Democrats struggle with how directly to knock Sanders
By BILL BARROW and ALEXANDRA JAFFE
https://apnews.com/b92e048e2147ecf258b390c456f87393
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — As Bernie Sanders exudes confidence in his ability to win next week’s Iowa caucuses, his moderate rivals are struggling with how — and whether — to directly take on the progressive Vermont senator who some Democrats worry won’t be able to defeat President Donald Trump.
Former Vice President Joe Biden jabbed Sanders — without naming him — on the multitrillion-dollar cost of his most ambitious proposals, such as single-payer health insurance, tuition-free college and sweeping climate action.
... Across the state in Boone, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, also raised questions about Sanders’ electability — but only when pressed. ... “My focus is on the fact that my campaign is in the best position to beat Donald Trump,” Buttigieg told reporters when asked whether he believes Sanders would lose a general election. “My focus — while reporters, I’m sure, are eager to get me to do otherwise — is to remain as focused as possible on my own campaign.”
Sanders has long identified as a democratic socialist, and the prospect that he could win the caucuses and gain momentum heading into later contests has alarmed the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. But that anxiety was hard to detect on the campaign trail as Biden and Buttigieg, two of the leading moderate candidates, declined to take him head-on, opting instead to speak about the need to unify the party and the urgency of beating Trump.
That’s frustrating to those who would like to see the candidates take a stronger stand. [I wonder who THOSE mysterious folks are... :-)]
“It is shocking that no one besides us and a handful of others are willing to say what is evidently true, which is that he is a front-runner to win, and if he wins it’s going to be incredibly hard to beat Trump and hang onto our House majority,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of moderate think tank Third Way. [Mr Bennet can predict what will turn evidently true in the future; maybe he should play the lottery]
... Biden and Buttigieg know that Sanders will be emboldened if he wins the Iowa caucuses next Monday and the New Hampshire primary the following week. But each must also consider how he can stitch together a Democratic coalition in November with himself as the nominee. That means avoiding the kind of open animosity that party leaders believe hurt Hillary Clinton against Trump in 2016, well after she dispatched Sanders in an extended primary fight.
... Biden’s campaign has doubled down in recent weeks on the argument that he is the best-positioned Democrat to defeat Trump and help the party in down-ballot races. But his aides and supporters insist their strategy isn’t explicitly about Sanders.
“I think people are thinking about electability more,” said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Biden supporter. But he stopped short of saying there’s a “fear” of Sanders as nominee. “When Iowans start thinking about the fall ... people are starting to see that Joe would be much stronger than Bernie.”
... Attacking Sanders has proven difficult. He and Warren had a sort of non-aggression pact until she alleged recently that Sanders had told her privately in 2018 that a woman cannot win the presidency in 2020. Sanders disputes that account. Warren sticks by it, but raising the matter hasn’t noticeably propelled her in the race.
Still, Sanders’ campaign seemed to be readying for a counterstrike over the weekend, preemptively warning supporters that, as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said at a canvass launch in Ankeny, “things are gonna get crazy.” ... Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore told supporters at a Saturday night rally that “the knives are out” for Sanders.
