Presidential Candidates 2016: 10 Democrats Who Might Be the Next Nominee

[Dos Equis]

Lincoln Chafee drops out of Democratic primary race
By Dan Merica and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Fri October 23, 2015

(CNN)Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee ended his long-shot bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, he announced Friday.

"As you know, I have been campaigning on a platform of Prosperity Through Peace," Chafee said at the DNC's annual Women's Leadership Forum in Washington. "But after much thought I have decided to end my campaign for president today. I would like to take this opportunity one last time to advocate for a chance be given to peace."

The Democrat declared his presidential campaign in June, shortly after announcing that he had formed an exploratory committee.

One of the reasons Chafee decided to drop out now: Hillary Clinton had "a good week," he said, one where former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb dropped out of the race, Vice President Joe Biden declined to run and she withstood hours of testimony on Capitol Hill.

"Obviously it was a good week for Secretary Clinton," Chafee told reporters after his speech. "She did well in the debates and then Senator Webb got out, Vice President Biden declined to join the race, she did well in the Benghazi hearing and Gov. Chafee got out of the race."

Chafee has spent most of his life as a Republican. He was nominated to his late father's Senate seat in 1999 and then was elected as a Republican in 2000. He served only one term, losing to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in 2006, but then successfully ran for governor of Rhode Island as an independent.

5 ways Joe Biden's decision changes the 2016 race

Chafee said on Friday that the most memorable moment of his campaign was getting to speak to audiences in Iowa and New Hampshire, but the moment that received the most press was his call to the United States to return to the metric system.

The former governor stood by the decision after he dropped out.

"I stand by that. That was part," Chafee said, emphasizing the word part, "of no drone strikes, fair trade, ending capital punishment, not diplomats that are political donors, bringing Snowden home."

"I wish it was put into context of all the other issues that I brought up at the time," he said. "It was a long list. Metric was one of the 10."

Chafee has been one of the most aggressive candidates against frontrunner Hillary Clinton, calling her out at multiple times about her 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq War.

"Considering the premise for invading Iraq was based on falsehoods and considering the ramifications we live with now from that mistake, I would argue that anybody who voted for the Iraq War should not be president and certainly should not be leading the Democratic Party," he said in an interview with CNN earlier this year.

Chafee was never supremely confident in his chances to win the nomination. When asked by CNN in April if he would bet on himself to win, he simply responded, "I can't," before catching himself and saying that he is "in it to win."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/politics/lincoln-chafee-2016-election-dnc-meeting/index.html

[Dos Equis]

O'Malley: 'Clinton Has Changed Her Position on Virtually Every Defining Issue'
OCT 26, 2015
BY DANIEL HALPER

Martin O'Malley came out firing this morning in an interview on Morning Joe:

"I think this race has changed in many, many ways just over the last week ... the differences that I am going to be able to make now between two candidates who have been in Washington for about 40 years now - neither one of whom have gotten much done - and another candidate representing a new perspective and a new generation of leadership who's actually gotten difficult things done," O'Malley said.

Later O'Malley added, “A weathervane shifts its positions in the wind. Effective leaders do not. I am clear about my principles I know where I stand. I was against the Trans Pacific Partnership 8 months ago. Hillary Clinton has changed her position on virtually every defining issue in this race - except for one, and that's to protect the big banks on Wall Street and go about with business as usual. I don't think that's what the people of our country are looking for. I have the independence, I have the backbone, to stand up for what our nation needs. That's what people are going to see now that it's down to a three person race.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/omalley-clinton-has-changed-her-position-virtually-every-defining-issue_1053042.html

[Dos Equis]

Hillary Clinton swamping Bernie Sanders in South Carolina, poll shows
By Elizabeth Landers, CNN
Wed November 4, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Columbia, South Carolina (CNN)—A whopping 71% of likely Democratic primary voters in South Carolina are leaning towards voting for Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll out on Wednesday from Winthrop University. Bernie Sanders takes 15% of the vote, while Martin O'Malley earns just 2%.

Clinton's support is even stronger in the African-American community, where she sweeps with 80% support among likely voters.

In Atlanta last week the Clinton campaign unveiled a nationwide "African-Americans for Hillary" initiative; she also spoke in the Palmetto State at an NAACP dinner last Friday.

"African-Americans can make up over 50% of the Democratic presidential primary vote in South Carolina, which is a much larger portion than you'll see in the Iowa Caucus or New Hampshire primary," said Scott Huffmon, the Winthrop polling director, in a statement accompanying the poll results.

Vice President Joe Biden's decision not to enter the race affected voters here: 34% of Clinton and 46% of Sanders supporters said they would have backed the vice president over their first choice had he decided to enter the race.

Martin O'Malley, former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, continues his uphill battle for name recognition: 54% of South Carolina voters said that were unfamiliar with him.

Clinton also stands as the most electable candidate in a general election. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they think she could win a general election, while 29% think Sanders can and only 9% think O'Malley can.

The poll surveyed 832 likely voters between October 24-November 1 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/politics/hillary-clinton-south-carolina-poll/index.html

[Dos Equis]

Somebody probably gave him good advice to walk back a bit because this is a pretty serious matter. 

Bernie Sanders isn't changing his tune on Clinton emails
By Dan Merica, CNN
Thu November 5, 2015

Los Angeles (CNN)—Bernie Sanders told The Wall Street Journal in an article published Wednesday that there are "valid questions" about Hillary Clinton's emails and that the investigation should "proceed unimpeded."

The comment was cast as a break from what Sanders said during the first Democratic debate, when he bellowed that "the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails," a line that was seen as a gift to Clinton because it dismissed what could be her most nagging problem. The Wall Street Journal comment was also seen as a sign that the Democratic candidate was taking the gloves off against the front-runner and preparing to assail her on emails.

In actuality, though, it is consistent with what he has said in the past about Clinton's emails.

