Clinton, Sanders at odds over newly proposed NH debate

Adding intrigue to the Democratic race, the White House said President Barack Obama would host Bernie Sanders for an Oval Office meeting. Now, as she prepares to again head Clinton’s efforts at her caucus site Monday night, MCreery can’t fathom why her candidate’s lead again feels in peril. Sanders is “far more mainstream than either Ted Cruz or Donald Trump”, said Lynn.

The so-called super delegates are not linked to any one candidate but hold huge power in their ability to get behind a candidate during the primary and caucus process, a sort of thumb on the scales that often helps the candidate most favored by the party establishment. After all, longtime voters are the ones who elected the “Washington cartel” to begin with. The trouble is, first-time voters have a habit of becoming “next time” voters. “What Obama did in 2008 was extraordinary”.

Emerging from the White House after meeting with Obama for 45 minutes, Sanders said he wasn’t bothered by a recent interview in which Obama appeared to be tilting toward his former secretary of state. Bernie Sanders is generating in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Despite his criticism of Obama on health care, Wall Street regulation and other economic issues, Sanders said that on the “major issues I have stood by his side” against Republican opposition.

Sanders’s surprising competitiveness is, of course, built off his overwhelming popularity among younger voters.

In contrast, Clinton has pushed a more cautious plan targeting “debt-free” college education, with proposals to increase access to tuition grants, push for income-based repayments, and – like Sanders – to allow graduates to refinance student loans at lower interest rates. They could find their exit complicated by steadier snow Tuesday.

Earnest said Wednesday that Obama has consciously attempted to remain neutral in the Democratic nominating contest, but that he does plan to vote absentee in Illinois’ primary on March 15. This is especially significant for the Iowa caucus, where delegates are assigned on a geographic basis.

Sanders’ campaign is trying to build a sense of enthusiasm for their candidate in part by highlighting the large crowds that come out to see him. After Sanders closed a double-digit gap in Iowa polling with Clinton two weeks ago, the Clinton campaign set out to tamp down expectations for their own candidate’s performance in the caucuses and, implicitly, inflate expectations for Sanders.

The latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll found Clinton with 42 percent, Sanders with 40 percent and O’Malley with just 4 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers. Although Obama was ultimately able to compete in Iowa’s red counties, he got a boost from a quirk of the calendar. That meant that Obama’s army of young supporters could caucus at their parents’ homes all over the state, and not waste their support in Johnson or Story counties, home to the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, respectively. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday the prospect of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg mounting an independent presidential campaign “speaks volumes about the state of American politics”, noting with a populist flair it might mean two of the three contenders would be billionaires.

When Obama said earlier this month he would withhold his support for any political candidate that didn’t support “common sense” gun control laws, it was widely regarded as a rebuke of Sanders, who has voted for provisions that would protect firearm manufacturers from liability after shooting deaths.

Democrat presidential candidate Martin O’ Malley remains dead third in the polls, but according to Iowan Spanish-language newspaper, he’s actually the candidate that Latinos want and not Vermont Sen. But so long as the polls are tied, the Vermont senator is (probably) losing.