Clinton, Sanders square off on vision, experience

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were forced to watch each other’s TV advertisements and react to them during a live Iowa town hall meeting broadcast nationally on CNN Monday night.

It was enough to make Sanders leap out of his seat.

“This calls for a standing-up response,” he told the Iowans in the audience at Drake University, as he began pacing and punctuating the air with hand gestures.

Clinton’s TV ad flashes through scenes of proud moments and crises during her career as a New York U.S. senator, first lady and U.S. secretary of state, as a narrator says: “The presidency is the toughest job in the world, and she's the one leader who has what it takes to get every part of the job done.”

That’s become a central argument as the Democratic candidates enter the final week before the Iowa caucuses begin at 7 p.m. next Monday: Sanders says he has the better vision; Clinton says she is better prepared to be president.

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The race is too close to call. She has 46 percent support, and he has 45 percent in the polling averages tallied by RealClearPolitics.com. Sanders said on the campaign trail in Iowa earlier Monday he thinks a high turnout will virtually ensure him a win, but “right now it is a nip and tuck race.”

At the forum after watching Clinton’s “This House” ad, Sanders, a Vermont U.S. senator, cited times he thinks he had more foresight in decision-making than Clinton: He voted against the Iraq war, but she voted for it; he led the effort against Wall Street deregulation, but “see where Clinton was” on that; he decided from the start the Keystone Pipeline was “a dumb idea,” but she took a long time reaching the same conclusion; he quickly objected to the Pacific trade deal, but she took much longer to come on board.

“Experience is important, but judgment is also,” Sanders said. “In other words, yes, I do think I have the background and the judgment to take this very, very difficult job of being president of the United States.”

National party rules limiting the number of debates forbade the three Democratic candidates from appearing at the same time and engaging directly.

After Clinton took the stage later with a little skip and a jump, she was shown Sanders’ “America” television ad.

Set to a Simon and Garfunkel song, the ad shows throngs of people going wild for Sanders. At the end, it features the liberal rock star with a pleased smile on his face as he looks out at the revolution he inspired.

Asked to react to it, Clinton said: “I think that’s great. I think that’s fabulous. I loved it.”

She added: “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.”

And more poetry is a good thing, she said.

“But,” she added, “I believe I am the better person to be the Democratic nominee and to be the president.”

Clinton repeatedly mentioned President Barack Obama and his faith in her abilities.

“People here in Iowa remember we ran a really hard race against each other,” she said, referring to the 2008 presidential race that she lost to Obama.

Obama asked her to be his secretary of state because he trusted her judgment, she said. A great working relationship turned into a real friendship as “we worked side by side for those four years.”

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She, too, abandoned her seat opposite forum host Chris Cuomo of CNN to passionately describe how she’s “a proven fighter.” At one point, she thrust a fist into the air.

Asked to respond to Sanders’ criticism about her Iraq war vote, Clinton answered: “I have a much longer history than one vote, which I’ve said was a mistake.”

Clinton said she has laid out a plan to defeat ISIS, and she’s very proud of her record as a whole, which includes pushing for gay rights and Internet freedom.

Clinton gave a shout-out to popular former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who was sitting in the audience at Sheslow Auditorium and has endorsed Clinton.

The third candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, was asked about The Des Moines Register’s endorsement of Clinton. The editorial board opined that O’Malley would be better suited as a Cabinet secretary.

His answer was that the country faces challenges.

“We need a candidate who can actually pull us together. I’m not a divider,” said O’Malley, who also chose to stand up as he spoke.

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He stressed his “Democratic upbringing,” saying his story is not one of “a Democratic conversion,” a reference to Sanders, who has previously run as an independent, not a Democrat.

O’Malley, who is severely behind the two front-runners in the polls, urged Iowa Democrats to “shift the dynamics on caucus night. I’ve seen you do it before.”

“Hold strong at your caucus,” he said.

Joi Latson, an Iowa State University student, asked O’Malley a question during the forum about introducing controversial zero-tolerance policing to Baltimore when he was mayor there. O’Malley talked about his support for police accountability efforts and drug treatment. But Latson thought he dodged her question.

“He kind of talked around it and everything,” Latson said. She plans to caucus for Sanders, partly because “he does support the feminist values that are important to me.”

Drake University freshman Elena Hildebrandt, 18, said O’Malley made a more energetic appearance than she’d seen in debates.

After waffling between supporting Sanders or Clinton, she’s backing Clinton.

“Her experience was the reason I decided to go with her. Mostly foreign policy, but also the amount of work she did as a senator,” Hildebrandt said.

Anders Rosborough, a 30-year-old Des Moines resident, complimented all three candidates, but said he’s supporting Sanders because of his common-sense ideas to help the country’s middle class.

— Staff writer Grant Rodgers contributed to this report. 

Sanders to release health records

Bernie Sanders, who would be the oldest person elected president in U.S. history, was confronted Monday night about releasing his medical records before Iowa votes a week from now.

“You are 75 now,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo told Sanders during the nationally televised town hall forum in Des Moines.

“74!” Sanders retorted, to laughs from the audience.

Sanders said he’ll “absolutely” share his records before Feb. 1.

“They're sitting — where are they, Jane?” he said, turning to look at his wife, who was seated in the auditorium. “They're on our table right now? All right. We will release them.”

Sanders said he has been “blessed with good health and good endurance. And there's nothing in the medical records that is going to surprise anybody. And we will get them out as soon as possible.”

— Jennifer Jacobs