Sanders regularly downplays the issue as one that doesn't rise to the level of raising wages, climate change and education reform, but doesn't dismiss the email investigation entirely.

Sanders was asked in an interview with CNN immediately after the debate what motivated him to use the now-famous "damn emails" line.

"Well, what motivated that is that I think the American people want substantive discussions on substantive issues," Sanders said. "There is a process in place for the email situation that Hillary Clinton is dealing with. Let it play itself out. As a nation, let us start focusing on why it is that so few have so much and so many have so little."

Sanders used a similar line the Sunday after the debate, telling ABC that he doesn't regret saying Americans don't care about Clinton's "damn emails" because he thinks he is right.

But that wasn't all Sanders said.

After listing issues that are more important to American families -- including college affordability, campaign finance reform and climate change -- Sanders said "All of those issues are more important than Hillary Clinton's emails, of which there is already a process underway to determine what happens."

And before the debate, Sanders used the same line to discuss Clinton's email controversy.

"I think that's an issue that we've got to take a hard look at, and I think what's going on now is, as I think Secretary Clinton now realizes, is not a good practice," he told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell in August.

"Do you think that she jeopardized national security?" Mitchell asked.

"Well, there is a process that is going on now," Sanders said. "We will learn more about it."

Tad Devine, Sanders' top strategist, said there is "absolutely" no plan for Sanders to start going after Clinton on emails and that his comments to the Wall Street Journal were not new.

"Absolutely not. We are not. We had enough of your damn emails. That still stands. Nothing has changed," Devine said, arguing that Republicans are using emails as a political football and that they "made fools of themselves" at October's hearing on Benghazi.

Sanders, in the interview with the Wall Street Journal, did question Clinton's consistency on issues, saying that her opposition to a Pacific trade deal that she once supported "does speak to the character of a person."

"Is there a new phase that we are doing? No," Devine said. "We are not interested in it."

Clinton's campaign doesn't exactly see it that way. On Thursday, Josh Schwerin, Clinton's campaign spokesman, issued a statement that took issue that Sanders' comments to The Wall Street Journal.

"This has and will remain a campaign about issues for Hillary Clinton, and that's what she'll continue to talk about on the trail," Schwerin said. "It's disappointing Senator Sanders and his campaign strategists have chosen to change direction and engage in the type of personal attacks that they previously said he wouldn't do."

Sanders' strategists, however, don't feel that they have.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/bernie-sanders-email-hillary-clinton/index.html

[Dos Equis]

Clinton Campaign Fires Back at Bernie Sanders
Nov 5, 2015
 

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders last month in Iowa. —Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News

Hillary Clinton’s campaign fired back Thursday at critical comments voiced by rival Bernie Sanders, saying he was engaging in the sort of “personal attacks” he had disavowed.

In an interview on Wednesday with The Wall Street Journal, the Vermont senator cast Mrs. Clinton’s policy reversals over the years as a character issue and said the federal investigation of the security surrounding her private email account as secretary of state is appropriate. He also suggested that she wouldn’t be an effective regulator of Wall Street.

The Clinton campaign had no comment on Wednesday but on Thursday, spokesman Josh Schwerin pushed back.

“This has and will remain a campaign about issues for Hillary Clinton, and that’s what she’ll continue to talk about on the trail,” he said in an email. “It’s disappointing Sen. Sanders and his campaign strategists have chosen to change direction and engage in the type of personal attacks that they previously said he wouldn’t do.”

Mr. Sanders’s comments mark a turning point in the Democratic race, which has become a two-person contest, with a third contender, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, lagging far behind. While Mr. Sanders has long pointed to policy differences between the two of them, he hasn’t criticized her personally.

In the Democratic debate last month, Mr. Sanders said voters were “sick and tired” of the focus on Mrs. Clinton’s “damn emails,” a comment many interpreted to be a dismissal of the matter. Mr. Sanders rejected that assessment on Wednesday. If her email practices foiled public-records requests or compromised classified information, those are “valid questions,” Mr. Sanders said.

Polling shows that voters question Mrs. Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness, but also find her well ahead nationally. She’s also taken the lead in recent polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that hold the first two contests.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/11/05/clinton-campaign-fires-back-at-bernie-sanders/

[Dos Equis]

Correct. 

SANDERS: MEDIA SCRUTINY OF BEN CARSON IS WHY PEOPLE HATE POLITICS
by PAM KEY
8 Nov 2015

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said the aggressive media scrutiny of Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is the  “reason so many people are turned off to the political process.”

When asked if the scrutiny of Carson it is fair game Sanders said, “No. Look, I listened to the interview with Dr. Carson and it’s interesting. But you know what, Chuck? The American people want to know why the middle-class of this country is disappearing. Why we have 47 million people living in poverty. Why we have massive income and wealth inequality. When you look at Dr. Carson, to the best of my knowledge, this man does not believe that climate change is caused by human activity, he wants to abolish medicare and give huge tax breaks to the rich. I think it might be a better — idea I know it’s a crazy idea — but maybe we focus on the issues impacting the American people and what candidates are saying rather than just spending so much time exploring their lives 30 or 40 years ago. I think the reason so many people are turned off to the political process has to do with the fact we’re not talking about real issues impacting real people.”

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/11/08/sanders-media-scrutiny-of-ben-carson-is-why-people-hate-politics/

[Dos Equis]

10 Reasons I'm Only Voting for Bernie Sanders and Will Not Support Hillary Clinton
H. A. Goodman Become a fan
Columnist published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Baltimore Sun, The Hill, Salon, The Jerusalem Post www.hagoodman.com
Posted: 11/09/2015


According to CBS News, an alarming percentage of Democrats either won't vote for Hillary Clinton or would only support her nomination to prevent a Republican from winning:

Just under half of Democratic primary voters nationwide say they would enthusiastically support Clinton if she became the party's nominee. Twenty-seven percent would support her with some reservations and another 11 percent would only back her because she is the nominee. Fourteen percent would not support her in a general election.

