WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was escorted by fellow Democrats, her way smoothed by uniformed officers and her every pre-planned step tracked by a pack of chroniclers as she made the rounds of private meetings in the Capitol.
It was more than enough for Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who is Clinton’s closest Democratic presidential rival in the polls. Emerging from one such meeting on Tuesday, Sanders strode, fast-paced and trailed by a couple of aides, to a collection of nearby television cameras.
“Let me welcome Secretary Clinton back to the Senate,” he said, although in fact, the greeting could more fairly be described as brisk and bracing, rather than warm.
His rival was behind closed doors with Democratic senators elsewhere in the Capitol when Sanders said that trade deals negotiated over the past two decades have been disastrous. “Secretary Clinton, I believe, has a different view on that issue,” he said, although he omitted that as president, her husband had negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“I strongly opposed the war in Iraq,” he added. He didn’t mention that Clinton supported it, but said, “sadly tragically, much of what I predicted in fact took place.”