Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) deviated from his longheld position of refraining from directly attacking his political opponents and lit up Joe Biden (D), just one month ahead of the highly-anticipated February 3 Iowa caucus.
The socialist senator suggested in an interview with the Washington Post this week that the former vice president has “a lot of baggage” that could stifle his chances of successfully taking down President Trump in this year’s presidential election.
“It’s just a lot of baggage that Joe takes into a campaign, which isn’t going to create energy and excitement,” Sanders told the paper.
He added that Biden’s campaign record is “so weak that it just cannot create the kind of excitement and energy that is going to be needed to defeat Donald Trump.”
While Sanders experienced an end of summer slump last year, he has since bounced back, generating enthusiasm and raising a massive $34.5 million in the fourth quarter while sliding back into second place in most national polls. Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign reported $22.7 million raised in the fourth quarter.
Sanders also suggested that the former vice president’s past positions will come back to haunt him if he is, in fact, the candidate who goes head to head with the president in November.
The Washington Post reported:
In the interview, Sanders said Biden’s past backing of military intervention in Iraq would hurt him with young voters, while his support of free trade, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, would make him vulnerable in the industrial Midwest, where Trump scored victories in 2016.
“It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that Trump will be saying, ‘You see this guy? He voted for NAFTA,’ ” Sanders said.
Sanders even took aim at Biden’s tactics, describing him as a candidate who is “running to wealthy people’s homes.”
“People are tired of the traditional types of campaigns in which candidates like Joe are running to wealthy people’s homes and raising large sums of money,” Sanders told the Post.
While some within the Democrat establishment continue to doubt Sanders’ ability to face off against the president in a general election matchup, Sanders assured the outlet that he is in the race for the long haul and affirmed what he is “certainly prepared to do is contest every state in this country”:
When asked if he would make overtures to moderate Democrats should he win the nomination, Sanders said the party would have to adjust to his movement rather than the other way around.
“People in the Democratic Party are going to take a look at reality and in a millisecond, they’re going to make a decision: The choice is between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. They may say, ‘Oh, God, I don’t like Bernie Sanders. . . . He doesn’t comb his hair nicely enough. But you know what? There is no choice. We’re going to support Bernie Sanders.’ ”
Sanders is currently in second place nationally with 19.1 percent to Biden’s 28.3 percent, Thursday’s Real Clear Politics average showed. Thursday’s Real Clear Politics average also showed Sanders in second place in the Hawkeye State with 20 percent to former Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s (D) 22 percent support. Biden is close behind, in third place with 18.8 percent support.
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