are not running on your platform. They are running away from your platform as fast as they possibly can.”
Senator Sanders responded: “I’m hearing my name mentioned a little bit tonight. I wonder why.”
The 10th Democrat debate was the most heated so far with many of the candidates fighting for their survival ahead of the South Carolina primary on Sunday AEDT and the sweeping Super Tuesday contests next week.
The most passionate moment of the night was when senator Elizabeth Warren resumed her attack on Mr Bloomberg’s past record with female employees, raising claims that the businessman once asked a female employee to abort a baby when she was pregnant.
“At least I didn’t have a boss that said to me ‘kill it’ the way mayor Bloomberg said to one of his pregnant employees,” Senator Warren said.
Mr Bloomberg shot back: “I never said that, period.”
But, as he has done over the past weeks, he did acknowledge that he made “jokes” that he now regretted. “(I was) probably wrong to make the jokes. I don’t remember what they were, so if it bothered them, I was wrong. I apologise. I’m sorry for that,” he said.
Mr Buttigieg attacked Senator Sanders for comments this week in which he praised aspects of the Castro family’s authoritarian rule over Cuba saying that Americans did not want a candidate “telling people to look at the bright side of the Castro regime”.
“I am not looking forward to a scenario where it comes down to Donald Trump with his nostalgia for the social order of the1950s and Bernie Sanders with a nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s,” Mr Buttigieg said.
Despite the relentless attacks on Senator Sanders there were no breakout moments or major gaffes that would necessarily change the nature of the contest. Former vice-president Joe Biden has been the long-time leader in polls in South Carolina because of his strong standing among African-Americans who make up 60 per cent of primary voters. But Senator Sanders has been closing the gap after his strong showings in the early primary races.
The latest average of polls in South Carolina shows Mr Biden leading there with 26.8 per cent support followed by Senator Sanders on 21.7 per cent.
Billionaire Tom Steyer is next with 14.4 per cent followed by Mr Buttigieg on 9.8 per cent, Senator Warren on 9 per cent and Amy Klobuchar on 5.7 per cent.
If Senator Sanders performs strongly on Super Tuesday, especially in the large states of California and Texas, he will be the red hot favourite to win his party’s nomination to challenge Mr Trump in the November election.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
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