• USA Bernie Sanders monopolizes the Democratic primary and makes a nod to Castroism: "Not everything is bad in Cuba"
  • Campaign: The Legion of Bernie Sanders

The Democratic Party of the United States put on Tuesday for the first time leftist Senator Bernie Sanders at the center of one of his debates among the candidates for the White House nomination for his new status as a favorite, so he became the target of his rivals, who tried to stop him at the doors of the decisive Super Tuesday.

"I am listening to mention my name a little. I wonder why it will be," Sanders said a few minutes after starting the debate, organized by the CBS chain in Charleston, the second most populous city in South Carolina, on the occasion of the primary which will take place on Saturday in this southeastern state of the country.

Sanders came to the debate after wiping out the caucuses of last weekend in Nevada and also being the most voted candidate in the first two races - Iowa and New Hampshire -, which has placed him at the head of the Democratic primary in terms of delegates and has made him the rival to beat.

In addition to Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaires Michael Bloomberg (former Mayor of New York) and Tom Steyer participated in the debate .

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was the only candidate still in the primary who failed to meet the requirements imposed by the party to be on stage tonight in Charleston.

LOSE IT ALL

Moderate Buttigieg, the second candidate with the most delegates to date, warned that a Sanders candidacy can not only cost Democrats to lose presidential elections against Donald Trump, but also the newly reconquered Lower House of Congress.

The former mayor of South Bend (Indiana) noted that Democratic congressmen who must contest elections in 2020 in their districts "are fleeing their platform (Sanders) as fast as possible."

Bloomberg, on the other hand, who claims to attract conservative skeptical voters with Trump asked: "Can anyone in this room imagine moderate Republicans voting for him (for Sanders)?"

Warren came to the rescue of Sanders and said that Bloomberg, who was mayor of New York as a Republican, is actually the most "risky" candidate the Democrats can choose: "I don't care how much money Bloomberg has, the base of the Democratic Party ever will trust him. He has not earned his trust. "

Sanders then brought out the most recent polls that put him ahead of Trump not only in the general calculation but also in the key states, although the doubt among some Democrats about a possible electoral debacle is already sown.

WEAPONS, HEALTH AND EXTERNAL POLICY

The criticisms against Sanders went beyond his chances of winning Trump and his rivals attacked him for his universal health plan, for having opposed in the past to certain arms regulation and for recognizing social progress in countries like China or Cuba .

Biden recalled the 2015 massacre in a church in Charleston, when a young white supremacist murdered nine African-American parishioners. "I do not say that he (Sanders) is responsible for the nine deaths, but that man could not have had that weapon, " Biden said, recalling that the leftist senator opposed a measure that set wait times to acquire weapons.

Rivals also criticized the cost that the universal health plan that Sanders wants to implement will supposedly have , to which he recalled that, according to recent studies, it will actually be cheaper than the current system and will save 68,000 lives a year.

An argument that did not seem to convince the other Democrats, who defend advanced versions of the current system of private insurers, which has a very high cost for taxpayers and that leaves millions of Americans without coverage.

Sanders also had to face his recent recognition of the social policies of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a comment that has become a real scandal in the Democratic ranks themselves and in the media.

"What I said is the same as Barack Obama said: Cuba made great progress in education and health," he said. "From time to time - he added - it would be a good idea to be honest about US foreign policy and that includes the fact that the United States has overthrown governments all over the world: in Chile, in Guatemala, in Iran."

SOUTH CAROLINA AND SUPER TUESDAY

The primaries of next Saturday in South Carolina are the first in which most of the Democratic electorate is African American, so Biden, who was vice president of Obama (2009-2017), hopes to relaunch a candidacy that to date He has been shipwrecked.

According to the average of polls prepared by Real Clear Politics, Biden heads the intention to vote in South Carolina with 30%, followed by Sanders with 22% and by Steyer, who has invested millions of dollars in advertising with the African-American voter as objective, with 13%.

South Carolina will give way to the decisive Super Tuesday, the most important meeting of the Democratic primary this March 3, with 14 states called to the polls - including California and Texas -, a third of all delegates in Liza and with Bloomberg for the first time on the ballots.

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