When under half of Democrats would "enthusiastically support" Clinton and 27% would only do so "because she is the nominee," even Democrats planning to vote for the former Secretary of State hold reservations.

Then, there are 14% who will not support her in a general election; this figure could easily increase. Also, not only will a sizable percentage of Democrats refuse to vote for Clinton, but 57% of Americans find Clinton "not honest and trustworthy."

In addition, Clinton's negative favorability ratings in 9 out of 10 national polls make her unelectable as a candidate in a general election. If you can name a presidential candidate in American history who voters both didn't trust and didn't like, I'd love to hear the name.

Furthermore, recent polls showing Clinton ahead of Sanders by an astronomical figure target primarily landline telephones and also highlight the fact that even the landline telephone respondents don't trust or admire Clinton. Even in positive polls, there's enough evidence to show that Clinton is simply unelectable in a general election, and I explain why in this YouTube video.

The truth is that Sanders defeats Trump by a wider margin than Clinton in a general election. As for Iowa and New Hampshire, according to an October 5, 2015 NBC News article titled Sanders Outperforms Clinton in General Election Matchups in IA, NH, recent polls show Bernie Sanders more than capable of winning a general election:

Hillary Clinton has always been viewed as the Democrats' best general-election candidate. But new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of Iowa and New Hampshire show that Bernie Sanders outperforms Clinton in those two general-election battleground states.
Also, in almost every poll, the same people who say they'd vote for Clinton if the election were today are also the same people who state they don't trust Clinton; I explain this in a recent article.

For the record, I have a great deal of respect for Hillary Clinton and admire her attempt at healthcare in the '90s. If the Hillary Clinton of the early '90s were around today, then I wouldn't have been quoted in a recent MassLive.com article titled Hillary Clinton's new foe: the left.

Had Clinton not evolved towards Republican viewpoints on war, foreign policy, Wall Street, and other issues, I wouldn't have been quoted by The Wall Street Journal regarding my views on a Sanders/Warren ticket or by The American Military University on why Bernie Sanders won the Democratic debate.

Sadly, I also wouldn't have been banned from Reddit. However, this is 2016 and I explain in this YouTube video why I'm only voting for Bernie Sanders and why I will not vote for Hillary Clinton or Trump.

When I wrote in The Cleveland Plain Dealer that Bernie Sanders Can Win, Sanders was at 21% support in the Democratic primary. Sanders is now at 31% support and polling trajectory shows him winning the Democratic nomination. And no, Biden votes shouldn't all go to Clinton.

Therefore, below are 10 reasons I'm only voting for Bernie Sanders in 2016, and will not vote for Hillary Clinton or Trump.

1. The Iraq War. Sanders was on the right side of history. Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War, using the same intelligence reports as Clinton and Bush. He also foreshadowed the dire consequences of Iraq. In contrast, Hillary Clinton voted for Iraq and now calls her vote a "mistake."

In 2005, Senator Clinton even said the "insurgency is failing" after a visit to Iraq.

I want President Bernie Sanders, who was recently given the Congressional Award by the VFW and stated on CNN that "I'll be damned" if he sends more Americans back to the Middle East as president.

Mass shootings are happening under President Obama, so gun violence can only be solved by Congress, not the president. However, Senators can't send troops abroad unilaterally, but a president can bomb anywhere and deploy troops at will, without Congressional approval. The AUMF gives the president a certain time period to engage in war and send troops anywhere, without Congressional approval.

Regardless of her neoconservative outlook on war and foreign policy, certain "Facebook Liberals" who hate Bush but love Hillary also forget that Clinton and Bush aren't very different in terms of foreign policy.

As Jacob Heilbrunn writes in The New York Times, "It's easy to imagine Mrs. Clinton's making room for the neocons in her administration."

President Obama just sent Americans to Syria, and might even send more American soldiers in the near future. There's no doubt President Hillary Clinton would send more Americans to the Middle East.

I'm not certain we need a president who jokes, "We came, we saw, he died," and then helps usher a devastating civil war in Libya with her decision to oust a dictator.

You can hear Secretary of State Clinton utter the words in this CBS News segment.

2. The Keystone XL Pipeline. Bernie Sanders has always been against Keystone XL. Keystone XL may threaten water acquirers that irrigate much of the U.S. We know President Sanders will continue President Obama's vetoes of Keystone XL. Clinton was once inclined to support Keystone. She has now evolved, along with a number of other issues. I simply do not trust President Clinton to veto Keystone legislation.

3. Euphemisms. Bernie Sanders never uses euphemisms. I trust Bernie because he speaks clearly; English is a means to communicate, not shield from criticism. Clinton, on the other hand, lives by euphemism and I explain why Orwell would vote for Bernie Sanders in a recent YouTube segment. From a "witch hunt" to wiping a server used out of "convenience" with a "cloth," too many words are used to hide the truth.

4. One candidate is the Charles Darwin of politics. The other is Bernie Sanders. Clinton always evolves; usually following Bernie's lead on issues. I wouldn't sign a contract with an "evolving" clause, nor would I want a president who continually evolves based upon reasons unknown to the average voter.

5. Presidential powers. On war and foreign policy, I want a Democrat, not a Republican. I explain this viewpoint in a recent article. Sanders is the Democrat on foreign policy, while Clinton is another Republican in 2016.

6. The TPP. Sanders has always been against the TPP. Clinton supported it 45 times, but now says she's against it. As POLITIFACT states, "It's up to voters to decide how they feel about her changed stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but we rate Clinton's reversal as a Full Flop."

7. Clinton's 3:00 a.m. ad and Racism. Bernie Sanders has a comprehensive racial justice platform. Clinton's 3:00 a.m. ad in 2008 had a "racist sub-message" according to one Harvard sociologist.

8. I want a Democrat in the White House. I don't want a moderate Republican on Wall Street, or a neocon pertaining to war.

