The Democratic Town Hall in 90 Seconds

For the first time, the two leading 2016 Democratic presidential candidates will face off one-on-one in a debate, hosted by MSNBC Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET in New Hampshire, just days before the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Sanders is likely to continue to criticize Clinton for accepting speaking fees from Goldman Sachs before her candidacy.

Clinton said Sander was engaging an artful form of smear campaign in regard to campaign contributions.

“Hillary Clinton said it best herself tonight: ‘It is still the case that there are challenges and obstacles to young women’s ambitions.’ Which is why Hillary Clinton is working every day to break down gender, racial, reproductive, and economic barriers in this country and open doors to all who deserve a greater voice in our democracy”. She hit Sanders for presenting pie-in-the-sky proposals with little chance of becoming reality. Sanders countered that the ads didn’t say he’d been endorsed but merely passed along “nice” words the newspapers had written about him.

He said that when a “kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record”.

They clashed sharply over Wall Street and foreign policy.

“That is what power is about, that is what corruption is about”.

As pointed out in an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, Iowa and New Hampshire have the highest percentages of white and liberal electorates in the Democratic primary – constituencies which favor Sanders.

“I’ve got their number”, she said, “the Wall Street guys”.

She addressed Sanders’ campaign promise to provide universal health care for all and free college tuition. There are four remaining Democratic debates.

Sanders reported raising $20 million for his campaign in January; Clinton reported raising $15 million. Her finance director called the numbers “a very loud wake-up call” in a fundraising email to supporters. Clinton won the state’s primary during her bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination after polls ahead of the contest showed her trailing then-Senator Barack Obama.

“Absolutely not, New Hampshire has been so good to me and my family and I love campaigning in New Hampshire”, Clinton said, recalling her response.

He pointed to her vote as a senator to authorise the war in Iraq and the money her campaign receives from Wall Street as evidence.

Clinton retorted: “A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS”.

Sanders allowed that while Clinton had been secretary of state, “experience is not the only point. Um, that’s what they offered”, she said.

The Durham debate will be the first faceoff for Clinton and Sanders since former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley dropped out of the race after a poor showing in Iowa.

The close result in Iowa was the latest twist in an election campaign that, until recently, had been dominated by the crowded and cacophonous field of Republicans, who spread out across New Hampshire this week. Mrs Clinton, who had hoped for a strong finish against Mr Sanders in Iowa to vanquish his insurgent candidacy, hopes to overcome his polling lead in New Hampshire.

Benac reported from Washington.

Colin Campbell contributed reporting.