WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are set to meet in the first one-on-one debate of the Democratic campaign.
The race for the Democratic nomination took on new vigor this week after Sanders held the former secretary of state to a whisper-thin margin of victory in Iowa's leadoff caucuses. The candidates agreed to add four more debates to the primary season schedule, including Thursday's faceoff in Durham, N.H.
Sanders, favored in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, said Wednesday that Clinton's record is "just not progressive" on any number of issues, including her vote as a senator to authorize the war in Iraq.
Clinton called that a "low blow" and pressed her counterpoint that she's the candidate with the ability to actually implement progressive changes.
"Good ideas on paper are important, but you've got to be able to translate them into action," she said.
The two made their rival cases in interviews and appearances around New Hampshire and in back-to-back appearances at a town-hall style forum on CNN on Wednesday night.
Polls find Sanders holding a commanding lead over Clinton in New Hampshire, and he was eager to lower expectations for how he would finish. He cast himself as an underdog going up against "the most powerful political organization in the country."
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.