9. The DNC needs to end its fear of being too progressive. I'll only vote for Sanders because progressive politics are mainstream. This isn't 1972 and Nixon is no longer with us, unless you equate Clinton to Richard Nixon.

10. Bernie Sanders is a "once in a lifetime candidate." Clinton represents establishment politics. If you're not voting for Sanders in 2016, don't ever again complain about Wall Street, perpetual wars, or money in politics.

Americans need a choice in our democracy. 43% of American voters are independent, so allegiance towards political party is quickly becoming a thing of the past. I want an honest progressive, not a Republican, which is why I will not support Trump or Clinton. Bernie Sanders will win the presidency in 2016 because there are millions of people like me, and I'll no longer be intimidated by the phrase, "You can't let a Republican win!" Sanders has enough votes to win a general election according to the polls and President Bernie Sanders will be a transformative figure in U.S. history.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/10-reasons-im-only-voting-for-bernie-sanders-and-will-not-support-hillary-clinton_b_8508172.html

[Dos Equis]

Hillary Clinton changes her tune on Republicans
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 8:31 PM ET, Mon November 9, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

(CNN)Hillary Clinton cast Republicans as enemies in a Democratic presidential debate, but when a woman who described herself as a long-time supporter pressed Clinton at a New Hampshire town hall Monday night, Clinton changed her tune.

The questioner -- who said she was a supporter since "the cookie incident," when Clinton dismissed staying at home and touted her working-woman life during Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign -- said she'd never been so disappointed as when Clinton called the GOP her enemy at the CNN debate. She asked if Clinton would commit to extending an olive branch if she's elected.

Clinton said she would, and that her problem with Republicans is in campaigns, not governance. She added she would do "whatever I can" to find common ground with the GOP.

"It will be a contentious election and what I have found in my 20-plus years of experience in this arena is that when I am in office, I have great relations with Republicans. They say wonderful things about me," Clinton said. "When I am running for office, it is a bit different."

The Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race drew criticism for her inclusion during a debate in Las Vegas of the GOP among the enemies she's proudest of making.

She has since described that comment as "a little tongue in cheek."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/politics/hillary-clinton-republicans-enemy/index.html

[Dos Equis]

Too early?  Like the race is really in doubt.  Unless he's worried about an indictment? 

Al Gore refuses to back Clinton, says it's 'too early'
Published November 10, 2015
FoxNews.com

July 24, 2015: Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore gestures as he gives a speech at the 2015 China US Clean Air conference, in Beijing, China. (Reuters)

Former Vice President Al Gore has refused to back current frontrunner Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, saying that it is “too early” to endorse a candidate at this stage in the race.

The 2000 Democratic presidential candidate, who served two terms as VP when Bill Clinton was in the White House, told PEOPLE that he intends to wait before backing any of the candidates.

"It's still too early, in my opinion, to endorse a candidate or pick a candidate," Gore said in an interview published Tuesday.

"Everybody can look at how the presidential campaign is developing and get some pretty clear ideas about how they think it's going to turn out, but I still think it's premature," Gore said.

As for reports earlier in 2015 that he may have been tempted by another shot at the White House, having narrowly missed out in 2000, Gore dismissed the speculation.

"I have taken no steps whatsoever in the direction of a candidacy and my answer has been the same for 10 years now – or more – and you probably heard my answer before: I'm a recovering politician and the longer I go without a relapse, the less likely one becomes," he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/10/al-gore-refuses-to-back-clinton-says-it-too-early/?intcmp=hpbt1

[Primemuscle]

He has not aged well.

[Dos Equis]

He has not aged well.

Nope.  Looks like he has been on Chris Christie's diet. 

[Dos Equis]

She's only in trouble if she gets indicted.  Even then she still might be elected, although Biden will likely jump in if her email scandal goes sideways. 

Dick Cheney on Hillary Clinton: ‘I think she’s in big trouble’
By Ed O'Keefe
November 12, 2015


Former vice president Dick Cheney speaks during the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce annual meeting at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs. W.Va., on Sept. 3. 2015. (Rick Barbero/The Register-Herald via AP)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Former vice president Dick Cheney didn't talk Thursday night about being called an "iron-ass," but he sharply questioned Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton's qualifications to be president.

“I think she’s in big trouble,” he said about the former secretary of state at a Florida Republican Party fundraiser.

A fierce critic of President Obama ever since leaving office, Cheney addressed supporters of the state party the night before it hosts a two-day summit that is scheduled to draw nearly every GOP presidential candidate. One of those candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), sat near the stage as Cheney spoke. The senator later addressed the crowd.

The former vice president spoke just a few days after the release of a new biography that quotes former president George H.W. Bush saying that Cheney had “his iron-ass view of everything” in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Bush also called former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- a longtime rival -- -"an arrogant fellow."

Cheney made no mention of the book or the former president's comments, but he did take the stage to the strains of "The Imperial March" -- the so-called Darth Vader theme from the "Star Wars" movies.

He accused Obama and Clinton of rushing to cover up details of the September 2012 attack on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, because “it was election time and it was shortly before the 2012 election and they had a narrative going that once they got Osama bin Laden the problem was solved, there was no terrorism problem anymore -- they didn’t want to admit that there was a problem out there. The data suggested there was."

“It’s pretty clear to me ... that in fact she did not handle the matter appropriately, that she consciously misled the American people and that I think it does raise serious, serious doubts about her capacity to be president of the United States, he added later.

Cheney is especially concerned with Clinton's decision to use a private e-mail address while serving as secretary of state. “I’ve got to believe that she knew that she had to protect and safeguard the classified information that she was party to as secretary of state, one of the most important jobs in our government," he said.

Clinton has said that she did not receive information on her private account that was deemed classified -- a statement that has since been disputed by congressional Republicans.

“All of my papers went to the national archives when I left office. I think they were trying to avoid that," Cheney added, saying later that "If in fact what we’ve seen in the papers is true that it was a serious mistake and error on their part. That’s why today there’s an FBI investigation into what indeed happened and I think there’s still a lot to be heard on this issue.”

