Sanders, Clinton compete for key voters in South Carolina

“Look, we are five percent of the world’s population, we have to build things and sell things to the 95 percent, so people who are against trade under any circumstances no matter what are kind of missing the point”, Clinton said.

And O’Malley dinged Clinton for coming to her opposition to the Keystone XL popeline later than him, saying she got there “just last week”. Though he wasn’t directly going up against any other candidates at Friday’s MSNBC forum in South Carolina, where Rachel Maddow interviewed each of the Democratic hopefuls separately, Sanders showed that he’s shined up a few of his weaknesses.

One of the first questions to Sanders was about his ability, coming from the mostly white state of Vermont, to sell his ideas to black Southerners. “I did not say, ‘End the investigation.’ That’s silly….Let the investigation proceed unimpeded”.

While O’Malley and Sanders took opportunities to make contrasts with Clinton, the former secretary of state declined to return the volley.

Kimmel asked Clinton if, behind the scenes, she feels “sorry” for Jeb Bush’s troubled campaign and whether she “dies laughing” at his new slogan “Jeb Can Fix It”.

Asked whether Sanders’ campaign has been about “debating the pros and cons of socialism”, O’Malley pivoted and talked about issues that have rocked the Palmetto State this year and the need for bi-partisanship.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, argued that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, for example, would help the plight of millions of single mothers, as would making child care more affordable and requiring that employers pay men and women equal wages for equal work.

After laughs – both inside the room and in the media filing center – Sanders added, “If I was president of CNN, trust me, the way media deals with politics would radically change”. She said her husband has told her that he’s determined to break the “iron grip” that women have had on being the spouse of a president. In a poll out this week conducted by the forum’s host, Winthrop University, 71 percent of those surveyed said Clinton was their first choice.

She outright refused to answer, however, which Republican candidate she would chose if forced as her running mate.

Meanwhile, at Orangeburg, Clinton continued her focus on minority voters. “I don’t think the answer to this problem is socialism”.

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

“Our country needs new leadership in order to move out of these divided times”, said the former mayor of Baltimore.

“Not enough of us appreciate the degree to which we have put the burden of” war “on the backs of such a small number of people”, he said.