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The VICE Guide to the 2016 Election

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Are Fighting Over the Future of the Democratic Party

In their first head-to-head debate since the Iowa Caucus, the two Democratic presidential candidates sparred over what it means to be progressive.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire on February 4, 2016. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For weeks now, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been quietly ripping into each other. Mostly, though, the jabs haven't been direct: whispers from aides, indirect attack ads, and polite suggestions in cable news interviews, in contrast to, say, Donald Trump calling Jeb Bush "dumb as a rock." But over the last few days, that subtle tone has taken a turn—not to Republican levels, perhaps, but still more forceful than we've seen in the Democratic race thus far.

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So it was almost inevitable that Thursday night's Democratic debate—the first face-to-face encounter between the two remaining candidates—would get ugly. For two hours straight, it was just Clinton and Sanders on stage in New Hampshire, and almost immediately MSNBC moderators Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd started asking different variations of the question that Democratic voters have been fighting over for months: What does it mean to be a true progressive?

Yet what began as an argument over progressivism—more so as a title than an ideological distinction—turned into one of the more serious internal discussions that the Democratic Party has had in recent memory. It was also, arguably, the most revealing dialogue we've seen in the 2016 campaign so far.

As expected, Sanders contrasted his grassroots political campaign with Clinton's Establishment-backed juggernaut, implying his rival's wealthy backers are harbingers of an administration that would just be crony politics as usual.

"She has the entire Establishment—or almost the entire Establishment—behind her. That's fact. I don't deny it," Sanders told the moderators, responding to a question about Clinton's endorsements from prominent Democrats in his home state. "What being part of the Establishment is," he added later, "is in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life [having] raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests."

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"People support me because they know me, they know my life's work, they have worked with me, and many have also worked with Senator Sanders," Clinton replied, a little heatedly. "And, at the end of the day, they endorse me because they know I can get things done."

She went on to lambast what she described as the Sanders campaign's "innuendos" and "insinuation" that her political career has been bought and sold by special interests. "If you've got something to say, say it directly," Clinton demanded, her carefully-measured front now totally gone. "You will not find that I have ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation I have received. I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that."

The exchange was representative of the broader conflict going on between the moderate and progressive factions of the political left in the US—a divide that, whether or not the Democrats win in November, will likely determine the future of the party for years to come.

The rest of the debate generally rehashed the usual campaign talking points for both sides, albeit with slightly more fiery tenor than in past match-ups. But the candidates never quite returned to that initial level of personal attack, instead diving deep into a hodgepodge of liberal issues, including guns, veterans' healthcare, the death penalty, and the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Toward the end of the debate, the moderators touched on foreign policy, but even then, the drama was limited to Sanders's continued attacks on Clinton's vote for the Iraq War, and his otherwise rambling responses on how he would handle international affairs as president.

The issue of Clinton's emails also resurfaced, with Clinton quickly attempting to squash any skepticism that she might not make it out of the 2016 election cycle without being indicted. She also struggled to respond to questions about whether she would release the transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, virtually guaranteeing that the Sanders campaign will continue to use the issue against her going into the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

Follow John Surico on Twitter.