Sanders Stumps In Clinton, Iowa

Clinton said an attempt to push through a single-payer system would reopen the divisive health care debate, giving Republicans a chance to roll back the Affordable Care Act.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at the 2015 Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration at the Cedar Rapids Convention Center in Cedar Rapids on Friday, July 17, 2015. A CNN/ORC poll released Thursday showed that Sanders had an eight-point lead over Clinton, leading 51 percent to 43 percent.

“I was able to bring my years of experience to the forefront”, Clinton said about having to decide whether to go on with the inauguration despite the threat against Barack Obama, who she described as the nation’s “newly elected young dynamic president”. Since then, led by its 24-year-old digital director, Kenneth Pennington, the campaign has sought to expand that online support – Sanders now has more Facebook fans than Clinton – and turn it into volunteers, apps and dollars.

“There’s only one candidate who’s actually going to get done what is being advocated”, Clinton said.

Earlier, at Eagle Heights Elementary School in Clinton, the former secretary of state told about 450 people her plan does more than just target big banks, encompassing the wider financial industry. This time she hopes a larger field organization in Iowa and an escalation of her critiques of Sanders’ record and message might undercut his momentum. The Vermont senator spent the last two days campaigning in New Hampshire, but today both he and Clinton returned to the Hawkeye state.

“It was really exciting to me”, canvasser Jackealena Peguero said.

For months, Sanders was seen as a formidable liberal foil for Clinton and a Democratic equivalent of Donald Trump – anti-establishment figures with populist appeal and the ability to draw massive crowds. In addition, 60 percent of voters believe Clinton would is better suited to defeat the Republican nominee in the general election while less than half – 27 percent – think Sanders could win the White House.

More than nine in ten (91%) likely Democratic Primary voters have a favorable opinion of Sanders, only 7% have an unfavorable opinion of him, 2% are neutral, and 1% don’t know enough about him to say. “We’re establishing relationships”, he said.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who jumped to second place in the latest WMUR/CNN New Hampshire Primary Poll of Republican candidates, trails Sanders, 56 percent to 33 percent, with independents favoring Sanders, 56 percent to 24 percent.

“African-American voters are basically traditionalists; they’re people who tend to stay with whom and what they know”, said Clyburn.

Jared Freemon, 20, a junior economics and marketing major at Drake University in Des Moines, said he liked Sanders’ ideas about making public college free and providing health care for all, as well as the senator’s candor in talking about the injustices minorities face.

Hillary Clinton did her homework before campaigning here Saturday, opening her stump speech with an ode to DeWitt Clinton, the former NY governor who championed the Erie Canal and became the town’s namesake. We want everybody in our country to be covered. His campaign has 14,000 volunteers operating in the state and expects 50,000 Iowans to have attended a Sanders event by February 1. Clinton added, “I want to build on what we’ve already achieved”. “People all over Iowa, and people all over America are sick and exhausted of establishment politics”, Sanders said. “I happen to think we need more conversation about what’s going on in the world”.