Democrats trade barbs ahead of New York vote
Sanders accused of playing “political games” over failure to agree on debate date
EAU CLAIRE, WIS.— The presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded fire Saturday over the timing of a potential debate ahead of the New York primary, reflecting a new level of testiness between the Democratic camps.
In a string of snarky messages on Twitter and in a more formal statement, Clinton national press secretary Brian Fallon accused the Sanders campaign of playing “political games” and seeking to avoid agreement on a debate to have “fake excuses to attack Hillary Clinton.”
Sanders’s communications director, Michael Briggs, said it was his campaign that has been pushing for a New York debate and that the dates and venues suggested by Clinton “don’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Briggs took aim at one Clinton proposal in particular: an encounter on this coming Monday night, which would coincide with the national championship game in men’s college basketball. One of the potential contenders is a team from New York state: Syracuse University.
Competing for attention with the game is “ludicrous,” Briggs said in a statement.
The back-and-forth comes amid a primary fight in which Clinton has a formidable lead in delegates but has yet to put away a scrappy Sanders.
The senator from Vermont has won five of the past six states with primaries and caucuses, and polls have showed him with a narrow edge over Clinton in a primary coming up Tuesday in Wisconsin. If Sanders prevails in Wisconsin, where both Democratic candidates were campaigning on Saturday, the New York primary on April 19 looms as a key test for both camps.
A solid win by Clinton — in a state she represented in the U.S. Senate — would all but put the nomination out of reach for Sanders. A win by Sand- ers could justify his continued push against the former secretary of state.
In recent days, the two campaigns have also traded barbs over whether Sanders is lying about Clinton’s acceptance of campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests.
In his statement Saturday, Fallon said the Sanders campaign “needs to stop using the New York primary as a playground for political games and negative attacks against Hillary Clinton,” adding that: “The voters of New York deserve better.”
Fallon said that the Sanders campaign had rejected Monday night’s proposed debate because it wants a New York debate to take place after Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin.
Fallon said the Clinton camp had proposed two other options, both rejected by Sanders. One would be a debate on the night of April 14; the other would be a debate on the morning of April 15 on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“The voters of New York deserve better.” BRIAN FALLON CLINTON’S SPOKESMAN, REFERRING TO WRANGLING OVER DEBATE DATES
“What does Sanders have on April 14 that would keep him from accepting our offer to debate in NY that night?” Fallon asked on Twitter. In his next tweet, he attempted to answer his own question: “Perhaps Sanders plans to wait til the last minute to file his taxes?”
In his statement, Briggs said that the Sanders campaign is “very pleased that Secretary Clinton finally has accepted our request for a debate about the needs of New York and America. We hope we can reach agreement in the near future.”