CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Democrats unleashed a roaring assault against Bernie Sanders’ electability and seized on Mike Bloomberg’s past with women in the workplace in a raucous debate Tuesday night that tested the strength of the two men leading their party’s presidential nomination fight.
Sanders, his status as the Democratic front-runner undeniable, faced the brunt of the attacks for much of the night.
Pete Buttigieg, mired among the moderates fighting to emerge as the chief Sanders’ alternative, seized on Sanders’ self-described democratic socialism and his recent comments expressing admiration for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s push for education.
“I am not looking forward to a scenario where it comes down to Donald Trump with his nostalgia for the social order of the 1950s and Bernie Sanders with a nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s,” Buttigieg declared.
Sanderslashed back throughout the night, pointing to polls that showed him beating the Republican president and noting all the recent attention he’s gotten: “I’m hearing my name mentioned a little bit tonight. I wonder why?”