War of words breaks out between Democratic rivals ahead of New Hampshire primary as Trump continues to call for Iowa recount over Ted Cruz’s tactics

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A bitter war of words is breaking out between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire as the next leg of the Democratic race heats up.



At a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Clinton accused Sanders of a “low blow” for saying that the former secretary of state was only a progressive on “some days”.

“I hope we keep it on the issues,” Clinton said, “because if it’s about our records, hey, I’m going to win by a landslide.”

A reporter had questioned the Vermont senator on Tuesday about whether his Democratic opponent was a truly progressive liberal.



“Some days, yes. Except when she announces that she is a proud moderate, and then I guess she is not a progressive,” replied Sanders.



He also noted it was difficult for Clinton to fight the political establishment “when you become as dependent as she has through her Super Pac and in other ways on Wall Street or drug company money”.

Previously, Sanders and Clinton avoided negative attacks on each other, but after Clinton won Iowa with the narrowest margin in Democratic presidential caucus history, the gloves are off before the next contest on 9 February.

Sanders still refuses to concede the Iowa win, noting that certain caucus delegates were decided by a coin toss.

“The Clinton campaign is very heavy into spinning things ... You can talk about who won or who lost, but when we came from so far down, taking on the most powerful political machine in the Democratic party, I think we did pretty well,” Sanders told MSBC’s Morning Joe television show.

In a separate interview, with MSNBC’s Hardball, Clinton questioned the viability of Sander’s “political revolution”, where he speaks of reforming Washington and its reliance on Wall Street and calls for higher wages and no student debt.

“I totally appreciate how exciting it can be to be involved in a campaign that really just puts out these great big ideas,” said Clinton. “But I want folks to just stop and think: who can actually produce the results you want for you and your family, and for our country?”

The Democratic frontrunner paints Sanders as a revolutionary idealist who cannot put any of his plans into action.

“Our founders knew if we were going to survive as the great democracy they were creating, we would have to have a system that kept the passions at bay. We had to have people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and compromise. We couldn’t have ideologues hurling rhetoric back and forth. We had to have people who could produce results. That hasn’t changed,” Clinton said.

“Ideas that sound good on paper but can’t create results for people are just that,” she added. “I have a track record of producing results.”

Meanwhile Sanders dismissed people who see his political revolution as a dangerous risk to society as “pathetic”.

On the Republican side, where New Hampshire could end many presidential ambitions, Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz, who surprised him by winning the Iowa caucus, of committing voter fraud.

The billionaire property tycoon had polled highly going in, but lost the caucus by 3.3% to Ted Cruz, an evangelical Tea Party leader.

“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” unleashed Trump on a Wednesday morning Twitter rant.

Two dirty political moves by the Cruz side infuriated Trump. First, Cruz’s team sent out an email alert that neurosurgeon Ben Carson was taking time off from the campaign trail – with the insinuation that he would drop out – encouraging his supporters to “inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz”.

Secondly, Cruz mailed Iowans individual voter report cards with bad grades, accusing them of a “voting violation” due to low turnout and that their grade could improve by turning up to Monday’s caucus and voting for Cruz.

“Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” declared Trump on Twitter.

Cruz apologized for the email alert sent on caucus night, noting he should have clarified once it became clear Carson wasn’t dropping out of the race.

Meanwhile, libertarian Rand Paul officially ended his run for president after getting only 4.5% of the Iowa vote.