Seth A. Richardson

srichardson@rgj.com

Updated 3:55 p.m. Monday:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued her criticism of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at Truckee Meadows Community College during her visit to Northern Nevada just days before the Democratic caucus.

Clinton and Sanders have peppered the state with campaign visits and surrogates in the past two weeks in the run-up to the caucus. The state long was considered Clinton country, but the gap appears to have closed in recent weeks, creating a showdown between the two.

Clinton painted Sanders, who has called for sweeping progressive reforms, out of touch with reality saying he was in an “alternate universe.”

Updated 3:15 p.m. Monday:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued her Nevada tour Monday with a women’s healthcare round table at the University of Nevada, Reno as the Feb. 20 Democratic caucuses draw near.

Clinton met with former state Sen. Sheila Leslie of Reno, UNR School of Community Health Sciences Director Dr. Trudy Larson and UNR Students for Hillary President Courtney McKimmey. The group spoke to a group of around 100, mostly college-aged women.

Clinton tried to show a stark difference between her and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in recent weeks, painting herself as the pragmatist firmly aligned with President Barack Obama and the Vermont senator as an idealist with unrealistic expectations.

“He wants to move towards a single-payer system, which I can tell you will never pass the United States Congress. It will never happen. So, we can either plunge our country into another contentious debate about healthcare, or we can fight back Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and improve it so that we have guaranteed health care for everybody.”

Once considered a firewall for Clinton, the Nevada race between her and Sanders has closed in recent weeks. Clinton canceled events in Florida to stay in Nevada on Monday and visited Elko before the UNR event. She also sent surrogates around the state to campaign on her behalf.

Polling is scant, but both candidates have blanketed the state following the New Hampshire primary as they try to best each other with a more diverse electorate than the previous contests.

This post will be updated.

Follow the RGJ's Seth A. Richardson on Twitter for live coverage of Hillary Clinton's Monday appearances in Reno:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Northern Nevada on Monday ahead of the Feb. 20 Democratic caucuses.

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Clinton was scheduled to be in Elko at the Adobe Middle School for a caucus event at 10 a.m.

The former secretary of state then made her way to Reno for a 12:15 p.m. women’s health meeting at the University of Nevada, Reno.

She will be at a 2:30 p.m. rally at Truckee Meadows Community College.

Clinton canceled a visit to Florida to hold the events in Northern Nevada. The race has closed in recent weeks between her and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, possibly indicating a showdown in the Silver State between the two Democratic candidates.