“I think if she did do something wrong in her capacity as secretary of state, I think that would say a lot about whether she should be elected to be the commander in chief – I don’t think she should be," he said.

Cheney took several shots at Obama's foreign policy -- and encouraged Republicans to nominate a presidential candidate capable of reversing his legacy, warning: "It’s going to take a long time to restore the U.S. military to its proper capabilities."

"My impression is that Obama is eager to get out of town. I’m eager to have him get out of town," he told the crowd to loud applause.

Cheney suggested that Obama is projecting "weakness" that is being exploited by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Islamic State terror group, China and other American adversaries -- essentially repeating the themes of a book he recently published with his daughter, former State Department official Liz Cheney.

Asked by an audience member about the kind of candidate the GOP should nominate next year, Cheney steered clear of signaling a specific preference, but said that "It’s extraordinarily important that the Republican Party reclaim the reputation we’ve had most of our life that we’re the go-to guys on national defense."

Organizers said that they sold more than 970 tickets for the fundraiser held in a ballroom at the Disney Contemporary Resort, down the street from the Magic Kingdom theme park.

"It's nice of Mickey to have us over," quipped Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam as he introduced Cheney to the crowd.

Before the dinner, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, accused Republicans of embracing the failed Bush-Cheney policies.

"This GOP field is endorsing the same reckless foreign policy ideas and the same failed economic and fiscal policies as the Bush-Cheney administration, and if they get control of the White House again, it would lead to the same disastrous results," she said in a statement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/12/dick-cheney-on-hillary-clinton-i-think-shes-in-big-trouble/

[Dos Equis]

Link to the Democrat debate: 

Didn't catch all of it, but here is what I took away from the portions that I watched:

They were tripping all over themselves talking about 101 ways to redistribute and spend your tax dollars.

Sanders kept touting a mandatory living wage, starting with a $15 an hour minimum wage.

Sanders is big on stealing money from the "wealthy" so others can go to college for free. 

Sanders maintained climate change is our biggest national security threat.

Hillary refused to say we are at war with Radical Islam. 

Overall, it is frightening that one of those three on that stage could be our president and commander in chief. 

[Dos Equis]

Hillary Clinton Botches Wall Street Questions
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NOV. 15, 2015 

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders during the debate in Des Moines on Saturday. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Hillary Clinton should have seen that Wall Street shot coming. Instead, she compounded the damage.

The former secretary of state was off to a sound outing in Saturday night’s debate against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland. Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris dominated at first, allowing her to highlight her superior experience in world affairs. But it was those attacks that made her badly muffed response to questions about her fealty to Wall Street all the more jarring. Here’s the exchange:

Mr. Sanders: “I have never heard a candidate, never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military-industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I’m going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? They expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks apiece. That’s who I’m indebted to.”

Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, The Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world.

Mrs. Clinton: “Well John, [John Dickerson, the moderator] wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impugn my integrity. Let’s be frank here.”

Mr. Sanders: “No, I have not.”

Mrs. Clinton: “Oh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I’m very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country.”

Predictably, Twitter exploded with demands to know what campaign donations from big banks had to do with New York’s recovery from 9/11. Answer: little to nothing. Since 2001, she and Bill Clinton have earned more than $125 million for speeches, many of the most lucrative made before financial groups. That does not account for the millions given directly to her campaign, and to political action committees backing her. Nearly 15 years after the 2001 attacks, Mrs. Clinton was earning more than $200,000 for a 20-minute speech. Most of those took place behind guarded doors. But one can guess that she and the financial executives were not still talking about 9/11.

Middle-class Americans associate Wall Street with the 2008 meltdown of the economy that cost so many their homes and savings. In the debate Mrs. Clinton repeatedly referred to her plan for reining in banks, but offered precious few specifics. This is what happens when Hillary Clinton the candidate gets complacent. The debate moderator, Mr. Dickerson, had even tipped her off before a commercial break that the next topic was Wall Street.

Her effort to tug on Americans’ heartstrings instead of explaining her Wall Street ties — on a day that the scars of 9/11 were exposed anew — was at best botched rhetoric. At worst it was the type of cynical move that Mrs. Clinton would have condemned in Republicans.

She should make a fast, thorough effort to explain herself by providing a detailed plan for how she would promote measures protecting middle-class Americans from another financial crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/opinion/hillary-clinton-botches-wall-street-questions.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

[Dos Equis]

Clinton: Don't get swayed by GOP 'fear tactics and scare mongering'
By Dan Merica, CNN
Tue November 24, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Reno, Nevada (CNN)Hillary Clinton asked voters here in Nevada on Monday to not be swayed by Republicans "fear tactics and scare mongering and inflammatory rhetoric" on terrorism.

She told the fired up audience that she shakes her head at what Republicans are saying about fighting ISIS
Clinton spent the day in northern Nevada

Reno, Nevada (CNN)Hillary Clinton asked voters here in Nevada on Monday to not be swayed by Republicans "fear tactics and scare mongering and inflammatory rhetoric" on terrorism.

She told the fired up audience that she shakes her head at what Republicans are saying about fighting ISIS and protecting the United States from another attack.

Clinton's comments come days after Republican front-runner Donald Trump suggested that he saw video of "thousands of people ... cheering" in New Jersey as the World Trade Center towers fell during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Trump has also suggested compelling all Muslims in America to register for a national database.

"I don't think it is smart for us to act like we are waging war on every Muslim in the world," Clinton said. "That is not smart."

"These terrorists are killers, they are thugs, they are criminals, they need to be treated like that, not elevated as thought they are representing a religion because even if though they claim to, they are not," she said, speaking at E.L. Pine Middle School in Reno.

Clinton, who spent the day in northern Nevada, revisited a speech she delivered earlier this month on defeating ISIS.

"We must end their murderous reign and prevent them from not only continuing to wreak havoc, terror and violence in the area where they are operating, but export it," she said.

