Sanders wants to take on 'billionaire class' The Vermont senator insists he wouldn’t run just to push Clinton to the left.

If Bernie Sanders plans to takes shots at Hillary Clinton, he’s saving his ammo.

The Vermont independent and self-proclaimed socialist said Thursday that he’ll continue to explore running in the Democratic primary with a trip to New Hampshire this weekend and a visit to Iowa shortly thereafter. But asked to critique the presumed Democratic nominee, Sanders wouldn’t go there, at least explicitly.


“All I know is if I run, I’m not running against Hillary Clinton,” Sanders said in an interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” that will air on Sunday. “What Hillary Clinton, or Mitt Romney, or anybody else has to say — that’s their business. And once we’re in a campaign, I can debate those issues.”

Absent a change of heart by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sanders is seen as perhaps the Democratic Party’s best vessel to channel populist outrage and push Clinton to the left in the Democratic primary. But he insisted that if he were to run, it wouldn’t be for that reason.

Sanders said his biggest causes on the campaign trail would be the “collapse of the middle class,” the rise of what he called the Koch brothers’ political “oligarchy” and the GOP’s position on climate change, which the senator called an “international embarrassment.”

“These and other issues are looming in front of us. And we’re going to need bold leadership, we’re going to need people prepared to take on, frankly, the billionaire class,” he said.

Still, Sanders is cautious about launching a quixotic campaign. He stressed that he won’t run if he “can’t do it well” and worries whether he can raise enough money to compete with the Clinton machine or deep-pocketed Republicans.

“My God … if you run for president, you’re going to need a gazillion dollars,” Sanders said. “I will not run for president if I can’t do it well and if I can’t run to win.”

POLITICO reported Thursday that Clinton may delay the launch of her campaign for several months. That could give Sanders space to begin pushing his message to a receptive political media itching for the Democratic race to crank up.

But Sanders said he won’t be affected by Clinton’s timing, repeatedly deflecting questions about her during the interview.

“She will make her own decisions,” he said, “and I will make my decisions.”