Some Democrats worry Clinton’s message failing
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton has questioned Bernie Sanders’ electability.
She’s criticized his plans for health care, foreign policy and Wall Street. And she’s tagged him with flipflopping on gun control.
None of it appears to be sticking — and that’s raising concerns among Democrats who fear that a months-long primary campaign could create lasting damage for their party.
Most believe Clinton will capture the nomination, but some say she is failing to respond effectively to Sanders, fueling his primary rise and strengthening the Republican argument against her. Others say she got a late start going after Sanders and is not hitting him enough — eroding her lead in states that should be safe.
“They didn’t take him seriously enough because they thought they had a gadfly,” said John Morgan, a Florida attorney and Clinton donor. “The gadfly wasn’t a gadfly — he was a lightning bug. And people have been following that lightning bug all over America.”
Sanders on offense
Though Sanders has dismissed questions about Clinton’s use of a private email account and server as secretary of state and how she responded to the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks, some Democrats say she needs a better response to his critique of her ties to Wall Street, which they argue reinforces Republican attacks on her character.
In recent days, Sanders has intensified his critique of Clinton with rhetoric edged toward breaking one of his core campaign pledges — no attacks.
“Without naming any names, Goldman Sachs also provides very, very generous speaking fees to some unnamed candidates” he said this week in Iowa, meaning her.
His argument hasn’t gone unnoticed by Republicans. The Republican National Committee jumped to Sanders’ defense during the last debate, blasting out emails undercutting her.
GOP’s main target
Clinton’s campaign released a statement accusing Sanders of following Republican cues to go after her. The campaign’s communications director, Jen Palmieri, said it’s obvious Clinton is the candidate Republicans are afraid to face.
Recent preference polls suggest her lead in Iowa has evaporated and in New Hampshire, Sanders has opened a significant edge.
Clinton and her team believe they can win the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa.
Her strategists have long seen New Hampshire as a tougher race, given Sanders’ decades of representing a neighboring state. They’ve believed the nomination would be won in South Carolina, Nevada and the Southern states that vote March 1. The larger numbers of minority voters in the later contests benefit Clinton, who’s consistently polled better among those groups.