The former secretary of state, however, definitively said she would not, as president, commit ground troops to fight the terrorist organization.

"The United States has to lead the effort but we will not be putting American combat troops in Syria and Iraq to accomplish the mission," Clinton said.

"This is a job we have to take on and we have to be smart about it and we have to be vigilant about it," Clinton said. "I will take a back seat to no one in protecting the United States of America."

While in northern Nevada, Hillary Clinton also met with Hillary Schieve, mayor of Reno; toured a substance abuse facility and met with Carson City Democratic Party Chairman Marty McGarry, who endorsed Clinton after the meeting.

As she has done in other early voting states, Clinton also met with reporters, editors and executives from many of the local news outlets in the area.

Clinton, who appeared energized by the crowd on Monday night, cast the 2016 election as one that will decide whether Republicans "get their way again."

"I want Democrats to vote for me, but I want sensible Republicans to vote for me, too," Clinton said. "The only way Republicans can win this election is if they can induce a state of amnesia in all of us."

The Republican National Committee responded to Clinton by knocking her leadership as secretary of state.

"Dogged by an FBI investigation and an unraveling foreign policy that's made the world less safe, Hillary Clinton has shown she can't be trusted in the White House," said RNC spokesman Michael Short in a statement.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/23/politics/hillary-clinton-gop-fear-tactics/index.html

[Dos Equis]

People don't trust Hillary.

Hillary Clinton is getting crushed on social media, captured in one word cloud
By James Hohmann December 1, 2015
 

Above is a word cloud of all mentions related to Hillary Clinton during the month of November, through midnight Eastern time.

The graphic, via our analytics partners at Zignal Labs, does not exactly highlight the kinds of words you want to see if you work at Clinton headquarters in Brooklyn.

It’s driven by the intense dislike for Clinton by activists on the left and the right, but mainly the right. Their constant drumbeat of criticism overwhelms any positive buzz that the Democratic frontrunner gets from her fans.

One negative post on a critical, obscure web site, for instance, got mentioned more than 45,000 times on Twitter. Many of the other Clinton items mentioned most frequently link back to staunchly conservative sites.

. . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/12/01/hillary-clinton-is-getting-crushed-on-social-media-captured-in-one-word-cloud/

[240 is Back]

LOL @ trump spending so much time trashing Bernie, who is 25 or 30 points back in polls, and absolutely no threat to the nomination. 

[Dos Equis]

Hillary Clinton’s likability problem
By Amie Parnes - 12/02/15

Allies of Hillary Clinton are confident she will win the Democratic presidential nomination, but they are worried about one big thing: her likability problem in the general election.

Clinton has rebounded from a rough spring and summer with a strong fall. And while her eyes remain on the primary, she is already testing general election themes against her possible GOP opponents as they do battle in what could be a drawn-out Republican primary.

Presidential elections are often decided on personality instead of specific policies. Along those lines, people in Clinton’s orbit are worried she doesn’t pass the would-you-like-to-have-a-beer-with-her test.
It’s a test she failed against then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in 2008. Throughout that cycle, Clinton stressed her “35 years of experience” while Obama pitched his “hope and change” message.

The likability test came up often on the campaign trail, most notably in the last New Hampshire debate that year when Clinton acknowledged Obama is “very likable.”

In a quip that may have cost him New Hampshire, Obama responded, “You’re likable enough, Hillary.”

Head-to-head 2016 matchups suggest vulnerabilities for Clinton, particularly against Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who often talks about his love of professional football.

“Her challenge remains the same as it always has been — show voters who she is and reveal the person beneath the candidate,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public policy at Princeton University. “To win people’s trust and to generate enthusiasm, she has to let some of her character come out.”

“She has so many qualifications: experience, knowledge, partisan skill,” Zelizer said, adding that the likability factor “is what she needs to work on.”

Team Clinton spent a good part of 2015 highlighting the former first lady’s personality, which they call warm and effusive. Clinton aides, longtime confidants and friends have always maintained she is charming and funny, at least behind the scenes and out of the public spotlight.

But they say after years of public service — and attacks by her political opponents — she’s hesitant to let that side show.

Since Labor Day, after a New York Times story reported that Clinton would show more “humor and heart,” the candidate has made a concerted effort to highlight her lighter side.

Since then, she appeared on “Saturday Night Live” as a bartender named Val, allowed “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon to pull on her hair playfully and sat down with Lena Dunham of “Girls” fame. During those interviews and others, the former secretary of State came across as a yoga-loving woman who loves to go for long walks and keeps up with the Kardashians.

Those efforts may have helped. A Bloomberg poll released late last month showed that her likability has gone up among Democrats from 23 percent in September to 31 percent. A Clinton aide said Tuesday she has always been “remarkably durable” among Democrats.

However, Democratic strategists and even those Clinton loyalists say it’s the unplanned moments that have worked best for her.

In emails released by the State Department this year, including a new batch this week, voters got to know about Clinton’s favorite shows and that she was trying to learn how to use emojis.

“Ironically, she’s done well — maybe best — when she’s not controlling the message,” said a Democratic strategist who spoke on background. “Some of the most humanizing moments of the campaign have come from emails showing Clinton as a tea-drinking, yoga-practicing devoted watcher of ‘The Good Wife’ and ‘Homeland.’  ”

“The carefully crafted moments to ‘let Hillary be Hillary’ almost always backfire,” the strategist said.

In the wake of the Paris attacks last month, Clinton has shown that she is one of the few candidates with hands-on foreign policy experience because of her time at the State Department. While she has come under criticism for events such as the Benghazi attack, Team Clinton has used her tenure at Foggy Bottom to show her commanding grasp of matters around the globe.

Yet, Clinton allies fear that she has other weaknesses as well, particularly her lack of an overarching message.

“If the message they’re homing in on is the ‘fighter for the middle class,’ it would help if they were more explicit about it,” said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons.

