Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders fired back Sunday against Democratic presidential primary rival Hillary Clinton, denying charges that he’s a “single-issue’ candidate concerned only about reining in Wall Street and enacting financial regulations.
Mrs. Clinton made the accusation in a victory speech Saturday, following her win in the Nevada caucuses. She defeated Mr. Sanders by about 5 percentage points and cast her victory as proof that voters are concerned about a host of issues, not just Mr. Sanders’ central theme of income inequality.
She repeated that mantra Sunday morning.
“When I say, look, we’re not a single-issue country, I say that from a lot of experience,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’re going to talk about the issues that are on the minds of Americans, and that’s a broad number.”
Mr. Sanders appeared on the program a few minutes later and ticked off a host of issues on which he has focused, including universal health care, criminal justice reform and college affordability. Mrs. Clinton’s claim that he’s a single-issue candidate is patently false, he said.
“I haven’t the vaguest idea what she’s talking about,” Mr. Sanders told CNN. “If she thinks that income and wealth inequality and the fact that the rich get richer while everybody else gets poorer is the only issue, it’s not … we are talking about dozens of issues. I am not quite sure where Secretary Clinton is coming from.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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