Hillary Clinton operatives have been launching intensifying and increasingly personal attacks against Bernie Sanders. | AP Photo Clinton and Sanders brawl over doctors, guns and money The rivals took the gloves off during Sunday night's debate as they sought to make a last impression before voting kicks off.

Hillary Clinton arrived well-prepped Sunday night for a real fight with Bernie Sanders — a surging rival her campaign virtually ignored for the first eight months of the race — on issues of bankers, guns and healthcare.

And on the debate stage, which throughout the campaign has provided Clinton with some of her strongest moments, she sought to slow Sanders’ momentum that has created a too-close-to-call race in Iowa. For the first time in over a week, Clinton was able to launch some offensives against Sanders -- on his gun record, his healthcare plans and his attacks on President Obama -- without any apparent boomerang effect. Sanders, for his part, also came with more planned personal attacks in his pocket than he has in the past, and made no major errors that could seriously damage his growing momentum with two weeks to go to the Iowa caucuses.


The most heated exchange of the debate came about 50 minutes into the two-hour showdown in Charleston, when Clinton attacked Sanders for failing to support Obama in 2011 -- and then bear-hugged her onetime rival to defend her relationship with Wall Street.

Sanders was the first to launch in, delivering a pointed critique of Clinton's relationship with Wall Street. “The first difference is I don’t take money from big banks,” he said, drawing some boos from the audience. “I don’t get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs.” Clinton, according to her tax returns, received $675,000, for three speeches to Goldman Sachs in 2013. Sanders added that the country needed to reinstate Glass-Steagall, which separates commercial and investment banking.

Clinton defended herself by leaning on Obama, whose popularity she needs in South Carolina, where the debate unfolded.

“He's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street,” she charged, “and President Obama has led our country out of the Great Recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He in 2011 publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama.”

She added she was going to “defend Dodd-Frank, and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry, and getting results.”

Sanders, growing increasingly agitated, said of the President, “he and I are friends,” and said he supported him in 2008 and in his reelection campaign.

But Clinton continued with her attack. “Your profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011,” she said.

Clinton’s persistent attacks at times succeeded in putting Sanders on the defensive. For instance, after weeks of growing pressure to release the details of his healthcare plan, Sanders unloaded an eight-page memo about his “Medicare-for-all” proposal two hours before the debate started.

On the debate stage, Clinton positioned herself as the more pragmatic defender of the Affordable Care Act.

“When you’re talking about health care, the details really matter,” Clinton said, “and therefore we have been raising questions about the nine bills that [Sanders] introduced over 20 years.”

She pushed Sanders further: “He didn’t like that, his campaign didn’t like it either and tonight he has come out with a new health care plan, and again, we need to get into the details.”

“We finally have a path to universal health care,” Clinton said. “We’ve accomplished so much. I do not want to see the Republicans repeal it, and I do not want us to start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it.”

Sanders, raising his voice, shot back at Clinton: “What her campaign was saying -- Bernie wants to end Medicare, Medicaid -- that is nonsense.”

He admitted the plan he released Sunday night was “not all that detailed.” But Clinton positioned herself as the more realistic politician who can get things done and said she was the only Democrat who would not raise taxes on the middle-class. “What I'm saying is really simple, this has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades," she said. "We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do.”

Sanders defended his plan, saying of Obamacare, "no one is tearing this up. We're going to go forward."

Gun control was expected to be a major point of discussion in the debate, which took place blocks from the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where nine parishioners were killed last summer by a gunman while at bible study.

Sanders landed the first blow on the subject, charging that Clinton “knows what she says is very disingenuous” when she labels him a reliable vote for the gun lobby. “I have a D-” grade from the National Rifle Association, he said noting that he supports instant background checks as well as Obama's efforts to close the gunshow loopholes.

But he dodged the question of why he supported a 2005 bill to give immunity to gun manufacturers to avoid prosecution when a gun is used in a crime. On Saturday, after months of pressure from Clinton on Sanders’ record on gun control, Sanders said he now supports repealing gun manufacturer immunity.

Clinton had Sanders on the defense, noting that he voted numerous times with the NRA, while Sanders pursed his lips and shook his head in irritation. “[He] voted against the Brady Bill five times," she said. "He voted for what we call the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity for gun makers and sellers, which the NRA said was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years," Clinton rattled off. "He voted to let guns go on to Amtrak, go into national parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives."

Challenging Sanders' record on guns, Democrats have said, was more solid footing for Clinton than her attacks on Sanders' single-payer healthcare plan that came later, and strike at an idea that is still iconic for the progressive wing of the party.

“I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity, and I look forward to him joining with those members of Congress who have already introduced legislation,” Clinton said.

Martin O’Malley, whose low poll numbers meant he narrowly cleared the threshold to participate in the debate at all, desperately fought for air time. He sought to make an impression with his pitch on combating climate change and his plan to keep Americans safe from terrorism, but he failed to create a moment for himself as his rivals’ brawling dominated the night.

Despite the fireworks, Sanders drew the line at attacking Bill Clinton’s sexual past. “Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not,” Sanders said, while Hillary Clinton smiled wanly. “I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior.”