Dem race heats up in Miami
Clinton, Sanders battle for votes at Fla. debate
The debate, hosted by Univision, The Washington Post and Facebook, was designed to highlight those issues and quickly established a sharp contrast with the tough-on-immigration rhetoric of the Republican campaigns.
“I do not want to see them deported, I want to see them on a path to citizenship,” Clinton said, referring to the roughly 11 million people who either entered the country illegally or overstayed visas.
Sanders, under attack by Clinton over his opposition to a 2007 immigration-reform bill sponsored by the late-Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, said the legislation would have resulted in near slavery for guest workers.
“Where people came in, they were cheated, they were abused, and if they stood up for their rights they would have been thrown out of the country,” he said.
“That type of effort leads to a race to the bottom for all of our people,” he said.
Clinton slashed at Sanders' response, saying it is improbable that Kennedy and prominent Latino groups that supported the bill would “actually support modern slavery.”
“That was one of the many excuses used not to vote for the 2007 bill,” she said. “If we had been able to get that passed we would be so much further along than we are right now.”
Clinton pledged to pass comprehensive immigration reform in her first 100 days of office, something President Barack Obama promised and failed to deliver.
The debate, broadcast in English and Spanish, came the day after Sanders scored an upset victory in Michigan. There he focused on a message of economic populism, which included harsh criticism of trade policies pushed by Clinton's husband, Bill, when he was president in the 1990s. Hillary Clinton has tried to emphasize the rising incomes and growing prosperity Americans enjoyed during that period.
Their last debate was a heated affair, with Sanders cutting off Clinton when she tried to inject a point and repeatedly attacking her economic record. Much as Clinton's team has tried to portray Sanders as slow to respond to black voters' concerns over civil rights, he has criticized her as a late and unreliable convert to opposing trade agreements such as President Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership.
On Wednesday night, Clinton batted away a question about whether she would drop out of presidential the race if indicted over the handling of her email as secretary of state.
Univision's Jorge Ramos hit Clinton with a blunt question in the debate's opening moments, asking: “If you're indicted, will you drop out?”
“Oh for goodness, that is not going to happen,” Clinton declared. “I'm not even going to answer that question.”
The FBI is investigating the possibility of mishandling of sensitive information through Clinton's private email server while she was secretary of state.
Sanders, as he has in the past, declined to bite on the issue, saying, “The process will take its course.” He said he'd rather talk about the issues of wealth and income inequality.
The two candidates laid out rival paths to the nomination, Clinton stressing that she has a strong lead in the delegates. She declared, “This is a marathon, and it is a marathon that can only be carried by the kind of campaign I am running.”
Sanders said he'd come a long way from the early days when his campaign was largely written off. He called his upset victory in Michigan evidence that his message is resonating.
“We are going to continue to do extremely well,” he said, adding that he expects to convince superdelegates who are backing Clinton to switch to his column.
With Florida offering the biggest prize in Tuesday's round of voting, the two candidates quickly exchanged attacks over who's been a true advocate for Latinos and who's been a friend only out of political convenience.
Florida is home to nearly 1.8 million Hispanics, including about 15 percent of the state's Democrats.
The candidates also are focusing on a broader audience, with Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina also in Tuesday's primary lineup, and a total of 691 delegates at stake.
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