Sanders comes out swinging in Iowa

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took Hillary Clinton head on as the Democratic presidential field shared the stage Saturday night for a major Iowa state party fundraiser, making clear that he won’t back down despite a slew of big wins this week for her campaign.

Sanders gave his strongest critique of the former secretary of State yet with a round of implicit contrasts on issues where Clinton has shifted her position.

{mosads}Clinton, on the other hand, set her sights square on her Republican rivals, almost entirely overlooking her Democratic primary opponents during her speech at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

The Vermont senator’s most direct barb came in response to Clinton’s framing of her support of the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by her husband in 1996, as a “defensive action” during a Friday interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. During that interview, she argued that it was a compromise meant to ensure gay rights weren’t further eroded.

The Vermont senator’s remarks repudiated that argument directly.

“Today, some are trying to rewrite history by saying they voted for one anti-gay law to stop something worse,” he said.

“That’s not the case. There was a small minority in the House opposed to discriminating against our gay brothers and sisters and I am proud that I was one of those members.”

He also sought to cast himself as the political reincarnation of Barack Obama, who used a widely-praised speech at the 2007 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner to capture the momentum over Clinton.

“Eight years ago the experts talked about how another Democratic candidate for president, Barack Obama, couldn’t win, how he was unelectable,” he said

“Well Iowa, I think we’re going to prove the pundits wrong again, I believe we are going to make history one more time.”

Clinton, who was interrupted by supporters a few times with chants of “I’m with her,” stuck close to her standard stump speech and slammed the GOP as a party for the elites.

“I hear Donald Trump when he says, ‘We have to make America great again,'” she said.

“Here’s what I say: America is great, we just have to make it fair and just. We have to make America work for everyone, not just those at the top.”

She also worked in a few implicit barbs of her own against Sanders, specifically on his mixed record on gun control as well as the perception of his lack of electability.

“It’s not enough just to rail against the Republicans and the billionaires,” she said, the latter being a group Sanders regularly hits during his stump speech.

“We actually have to win this election to rebuild the middle class and make a positive difference in people’s lives.”

The Democratic presidential field has narrowed significantly over the past seven days, mainly with Vice President Joe Biden’s decision not to mount a presidential bid.  Polling shows that Clinton will receive the biggest bump from that decision, as a recent CNN/ORC national poll found that without Biden, Clinton leads Sanders by a margin of 56 percent to 33 percent.

Two other long shot candidates, former Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) and former Gov. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), also dropped out this week. That leaves former Gov. Martin O’Malley (Md.) as the other main candidate in the race and the only other candidate to speak at the dinner. Campaign finance reform advocate Lawrence Lessig is also running as a Democrat but is floating an independent bid and did not speak.

O’Malley emphasized a forward-looking message built on his record as governor during his speech and openly acknowledged his long odds.

“While all of the candidates here tonight share progressive values, not all of us have a record of getting things done. I do,” he said.

“I kind of like the tough fights.  I’ve always been drawn to the tough fights.”

He also focused his attacks on the GOP field and Donald Trump, specifically on immigration.

“To that immigrant bashing, carnival barker, Donald Trump –Let us stand up together, and say, the enduring symbol of our nation is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty!” he said.

The dinner, affectionately is not only a major fundraiser for the state Democratic Party but a key event ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nominating contest.

It’s named for Presidents’ Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, but the state party agreed to change the name next year e in light of backlash over the fact that the two presidents owned slaves.

The speeches come off the heels of a strong stretch for the Clinton campaign that’s included Biden’s decision to forgo a bid and a marathon hearing in front of the House Benghazi Committee where she emerged essentially unscathed.

Clinton still holds a lead in Iowa, according to a RealClearPolitics average of recent polls, but those polls show that Sanders has brought her lead down to single digits over the past month.