Democrats fear Sanders may take them ‘down Corbyn path’
‘We don’t need to become the British Labour Party,’ says senior figure as ‘socialist’ takes clear lead
SENIOR Democrats are “scared to death” of Bernie Sanders and believe he would take them down “the same path as Jeremy Corbyn” if he becomes the party’s presidential nominee to take on Donald Trump in November.
James Carville, former strategist to Bill Clinton, said the party must unite behind a moderate candidate as polls in New Hampshire, the second state to vote in the contest, showed the democratic socialist Mr Sanders with a clear lead. It came as Joe Biden, the moderate former vice-president, admitted he had suffered a “gut punch” by finishing fourth in Iowa, which was the first state to vote on Monday.
Mr Carville said: “We don’t need to become the British Labour party. That’s a bad thing. It’s not going well over there... I’m 75, why am I here doing this? Because I’m scared to death, that’s why. Let’s get relevant here. All the Sanders people are taking pictures wishing Jeremy Corbyn the best. I don’t want to go down that path.
“We’ve got to decide what we want to be. Do we want to be an ideological cult? Without power, you have nothing. You just have talking points.”
He also warned his party not to go “AOC crazy”, referring to Alexandria Ocasio-cortez, the Left-wing New York congresswoman who has endorsed Mr Sanders. He suggested the party should consider backing moderate candidates like Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former small-town mayor, who leads in partial results from Iowa, and Amy Klobuchar, who finished fifth there.
Mr Biden, 77, who still leads the race in an average of national polls, vowed to fight on after his humiliating showing in Iowa. He said: “I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We took a gut punch in Iowa. But this isn’t the first time in my life I’ve been knocked down.
“There are an awful lot of folks out there who wrote off this campaign. Well, I’m not going anywhere.”
He said if Mr Sanders was the nominee, every Democrat would have to carry the label “socialist”.
Results from Iowa were delayed after problems with an app used to count votes. With 71 per cent of precincts reporting Mr Buttigieg, who would be the first openly gay US president, had 26.8 per cent, Mr Sanders 25.2 per cent, US senator Elizabeth Warren 18.4 per cent, and Mr Biden 15.5 per cent.
In New Hampshire, Mr Sanders stepped up his campaign and a crowd of 300 turned up to hear him in Derry.
He said: “I believe old-fashioned, status quo politics is not going to generate the kind of energy and excitement we need to bring working-class people and the young into the political process to grow the base.”
Afterwards, voter Cassandra Snow, 28, said: “I am a Bernie fan. He is trustworthy and I believe in what he stands for. He makes my blood boil, but in a good way. Bernie is for the people.
“This government is so corrupt and it doesn’t matter what the people want, they do what the money wants. I think there is a portion of candidates, like Biden and Buttigieg, who will continue down the money road.”
Over the next few days, candidates will criss-cross New Hampshire at a frantic pace, pressing their case in what could be a make-or-break state for some of them, before the vote on Feb 11.
Mr Sanders, Mrs Warren and Ms Klobuchar were forced to abandon campaigning and fly back to Washington to vote in Mr Trump’s impeachment trial last night. Before leaving, Mr Sanders lambasted the president, telling supporters: “We are dealing with a president who is a pathological liar.”
Mr Sanders also suggested that it was he, not Mr Buttigieg who was ahead in Iowa.
Due to the complexities of Iowa’s caucus system, one candidate can be awarded the most delegates, traditionally the measure of victory, while not receiving the most individual votes.