Biden, Sanders spar over war in last debate before primaries

DES MOINES, IOWA >> The Democratic Party’s leading presidential candidates sparred over Iraq, war and foreign policy Tuesday night in the final debate showdown before primary voting begins.

Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders drew an immediate contrast with moderate opponent Joe Biden by noting that Sanders aggressively fought against a 2002 measure to authorize military action against Iraq.

Sanders called the Iraq invasion “the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country.”

“I did everything I could to prevent that war,” Sanders said. “Joe saw it differently.”

Biden acknowledged that his 2002 vote to authorize military action was “a mistake,” but highlighted his role in the Obama administration helping to draw down the U.S. military presence in the region.

Just six candidates gathered in Des Moines, each eager to seize a dose of finaldays momentum on national television before Iowa’s Feb.

3 caucuses. A sudden “hesaid, she-said” dispute over gender involving two longtime allies, Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, loomed over the event, though it was not a focus in the debate’s earliest moments,

Specifically, Warren charged publicly on the eve of the debate that Sanders told her during a private

2018 meeting that he didn’t think a woman could defeat Trump, a claim tinged with sexism that Sanders vigorously denied. Amid an immediate uproar on the left, there were signs that both candidates wanted to deescalate the situation.

The feuding was likely to expand to include nearly every candidate on stage by night’s end.

Sanders has recently stepped up his attacks on Biden over his past support of the Iraq War, broad freetrade agreements and entitlement reform, among other issues. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has had several strong debates, was looking for another opportunity as she remains mired in the middle of the pack in polling. Billionaire Tom Steyer faced criticism that he’s trying to buy his way to the White House.

And with two surveys showing Pete Buttigieg losing support in Iowa, the former mayor of South Bend,

Indiana, needed a breakout moment to regain strength before the caucuses.

Trump, campaigning in neighboring Wisconsin just as Democrats took the debate stage, tried to encourage the feud between Sanders

and Warren from afar.

“She said that Bernie stated strongly that a woman can’t win. I don’t believe that Bernie said that, I really don’t. It’s not the kind of thing Bernie would say,” Trump said.

PATRICK SEMANSKY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, left, watches as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., answers a question Tuesday during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa.

CHARLIE NEIBERGALL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS From left, Democratic presidential candidates businessman Tom Steyer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stand on stage, Tuesday before a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa.

PATRICK SEMANSKY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right greet each other as former Vice President Joe Biden watches Tuesday before a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa.