Race gets heated between Sanders’ and Clinton

Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will square-off Saturday in a prime time debate sponsored by ABC News in Partnership with the New Hampshire Union Leader.

A copy of the lawsuit filed with a federal court in Washington showed that the agreement between Democratic candidates to use a shared computer system for voter registration and supporter data included a provision requiring campaigns to be notified of any changes in access 10 days in advance. “I think everyone needs to work together, resolve this as quickly as possible and get the voter file turned back on for the Sanders campaign and let’s have a great primary”.

Sanders’ campaign cried foul on Friday, calling the suspension of its access to voter data “a death sentence” that would cost it $600,000 a day in lost donations.

The campaign fired one of the four staffers involved but says the data wasn’t accessed in a way that would give Sanders an unfair advantage.

Only hours after hosting a conference call for reporters with Mook, during which the Clinton campaign forcefully accused Sanders team of theft, Fallon said in a statement the campaign hoped the issue would be resolved and the Sanders campaign team would regain access “to their voter files right away”.

But a DNC statement told a different side of the story, saying that the committee restored access only after the Sanders campaign provided more information to them about the breach.

While the Democrat candidates tend not to create the same level of drama as the Republicans, this debate may see Clinton and Sanders turn on each other.

Both have charged the DNC has purposely scheduled few debates to help the former secretary of state, even burying the past debate and tonight’s on a Saturday night to limit exposure.

As of September 30, the last campaign finance reporting deadline, Clinton had raised more money overall than Sanders – $77.5 million to $41.5 million – but Sanders claimed more individual donors.

After months of relative civility, the Democratic presidential candidates take the debate stage on Saturday night amid an outburst of hostilities surrounding accusations that Bernie Sanders’ campaign stole valuable voter information from front-runner Hillary Clinton.

He thundered: “The American people are sick and exhausted of hearing about your damn emails!”

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz defended the punishment against Sanders in a CNN interview, saying his campaign had acted in an “inappropriate, unacceptable” manner and had downloaded the information.

The timing of the debate could bolster Sanders’ argument.

Business mogul Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, attacked Clinton in a tweet Saturday morning as well as retweeted other scathing tweets from his followers.

For Clinton, who has a commanding lead of 20 points or more in most national polls, the question is whether she tries to capitalize on the controversy.

But while that may fire up his supporters, Sanders has to show he can move beyond his core economic arguments in an election that’s increasingly turning on national security after terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Though Clinton has heavy leads nationally, he’s led her in most New Hampshire polls and the state is becoming a must-win for his campaign.

“Please do not explain to me coming from a sate where Democratic governors and Republican governors have supported virstually no gun control”, Sanders snapped at O’Malley.