Black Democrats question Bernie Sanders’ commitment to President Obama

Except when they didn’t.

“She’s uniquely qualified to lead this country”, said Phoenix Councilwoman Kate Gallego, acknowledging the Democratic primary is going to be anything but easy.

“All these guys, you know, the conservatives, I’m a conservative person. The simple truth is that there are very few in Congress who have a stronger civil rights record than Senator Sanders”.

On the foreign policy front, Sanders criticized Clinton for her warm relationship for Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Republican President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War.

Trellis Appling of Atlanta said, “I’m hoping that she can extend Barack Obama’s policies and I believe she can win in November”. But he also stressed that Sanders respects Obama and was not suggesting that race relations have gotten worse since 2009.

Sanders responded sharply: “Madam Secretary, that is a low blow”. I have decided that is Hillary Clinton.

“The kind of criticism that we’ve heard from senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans, I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed president Obama”, she said.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright apologized on Friday for comments that sparked controversy last week while she campaigned for Hillary Clinton, saying it was the wrong time to use her trademark phrase that, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other”.

Seeking to boost his support with minorities, Sanders called for reforms to a “broken criminal justice system” that incarcerates a disproportionate number of minorities.

“The Clinton campaign takes every single thing that comes out of his mouth, twists it and distorts it and throws it back”, Sanders senior strategist Tad Devine said following Thursday’s debate.

Both candidates promised large-scale criminal justice reform and comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living and working in the United States. “But we can do better”. Criticising the anti-immigrant positions of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Mr Sanders said immigrants should not be scapegoats for economic uncertainty.

But Clinton has also sought to cast doubt on the image Sanders has cultivated of himself as a politician who refuses to follow the rules of the Washington establishment. She can’t afford to alienate the young voters who are overwhelmingly backing Sanders in the primary, if she does become the Democratic nominee.

The race for both parties turns now to Nevada, South Carolina and other more diverse states including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. She stepped in and said that by economists’ estimates, the government would grow 40 per cent under Sanders. Sanders didn’t shy away from the notion that he wants to expand the size of government.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But Clinton was quick to charge that Sanders’ proposals are, in effect, grandiose and unworkable. Her campaign has noted that despite his disavowal of big donations from Wall Street, he has benefited from their support through the Democratic Party’s national campaign committees.