Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders sparred over a variety of issues last night at UW-Milwaukee. It was their first debate since Sanders’s big win in the New Hampshire primary.
The debate covered issues ranging from mass incarceration to regime change. But throughout, Sanders tried to stick to his message about taking on Wall Street, while Clinton pointed to her broad agenda as the more fiscally responsible one.
“They definitely came prepared to fight with each other in a substantive way,” says Tamara Keith, NPR’s White House Correspondent.
Perhaps the oddest moment of the night was the discussion about Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. Sanders blasted Clinton for taking advice from Kissinger, whose politics he finds objectionable. Clinton defended Kissinger, and said she would speak with anyone who can offer good advice.
“I think that that points out sort of a difference in their approach," says Keith. “This isn’t surprising in any way, but Bernie Sanders is more of a purist and Hillary Clinton is more of a...pragmatist, maybe?”
