Hillary Clinton turned in another steady and substantive performance in a head-to-head matchup with Bernie Sanders that turned chippy by Democratic standards but wonky compared to the latest Republican free-for-alls.
At this point in the Democratic primary, Clinton only needs to avoid a disaster. Though Sanders won two of three contests on Saturday, Clinton is building a delegate lead that is becoming insurmountable. In Michigan, for example -- where the candidates convened on Sunday, in Flint, for the CNN-hosted debate -- Clinton holds a wide lead ahead of the state’s Tuesday primary.
The debate swung from the hyperlocal, with an initial focus on the crisis surrounding the lead contamination of Flint's water supply, to the historical and global, as Clinton and Sanders squared off over their records on guns, trade, and economic development. One standout point of contention straddled the two: Clinton argued that Sanders erred badly by opposing the Obama administration's auto bailout, which has been credited with saving the domestic car industry; Sanders turned the criticism around, noting that the payout was folded into a larger package for Wall Street that benefited Clinton's allies in that sector. (Specifically, Congress wrapped the funds for carmakers into an authorization to release the second tranche of the Wall Street bailout, known as TARP.)
That exchange precipitated perhaps the most fiery back-and-forth of the Democratic campaign to date. After Clinton highlighted their divergent votes on the package, Sanders began to respond, "If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy..." and Clinton began to interrupt. "Excuse me, I'm talking," Sanders said, to which Clinton replied, "If you’re gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders."
Of course, that looked like high tea next to how the Republicans have been savaging each other recently. And shortly thereafter, when CNN moderator Anderson Cooper slow-pitched Sanders an opportunity to attack Clinton for refusing to release the transcripts of the highly-paid, private speeches she's delivered to banks, he helped change the subject instead.
Clinton had just repeated the dodge she's stuck with on the issue, pledging to release the transcripts "as long as everybody else does, too." Sanders, invoking a joking tone bordering on sarcasm that characterized much of his Sunday night performance, replied, "Secretary Clinton wants everybody else to release it, well, I’m your Democratic opponent, I release it, here it is [throwing up his hands]: There ain’t nothing. I don’t give speeches to Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars, you got it." But then he shifted to make an entirely separate point, decrying the lack of criminal prosecutions of Wall Street executives. Clinton was happy for the diversion. "I think we are in vigorous agreement on this," she said.