Clinton advisers believe she’ll get there, particularly in a general election when she will be challenged more than she has been in the Democratic primary.

In the meantime, Clinton’s likability factor is generating headlines. The Washington Post on Tuesday published a Zignal Labs word cloud that highlighted Clinton-related mentions on social media in November. The top words included “unethical,” “lies” and “corruption,” something Republicans highlighted right after its release.

“After all the campaign resets, carefully staged events and millions poured into TV ads, Hillary Clinton still finds herself disliked and not trusted by the American people,” said Jeff Bechdel, the communications director for America Rising, a Republican super-PAC. “That won’t change as long as new stories continue to emerge that raise questions about her private emails, questionable judgment and failed leadership.”

Thomas Nides, who served as deputy secretary of State under Clinton and is an informal adviser, said Republicans have “a hard time fighting her on substance, strength, confidence and discipline,” so questions about likability is “what they go to.”

“That’s not a successful strategy,” Nides said. “The more people get to know Hillary Clinton, the more they see her, the more visible she is, the more they like her.”

Nides added Clinton has had a “spectacular three months, arguably had a rougher middle of the year, but the campaign is in a very, very good place.”

“I’d rather be her than anyone else,” he said.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/261741-hillary-clintons-likability-problem

[Dos Equis]

Bernie Sanders has 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire: poll
By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times -
Thursday, December 10, 2015


Sen. Bernard Sanders has a 10-point lead on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the early state of New Hampshire in the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, according to a new poll.

Mr. Sanders has a 10-point, 50 percent to 40 percent lead over Mrs. Clinton in the state, according to the CNN/WMUR poll released Wednesday. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was at 1 percent.
 
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In September, Mr. Sanders had led Mrs. Clinton by 16 points in the poll, 46 percent to 30 percent.

In the poll out this week, Mr. Sanders had an 83 percent/4 percent favorable/unfavorable rating split, while Mrs. Clinton had a 68 percent/7 percent favorable/unfavorable split.

Forty-six percent said Mrs. Clinton is the least honest, compared to 5 percent for Mr. O’Malley and 3 percent for Mr. Sanders.

Sixty percent said Mr. Sanders is the most likeable, compared to 22 percent who said Mrs. Clinton and 7 percent who said Mr. O’Malley.

And 68 percent said Mr. Sanders is the most progressive, compared to 22 percent for Mrs. Clinton.

Majorities said Mr. Sanders is the candidate who can best deal with big banks and address income inequality, and a plurality — 43 percent to 34 percent — chose him over Mrs. Clinton as being best able to handle gun policies.

Meanwhile, majorities said Mrs. Clinton can best handle the Islamic State terrorist group and has the right experience to be president.

More Democrats also say Mrs. Clinton is most likely to win the Democratic primary in the state and is the most electable next November.

Fifty-nine percent said she was most likely to win the New Hampshire Democratic primary, compared to 28 percent for Mr. Sanders. In September, they had been even at 42 percent apiece.

And 70 percent said she has the best chance of winning the general election next November, compared to 17 percent who said Mr. Sanders did. In September, 51 percent said Mrs. Clinton had the best chance and 19 percent said Mr. Sanders did.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/10/bernie-sanders-has-10-point-lead-over-hillary-clin/

[Dos Equis]

Sanders touts union, liberal endorsements
By Dan Merica and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Thu December 17, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)Bernie Sanders won a pair of strong endorsements Thursday that could help bring volunteers and money to his campaign as he heads into the homestretch in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The Communication Workers of America, with its 700,000 members, threw its support behind Sanders during an event in Washington Thursday morning. A short while later Democracy for America, the liberal group born from the ashes of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's 2004 bid, signed on with Sanders.

"What I know about the CWA is that your endorsement is not a just paper endorsement, it's not just a press release endorsement," Sanders said Thursday at the union's offices in Washington. "We're going to have thousands of people on the ground, knocking on doors, making phone calls and helping us as we do what needs to be done in this country and that is create a political revolution.

The endorsements come just a few days before the third Democratic debate, and a day after the Sanders campaign cleared more than 2 million individual donations -- a presidential campaign record that also underscores a fundamental challenge he faces: competing with the Hillary Clinton fundraising machine.

"We shouldn't get confused in terms of who necessarily raises the most money as opposed to whether or not we're raising enough money to win," Sanders said Thursday. "So I suspect that because Secretary Clinton has a super PAC -- they got millionaires and billionaires contributing to her -- they will end up raising in total more money than we will. But the question is: Can we raise enough money to win in Iowa, to win in New Hampshire and to win around the rest of the country? And the answer is: Absolutely, we can!"

But the union force still pales in comparison to the numbers behind the endorsements Clinton has already racked up from the American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employee and the Service Employees International Union among many others.

She has racked up 18 national union endorsements since announcing her campaign earlier this year.

The Democracy for America nod could help Sanders in the fundraising arena.

"Bernie Sanders is an unyielding populist progressive who decisively won Democracy for America members' first presidential primary endorsement because of his lifelong commitment to taking on income inequality and the wealthy and powerful interests who are responsible for it," DFA Executive Director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement.

Despite a long record of supporting unions and marching on picket lines, Sanders has struggled to lock down national union endorsements. With 700,000 members, the Communications Workers of America is the largest union to endorse the Vermont senator.

READ: Hillary Clinton maintains national lead in latest Monmouth poll

The endorsement is not surprising: Larry Cohen, the union's former president, joined the campaign is June and is now the campaign's top adviser on labor issues.

After not endorsing in the 2008 nomination fight, the union announced in August that it had set a process in motion to determine whether its members wanted to get involved in the Democratic primary and who they would want to endorse.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/politics/bernie-sanders-labor-union-support/index.html

[Dos Equis]

Going to great lengths to protect this woman.

Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders Bristle at Holding Debates on Weekends


Martin O'Malley at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's dinner in Manchester, N.H., last month.Credit Cheryl Senter/Associated Press
If a presidential debate is held and nobody watches, does it really happen?

