Seth A. Richardson

srichardson@rgj.com

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued the criticism of her rival for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, on Monday as she made a final push for support five days before the Nevada caucus.

Clinton met with a group of about 100 mostly college-aged women for a women’s health care round table at the University of Nevada, Reno and attended a rally at Truckee Meadows Community College with about 700 people.

Clinton tried to show a stark difference between her and Sanders, painting herself as the pragmatist firmly aligned with President Barack Obama and the Vermont senator as an idealist with unrealistic expectations - a strategy she's used frequently in recent weeks.

How the Democratic caucus works

How the Republican caucus works

At the health care round table, Clinton said she and Sanders wanted the same thing in universal health care but she was more realistic about the prospects.

“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,” she said. “So we can either plunge our country into another contentious debate about health care, 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.”

Former state Sen. Sheila Leslie of Reno joined Clinton at the round table along with UNR School of Community Health Sciences Director Dr. Trudy Larson and UNR Students for Hillary President Courtney McKimmey.

“The revolution is not coming by November of 2016,” Leslie said. “We need to support a candidate who knows what she’s doing, who’s studied the issues and has put forth detailed plans on what she intends to do.”

Sanders' campaign has largely professed sweeping progressive reforms along with his single-payer plan, including free college education for all and a $15 minimum wage. Clinton said later at the rally the campaign was living in an “alternate universe” with promises that were unlikely to ever coalesce. She added she was not a “single-issue” candidate like Sanders, only focusing on Wall Street corruption.

“I’ve given you specific plans,” she said. “I’ve told you how much they will cost. I’ve given you the opportunity to vet them and think about them because I want you to hold me accountable. And I will not overpromise. I want you to believe we can do this. I don’t want people to be disappointed because I said some big idea that is never going to come true.”

The visit comes shortly before the Nevada Democratic caucus on Saturday. Both candidates have blanketed the state following Sanders' 22-point victory in the New Hampshire primary as they try to best each other with a more diverse electorate than the previous contests.

The dichotomy she tried to create between her and Sanders worked on several voters.

“It’s not like wishes and dreams,” said Bruce Hanneman, 49, of Reno. “She’s concrete and real in the way she approaches everybody and everything.”

Judy Britt of Reno said she was undecided before attending, but after the speech was leaning Clinton.

“I’m looking at the two Democrats and trying to make a final decision and she just makes so much more sense than Bernie,” she said. “I love Bernie. He has great ideals, but I just don’t think he’s going to be able to bring it to fruition.”

Joe Randolph, 38, of Reno, said he was still undecided as he waited to evaluate all of the available policies from both camps, but Clinton offered more prudent solutions.

“She’s very practical with more of a realistic approach of what she can get done, get it through Congress and work with the Republicans,” he said. “When you look at some of the things Bernie has proposed – and I wanted to get a good contrast between the two – some of his are very broad, great ideas, but are they realistic and can we get them passed?”

Colin Biggs, 26, of Reno, was one of the younger voters at the rally. He said he expected the younger voters to continue to lean toward Sanders – him being the exception – through the election.

“When I was lining up this afternoon, there weren’t that many people younger than 30,” he said. “To be honest, it will probably continue until the delegate count comes in for sure one candidate or the other. I can’t imagine any young Democrats would allow a President Trump or President Cruz to exist.”

Once considered a firewall for Clinton, the Nevada race between her and Sanders has closed - and intensified - since New Hampshire. Clinton cancelled events in Florida to stay in the state on Monday and visited Elko before the UNR event. She also sent surrogates around the state to campaign on her behalf, including Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in Lovelock and Fallon and Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis in Las Vegas.