Democrats step up attacks against each other as New Hampshire primary looms
Leading Democratic presidential candidates have stepped up attacks against each other ahead of the New Hampshire primary, with Joe Biden saying Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialism would turn off voters in moderate states in a general election against Donald Trump.
Sanders has maintained his lead over the other 10 candidates going into Tuesday’s vote, according to a CNN poll released on Sunday, with former mayor Pete Buttigieg in second, Biden in third and the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren in fourth.
Biden, who has long been seen as a frontrunner in the race, is particularly under pressure to revive his campaign after suffering what he called a “gut punch” result in the Iowa caucuses last week, which saw him come in fourth. Both Sanders and Buttigieg declared victory in a race that was marred by chaotic results, and ended up too close to call.
On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Biden was asked if he thought Democrats can’t defeat the president if they have to defend socialism.
“I think it’s going to be incredibly more difficult. I’m not going to say – look, if I don’t get the nomination and Bernie gets it, I’m going to work like hell for him,” the former vice-president said of the Vermont senator.
“But I’ll tell you what, it’s a bigger uphill climb running as a senator or a congressperson or as a governor on a ticket that calls itself a democratic socialist ticket.”
Trump has already begun waging a negative campaign against the spectre of socialism ahead of November’s election, often singling out Sanders, 78, a self-declared democratic socialist with climate, education and healthcare plans costing trillions of dollars.
Biden also called out Buttigieg during an event on Saturday, saying the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a city of 100,000 people, lacked experience.
“I do not believe we’re a party at risk if they nominate me, and I do believe we’re a party at risk if we nominate someone who’s never held a higher office than mayor,” Biden said at a rally in Manchester.
“This guy’s not a Barack Obama!” he added, dismissing comparisons with Obama during the presidential campaign in 2008, when Biden said he also lacked experience.
“Well, he’s right, I’m not. And neither is he. Neither is any of us running for president,” Buttigieg told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union on Sunday. He added: “This isn’t 2008 – it’s 2020, and we are in a new moment calling for a different kind of leadership.”
Asked whether “the Democrats can defeat Donald Trump if they have to defend socialism”, Buttigieg told Stephanopoulos on ABC that it would be “harder”.
“I think it will be a lot harder. But the bigger concern that I have is further dividing the country. You know, when the campaign says that either you’re for a revolution or you must be for the status quo -- most of us don’t see where we fit in that picture,” Buttigieg said.
“And the irony is at this moment, we actually have a historic American majority, not just the line around what we’re against, we need to get rid of
Donald Trump, but what we’re for,” he continued. “Let’s hold together and not blow up that American majority.”
Appearing on CNN, Sanders was asked about Biden’s criticism that the Democratic socialist label would hurt candidates in other races.
Sanders said that his agenda – a higher minimum wage and healthcare system for all – had “overwhelming” support.
“Our agenda is the agenda of working-class and middle-class Americans,” Sanders said.
Sanders also addressed criticism of socialism on Fox News Sundaywith Chris Wallace, including Trump’s past allegations that Sanders is a “communist”.
“No 1, in many respects – in many respects, we are a socialist society today. We have a huge budget. It puts money into all areas,” Sanders responded, saying that Trump received hundreds of millions in subsidies and tax breaks for his businesses.
“The difference between my socialism and Trump’s socialism is, I believe the government should help working families, not billionaires,” he said.
On CBS’s Face the Nation, Buttigieg also addressed criticism that he wasn’t experienced.
One Biden attack ad, for example, states that Biden “helped save the auto industry, which revitalized the economy of the midwest and led the passage and implementation of the Recovery Act, saving our economy from a depression. Pete Buttigieg revitalized the sidewalks of downtown South Bend by laying out decorative brick.”
Chris Meagher, Buttigieg’s national press secretary, said: “While Washington politics trivializes what goes on in communities like South Bend, South Bend residents who now have better jobs, rising income and new life in their city don’t think their lives are a Washington politician’s punchline.”
Elaborating on Sunday, Buttigieg said: “Maybe my community does look good from – does look small from the perspective of Washington. But to us, a lot of times, it’s the infighting in the Washington establishment … that looks small.”
Stephanopoulos asked Warren why she did not raise her hand when asked whether she was concerned about having a Democratic socialist on the ballot during the televised New Hampshire debate on Friday night. But the Massachusetts senator declined to be drawn.
“So, look, I am not – I am a capitalist. I’m a – I believe in markets. This is what I talk about all the time,” she said.