Posted on 01/26/16
| News Source: VIN
Des Moines, IA - Bernie Sanders defended his call for raising Americans’ taxes in exchange for lower heath care costs, as he opened a candidate forum Monday night that served as a platform for Democratic presidential hopefuls to make a closing argument to voters one week before the Iowa caucuses.
“Yes, we will raise taxes,” said Sanders, an admission rarely heard in presidential campaigns. “We may raise taxes, but we are going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and businesses.”
Sanders would replace the nation’s existing employer-based system of insurance with one in which the government becomes a “single payer,” providing coverage to all. It would eliminate co-pays and deductibles, and Sanders’ argues, bring health care spending under control.
A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders cast his governing philosophy Monday as one reflecting that “the right for economic security should exist.” But he sidestepped a question about whether his policies would mean an era of big government.
Sanders’ was the first of three candidates to address voters at the CNN town hall at Iowa’s Drake University. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has struggled to gain traction in the race, were to appear later in the event.
All three have been zig-zagging the state in recent days, trying to shore up support before the Feb. 1 caucus. While Clinton has let the field for months, she’s being challenged anew in Iowa, as well as in New Hampshire, which votes second in the primary contest.
The latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll found Clinton with 42 percent, Sanders with 40 percent and O’Malley with just 4 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers. The poll, conducted between Jan. 7 and 10, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, suggesting it could be a toss-up between the former secretary of state and the Vermont senator.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats on Capitol Hill, has energized young voters in particular with his call for a “political revolution.”
“We are touching a nerve with the American people who understand that establishment politics just aren’t bold enough,” Sanders said Monday.
The 74-year-old Sanders pledged to release his medical records before Iowa votes, saying there’s nothing in the papers that will surprise anybody. And while Sanders typically avoids veering into personal topics, preferring to focus squarely on policy, he spoke emotionally about what his late parents would think to see their son running for president.
“This would be so unimaginable,” Sanders said.
Former Secretary of State Clinton is offering herself as a pragmatic option, who can build on President Barack Obama’s legacy and manage Washington gridlock.
“I believe I have the experience, the judgment and the vision to get us back moving, further than we got with President Obama,” Clinton said Sunday during an event in Marion.
O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, has struggled to win support in the race, despite aggressive campaigning in Iowa. He was cheered enthusiastically when he cited climate change as the top issue young people in America should be concerned about.
O’Malley was pushed on what his supporters should do on caucus night if — under the quirks of the Iowa process — they don’t reach a minimum level of support in their local precinct. Should that happen, the O’Malley backers would have to pick another candidate.
But O’Malley said his message was simply: “Hold strong at your caucus.”
Monday’s event comes after Obama weighed in on the race interview with Politico’s “Off Message” podcast, though he stopped short of endorsing. Obama praised Sanders for energizing liberals while saying that Clinton’s perceived dominance had been both an advantage and a burden.