Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders in good health: doctor

But it comes amid a push by Sanders to make policing the financial sector central to his presidential campaign.

This week, in an interview with The Washington Post, Sanders claimed that the Clinton campaign was incapable of generating enthusiasm in the same way that his campaign has – especially among the young and the disaffected.

The Thursday would fit in between Monday’s Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary on February 9.

“I know that I will be a better president because of what I have learned here in Iowa”, Clinton said.

It may be an awkward meeting, in an interview with Politico this week, the president distanced himself from Sanders, seeming to embrace Clinton despite assurances the White House would remain neutral in the increasingly bitter intra-party fight. While Clinton’s crowd was enthusiastic and warm, Sanders’ crowd was passionate.

At Hillary Clinton’s campaign offices all across Iowa, staffers are using rival Bernie Sanders’s own words as new motivation in the four days left until the caucuses.

Clinton was the first 2016 presidential candidate to release her bill of health, as candidates customarily do during campaign season. Sanders stressed the need for more debates, “Well, look, you know, when the Republicans do primetime debates they get 20 million, 25 million people watching it. When we have debates, the one here in Iowa was literally on the night of a huge football game”. Pete D’Alessandro, who is directing the Iowa operation for Sanders, said the staffing has grown from two people in May to over 100 today. He pointed to Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speaking fees during the last presidential debate and reminded supporters this week that Clinton took a break from the Iowa trail to raise money at a Philadelphia investment firm.

Sanders, explaining that much of what he proposes is happening in Scandinavia and Germany (a concept that itself alarms Americans who don’t want to be like socialized Europe), answered vaguely: “Creating a government that works for all of us, not just a handful of people on the top – that’s my definition of democratic socialism”.

For Sanders, it’s a chance to show he’s got some sway with a president still popular among Democrats.

The decision not to participate in the debate is not some great moral failing.

Polls show him running neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton there, upending convention wisdom and the expectations of the Clinton camp.

In December, Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s physician showered even higher praise on the billionaire businessman, writing that “his physical strength and stamina are outstanding”. “We have no plans to sanction any further debates before the upcoming First in the Nation caucuses and primary, but will reconvene with our campaigns after those two contests to review our schedule”. Thursday’s debate is the first on Fox News since then.

On Tuesday, Trump called Kelly a “lightweight reporter”.

Widespread reports quoting sources close to the 73-year-old Bloomberg said he is willing to spend up to $1 billion – of his estimated $37 billion fortune – to wage an independent campaign in the general election.