Sanders: ‘Disappointed’ by Chelsea Clinton attack

Hillary Clinton is leading Bernie Sanders nationwide by a crushing 25-point margin, though Sanders bests Clinton in a hypothetical general election match-up against GOP front-runner Donald Trump, two polls released Sunday by NBC News/Wall Street Journal have found.

Clinton has used Sanders’ earlier vote to undercut his liberal image.

Clinton’s institutional strength and her support among the minority voters who make up a large portion of the party’s base still put her in a formidable position, even as polls show Sanders surging in Iowa and maintaining an edge in New Hampshire.

Hours before Sunday night’s Democratic debate, Sanders announced his support for legislation that would reverse a 2005 law, which he supported, that grants legal immunity to gun manufacturers.

Here are things to watch for.

On hot-button tech industry political issues, surveillance and encryption chief among them, Sanders and Clinton have sung different tunes.

The Clinton campaign derided Sanders’ “debate-eve conversion”. However, both candidates are in support of President Barack Obama’s executive action proposal to curb gun violence by expanding background checks and closing the loophole on firearms sold at gun shows. In a debate last month, Clinton said she would turn to her husband for economic advice. “You know, it’s a big question, a big decision and we need a spirited debate about how to move America forward”. Her momentum has stalled. She has all the structural advantages.

The fact-checking website conceded she had a point in that Sanders’ American Health Security Act would strip insurance benefits from the Affordable Care Act and that states would be the main administrators.

In the city where a white man killed nine people at one of the nation’s oldest black churches and in a state where almost a third of the population is black, relations between blacks and whites are an issue. He has bemoaned negative campaigning and during the first debate declined to rebuke Clinton over her use of a private email server while at the State Department, saying that people were “sick and exhausted about hearing about your damn emails”. “I think Hillary will be extremely strong in SC”. That, at least, would extend some suspense through the SC primary.

Clinton’s disappearing lead in early Democratic primaries has prompted her to start going after Sanders in a sustained way for the first time. That contradicted what Sanders had told CNN the night before and the senator doubled down on his pledge to release his health care plan last night.

The younger Clinton was joined by her father, Bill, as the family tries to cover as much ground as possible in the race against Bernie Sanders, whose ratings have soared.

What seemed recently to be a race largely controlled by Clinton has turned into a neck-and-neck contest with voting set to begin in less than three weeks.