Sanders defends call to raise taxes to fund health care

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is portraying herself as the most effective potential guardian of President Barack Obama’s legacy. Instead, in one of the last chances for voters to see them before the Iowa caucuses on February 1, they took separate questions from the audience of Democrats who plan to caucus.

Sanders, the curmudgeonly 74-year-old who acts like he abhors the pageantry of campaigning, was ready to show a little personality Monday night.

Near the end of the town hall, Clinton was shown a TV ad by the Sanders campaign now playing now in Iowa. And kept going and will do that as president. The student asked Clinton why she couldn’t seem to pick up support with young people the same way that Sanders has. Sanders talks in the language of political revolution and Clinton emphasizes an incremental approach.

He pointed to his 2002 vote against authorizing the Iraq war as an example of his good judgment. “You can form your own judgment as to why that’s the case”.

The former secretary of state now needs to pull off what would be an even unlikelier comeback than in 2008 – when she overcame a near double-digit deficit to then-Sen. I loved it”, Clinton said, pointing to the ad’s emotional resonance: “You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose.

But Sanders did not leave unscathed. “We will raise taxes”, Sanders declared.

However, he has handed the Clinton team an easy point of attack with an admission this would come from raising taxes.

Pressed to compare himself with Clinton, Sanders cut to the chase. She barely uttered his name throughout the course of the evening and at times praised him.

“[The] one thing everybody understands is that this job right here, you don’t have the luxury of just focusing on one thing”, a relaxed and reflective Obama told me in his most expansive discussion of the 2016 race to date… Her answer, in short: “I’ve taken on the status quo time and time again”. The president features prominently in her speeches, from her assertion that he doesn’t get enough credit for rescuing the economy to her detailed description of being in the Situation Room alongside him during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

“I’m totally happy to see young people involved in any way”, Clinton said. When asked later if she was slow to apologize for controversial use of private email and a personal Internet server while serving as secretary of state, Clinton said, “I think that’s a fair criticism”.

“I am cautious about doing anything that would disrupt the existing status quo”, Clinton said.

After one young man asked her why voters did not trust her, she said that the only reason she is controversial is because she is a substantive political figure who never gave up.

“But if you’re new to politics, if it’s the first time you’ve really paid attentions you go, ‘Oh, my gosh, look at all of this”. History has shown that turnout in the caucuses and primaries typically is dominated by the most motivated party base voters.

“I have the greatest respect for the vice president”, she said.

Clinton had a couple of strong red meat moments.

Another questioner said he was a “lukewarm” supporter of hers until he saw how she endured 11 hours of testimony before the House Benghazi committee, and now, he is “gung-ho”.

“One of the most distressing aspects of this campaign has been the language of the Republican candidates, particularly their front-runner, who denigrates different people”, Clinton said. “He has cast a wide net – he started with Mexicans, he’s now on Muslims”.

Long-shot candidate Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, also appeared on stage and argued that he represented a generational change in politics that neither Sanders nor Clinton could match. Given his current place in the polls, finishing third would likely be portrayed as a victory for Rubio. “They come up with these outlandish things”.

O’Mally struck a defiant tone on Monday night, urging his supporters not to bend in the face of long odds.

Yet even as the race between Sanders and Clinton becomes more contentious, Democrats say they’re encouraged that the battles have stayed largely focused on substance, giving the race a seriousness they believe portends party unity in the general election. I know this is a tough fight.