Sanders congressional record under scrutiny by Clinton

“I don’t want to live in a country with unequal health insurance”, said the former first daughter after being asked about Sanders’ plan.

“Now we’re in the sprint and it is time to draw contrasts”, Clinton added on ABC.

There is also a growing whiff of worry in the air surrounding the Clinton campaign as Hillary Clinton and her entourage of consultants and advisers feel the burn of a nomination victory they once believed was inevitable that may possibly be slipping away.

The avuncular Vermonter often has an air of a disheveled professor when he preaches his message about income inequality, and the need to rein in Wall Street and expand health care to all Americans.

Clinton’s interview with Fallon was her second appearance on “The Tonight Show” as a presidential candidate and came on the same night as the Fox Business Network hosted a Republican debate.

Asked by NBC if he imagined himself giving that speech, Sanders chuckled before confessing: “That thought did go through my head”.

Trump holds a commanding two to one lead over his nearest rivals in the national polls and is running far ahead in New Hampshire, home to the first primary of the political season.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses an audience during a campaign event Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015, at South Church, in Portsmouth, N.H.

But Clinton’s campaign said Sanders, who has said he has never run a negative ad during his political career, had broken his commitment not to engage in negative campaigning.

Clinton accuses Sanders of waiting to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. And her campaign pressed Sanders to release financial details of how he would pay for his plans to create a single-payer health care system through Medicare.

And as polls show a much tighter than expected race in Iowa, Clinton questioned whether Sanders’ supporters will actually show up to the state’s caucuses in three weeks.

Clinton may well prevail, but the best way for her to succeed is not to attack Sanders but to shed her caution, take some risks, liberate herself from her consultants and calculations and name and champion with passion and courage her version of the New Deal and the New Frontier to bring powerful change and a progressive reformation to America.

On taxes, Clinton’s senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan implied to reporters that a Sanders presidency would result in higher taxes for the middle class.

“Fourth grade social studies”, Clinton said.

Briggs said Sanders intends to release details about his proposed tax rates by the Iowa caucuses but said the senator had been “very detailed in his tax proposals” and noted that Clinton had only this week released plans to seek a surcharge on those earning $5 million or more.

“I’m not nervous at all”. She made a similar pitch eight years ago, only to find an electorate in search of change, not a seasoned Washington hand.

“Maybe I’ve just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be”, Clinton said at the time.

Overall, Clinton has spent $3 million more than Sanders on television ads.

Meanwhile, the highly anticipated Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll released Thursday morning shows Clinton leading Sanders by a mere two points-well within the margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. “I don’t want to empower Republican governors”.