While viewers are expected to watch the third Democratic debate on Saturday night, they are unlikely to be doing so in the droves that tuned into the Republican debates or the Democratic face-off that was held on a weeknight. While some of that interest on the Republican side can be attributed to the Donald J. Trump effect, critics of the Democratic National Committee’s scheduling process are also upset that the party is muting its message by holding debates when people are less likely to tune in.

There was much discussion over the number of Democratic debates that would be held in this cycle, with Martin O’Malley and Senator Bernie Sanders pushing for more opportunities to face off publicly with Hillary Clinton. They ultimately settled on six, of which two were scheduled for Saturday evenings and one for a Sunday.

As in the previous Democratic debate, which was held at the same time as an important college football game, the candidates will clash on Saturday night with the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys.

Mr. O’Malley, who has been the most vocal about the timing of the debates, complained about the issue in August.

“They’ve scheduled it during shopping season, December 19th,” Mr. O’Malley said. “I don’t know why that is. I think it’s out of a false sense that they have to circle the wagons around the inevitable front-runner.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. O’Malley’s campaign said that avoiding prime-time debate slots was a way for the Democratic Party to “protect” Mrs. Clinton, and that it had given Mr. Trump and the Republicans a better platform to express their views.

Mr. Sanders’s campaign said that he did not have any input about when the debates would take place and that he was hoping for more opportunities to discuss the issues with his rivals for the nomination.

“We’re playing the hand we were dealt,” said Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Mr. Sanders. “I guess Christmas Eve was booked.”

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

For its part, the Democratic National Committee says that it opted for fewer debates to give candidates more time to interact with voters on the campaign trail. The weekend debates were scheduled because the party felt it was important to have some of them broadcast on networks that do not require cable subscriptions, the committee said. Major broadcasters were less flexible about bumping their previously scheduled prime-time lineups for debates.

Luis Miranda, a spokesman for the committee, rejected the notion that the party was trying to accommodate Mrs. Clinton and noted that the first two debates had attracted robust viewership, with a combined total of nearly 25 million people tuning in.

“We’re confident that between our debates and forums, together with the candidates’ town halls, county fair visits, and living-room conversations in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, our candidates are having ample opportunities to engage with voters and to present their visions to keep America moving forward,” Mr. Miranda said.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/18/martin-omalley-and-bernie-sanders-bristle-at-holding-debates-on-weekends/?_r=0

[240 is Back]

Going to great lengths to protect this woman.

You could have said "this candidate".

Kinda sexist, don'tcha think?

[Dos Equis]

You could have said "this candidate".

Kinda sexist, don'tcha think?

   Stop acting like a hypersensitive sissy. 

[The True Adonis]

He has not aged well.

Looks better than you at nearly 70. 

[Dos Equis]

No doubt.

Sanders says DNC’s timing of Saturday night’s debate was meant to ‘protect’ Clinton
By John Wagner
December 20, 2015 

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said in a television interview that the Democratic National Committee deliberately scheduled debates at times when viewership would be low in an effort to “protect” the party’s front-runner, Hillary Clinton.

The criticism from Sanders followed the third Democratic debate of the 2016 contest, held here on Saturday night, six days before Christmas and at a time of heightened tensions between the Sanders campaign and the DNC over a data-breach controversy.

Asked whether he thought the timing of Saturday’s debate was intended to hold down viewership, Sanders said: “Yes, I do.”
 
“I hope a lot of people watched the debate tonight,” the Vermont senator said on WMUR, the local ABC affiliate. “I think it was a good debate, but I think there is a desire on the part of the DNC to protect Secretary Clinton.”

[Democrats spar over national security, guns and the Islamic State]

Sanders also pointed to the timing of the previous Democratic debate, held last month on a Saturday night in Des Moines at a time when the Iowa Hawkeyes were playing football against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

“In Iowa, do you know when the debate was held?” Sanders said. “It was the night of the big football game in Iowa. Do you think that’s a coincidence?”

 
Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley in the Saturday debate in Manchester, N.H.. (Jewel Samad/AFP)
The DNC has stood by its schedule of six debates, saying it offers ample opportunity for voters to size up the contenders.

On Sunday, DNC spokesman Eric Walker said the Democratic debates had been scheduled in a similar fashion to those of the Republicans: with debates on broadcast television being held on the weekends and those on cable being held during the week.

Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, said the campaign would welcome a time slot geared toward a larger television audience.

“ABC and CBS are the ones that decided to put the debates on a Saturday night,” Palmieri said, naming the networks that broadcast the previous two debates. “Obviously [Clinton] does really great on these debates. We think that the more people that can see that, the better."

Sanders’s comments — which echoed those made previously by his aides — came amid still-boiling tensions with the party in the aftermath of a high-profile data breach last week.

The Sanders campaign has acknowledged that some of its staffers inappropriately accessed proprietary voter information gathered by Clinton on Wednesday when a DNC contractor mistakenly lowered a firewall in a DNC-controlled database that both campaigns use.

The DNC responded by cutting off Sanders’s access to the database, including information gathered by his own campaign. Hours after Sanders filed a federal lawsuit on Friday claiming that the DNC had overreacted, the party leadership agreed to let his campaign regain access to key voter information.

[Two more Sanders staffers face disciplinary action following data breach]

During Saturday’s debate, Sanders apologized to Clinton, and both Sanders and Clinton said they were eager to move on to a discussion of the real issues facing American families.

But Sanders’s interview, conducted shortly after Saturday night's debate and re-aired Sunday, indicated that raw feelings remain.

“I think everybody understands that Hillary Clinton, who I have a lot of respect for, is the establishment candidate,” Sanders said. “Virtually the entire establishment is supporting her, including the leadership of the DNC.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/20/sanders-says-dncs-timing-of-saturday-nights-debate-was-meant-to-protect-clinton/