With Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a near dead heat in the election season’s first two contests, the leading Democratic presidential candidates Sunday engaged in heated exchanges over firearm policy, health care and income equality in their last meeting before the Iowa caucuses .
The Charleston, S.C. , debate, which also featured lower-polling candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley , opened just hours after the first of five Americans freed following a dramatic prisoner swap with Iran stopped over in Europe on Sunday on their way back to the United States.
The five Americans, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian , who had been held since July 2014, were released in exchange for seven Iranian citizens who had been held on sanctions-related offenses. Clinton and Sanders both said they were encouraged by the developments, which came as Iran began dismantling its nuclear program.
"We have had one good day over 36 years,'' Clinton said of the U.S.'s long-troubled relationship with Iran and the need to continue monitoring Tehran 's nuclear compliance.
From the debate's opening moments, the candidates sought to stake out sharp differences with Clinton, emphasizing her long experience in government as preparation for the presidency, while Sanders began defending his reversal on legislation that provided gun makers and dealers immunity from lawsuits filed by victims of violent crime involving firearms.
"I am pleased to hear that Sen. Sanders has reversed his position on immunity,'' Clinton said, adding that "no other industry'' had been provided such protection.
O'Malley, meanwhile, highlighted his own record of supporting some of the strictest gun legislation in the country during his tenure as Maryland governor. Through much of the debate, however, O'Malley was a forgotten candidate who was often forced to plead for more time to talk as the debate focused on Clinton and Sanders.
The quick attention to guns came as the candidates gathered in Charleston, where just seven months earlier nine worshipers were killed in an attack on a Bible study session at the iconic Emanuel AME Church .
From guns, the candidates quickly pivoted to criminal justice reform, police brutality and the scourge of heroin addiction and health care policy.
Clinton was sharply critical of Sanders' Medicare-style health care plan, saying that such a proposal would thrust the government back into yet another contentious fight that could endanger the Affordable Care Act , President Obama 's signature health care law.
The former secretary of State described the Obama program as "historic'' and in need of expansion along with stronger political support.
Just two hours before the debate's start, Sanders unveiled the long-awaited details of his plan that would be supported by a mix of taxes on employers, middle-class workers and wealthiest Americans.
Responding to Clinton's criticism, Sanders said his proposal would lower health care costs for average Americans by $5,000.
"To tear it up,'' Clinton said of Obamacare, "is the absolute wrong direction.''
source : us today nes
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