Hillary Clinton is confident – Bill Clinton, soon “First Gentleman”?

At one point, Clinton said she “still can’t get over” the death of Eric Garner, who was fatally choked by a New York City police officer after an encounter involving the sale of loose cigarettes.

Sanders also warned Maddow not to ask him about his underwear, a reference to a Saturday Night Live spoof.

Clinton called for relaxing regulation of the drug at the federal level, but she stopped short of advocating decriminalization, as Sanders has done. On Saturday morning, however, he was more circumspect, only referring to Clinton in passing when he talked about his plan to expand Social Security benefits. “And I was against it a year ago”.

Sanders took the same shot. What he told the Journal and the Globe this past week is really the message he was trying to send at the debate last month: Clinton’s e-mails are a distraction that she created.

When asked by Todd if it’s “wrong” to evolve on issues, Sanders said, “There’s nothing wrong”. “It never made sense to me from day one”. During the debate, Bernie Sanders came to Hillary Clinton’s defense over the infamous email scandal, claiming that America was exhausted of hearing about her “d*mn emails”. He memorably defended Clinton over criticism she had received about her private email server while at the state department – declaring “enough with the damn emails”.

“Anybody who thinks that they can influence what I will do doesn’t know me very well”. “And what is motivating the kind of violence we’re seeing?”

O’Malley later brushed off questions of his hit on Sanders, after the forum. She reaffirmed that she believes it could be used under certain circumstances, such as for the gunman who went on a rampage at a church in Charleston in June. “They are impatient and they deserve to be impatient”, she said. Many in a focus group of undecided Democratic women – so-called “Wal-Mart moms”- held in Des Moines this week questioned her trustworthiness and loyalty, describing her as “shady”, “shifty” and “sold out”. Sanders said his agenda will ultimately resonate with African Americans, including raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and investing in education. Garnering support for his campaign, and Democrats, is the only way to galvanize support and elect a Democrat, Sanders said. “The Republicans, all of them, believe in a few sort of free enterprise”, he said. Fifteen percent chose Sanders while 2 percent chose O’Malley.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke about 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee’s murder during a Democratic forum hosted by MSNBC Friday night.

O’Malley said he is proud to be a lifelong Democrat, and questioned Sanders loyalty to the political party.

“It’s not about punching up”, campaign manager Jeff Weaver told reporters after the event.

The subtext of their trip to South Carolina, the third state in line to select a nominee, could not be avoided.

While Clinton has appeared to solidify her support in the party in recent weeks, she is far from a locking up the nomination.

Mr O’Malley put in perhaps the most consistently strong performance of the three candidates: he seemed both relaxed and professional, delivering eloquent, hard-hitting and catchy answers.