Trump needles debating Dems via Twitter
LAS VEGAS — Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was not about to let Democrats steal the limelight in their first 2016 debate, offering his own running commentary of proceedings and their electoral chances.
The carefully coiffed real estate mogul needled his possible general election adversaries on Twitter yesterday, even before they took to the lecterns.
Trump said he felt sorry for three candidates - former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, exsenator Jim Webb and former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee polling at less than one percent.
"Maybe a star will be born (unlikely)," he said.
As the debate kicked off, he was no less scathing.
"Can anyone imagine Chafee as president?" he asked. "No way."
"O'Malley, as former Mayor of Baltimore, has very little chance."
Trump also trained fire on Hillary Clinton, hitting the former Secretary of State for backing a vast trans-Pacific trade deal she now opposes.
But Democratic presidential frontrunner Clinton and top rival Bernie Sanders finally squared off in the party's first debate of the 2016 campaign, with both singling out income inequality as the scourge of America.
The main protagonists in the debate drama clearly emerged as Clinton and Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont who has drawn huge crowds on the campaign trail. Three other hopefuls seeking to make their mark with a national audience round out the field.
Clinton is keen to inject some excitement into her campaign and show she can rally the Democratic base from now into next year, while Sanders must test whether his "political revolution" can translate to the national stage.