Democratic debates: Sanders and Buttigieg clash as front runners days ahead of New Hampshire primary

Meanwhile, Biden, Warren, Klobuchar and others aim for a Granite State surprise

If Sanders is seen as the American Corbyn, might Biden be Hillary 2.0? (Getty)

With days until New Hampshire’s first in the nation primary, the top seven 2020 democrats returned to a debate stage in Manchester, making their final pitch to the state’s voters that they’re the the best pick to take on Donald Trump this November.

The debates hosted by ABC News began with a sharp jabs between Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg — the two clear leaders coming out of the messy Iowa caucuses earlier this week — as Joe Biden, who came in fourth place behind third-place Elizabeth Warren, attempted to pull both down as he seeks a come back after a whopping on Monday.

“When our opponent is saying if you don’t go all the way to the edge it doesn’t count, politics that say it’s my way or the highway,” Mr Buttigieg said, attacking Mr Sanders for his perceived refusal to compromise on political issues.

But, Mr Sanders disagreed with the argument that he is such an ideological purist, and portrayed that difference as a symptom of the class struggle he sees as a major plague to America.

He continued: “The way you bring people together is by presenting an agenda that works for the working people of this country, not the billionaire class.”

The night involved high stakes for the seven candidates on stage, and Mr Biden seemed to sense that gravity. After recognising that he had suffered a heavy blow in Iowa, he insisted that he was staying in the fight at least through the contest in South Carolina. Then, he went on the offensive against Mr Sanders and Mr Buttigieg.

“Imagine you’re going to unite the country, walking into Congress and saying, ‘I got this bill. It’s going to provide healthcare for everybody. I don’t know how much it’s going to cost. We’ll figure it out later,’” Mr Biden said of Mr Sanders’ single-payer Medicare for All healthcare proposal, which the Vermont senator says should replace Obamacare.

“How much is it going to cost? Who is going to pay for it?” he asked. “I busted my neck getting Obamacare passed.”

While Mr Biden also attacked Mr Buttigieg, it was senator Amy Klobuchar, who is hoping for a dark horse win in New Hampshire on Tuesday, who mounted one of the harshest attacks on the former Indiana mayor. Making what was a rare reference to the president’s recently resolved impeachment, Ms Klobuchar noted that senators on the stage had been involved in that process, and said they took the issue seriously.

Then, she attacked Mr Buttigieg for comments on the campaign trail that the process was exhausting.

“What you said, Pete, as you were campaigning through Iowa as three of us were jurors in the impeachment hearing, you said it was exhausting to watch and that you wanted to turn the channel and watch cartoons,” she said. (He later clarified that he was saying Americans were at risk of disengaging from the political process, not that he was personally uninterested in those issues).

On policy and issues of substance, the candidates touched upon everything from ending private prisons and detention centres, healthcare reforms, climate change, gun violence, the attack on abortion rights in the US and the country’s nearly two decades of war in the Middle East.

But, beyond the attacks, the candidates also projected a sense of unity, with Mr Sanders promising that the candidates will unite to take on Mr Trump in November no matter who is elected. And, they focused on Mr Trump, even on those issues of substance.

“When we come up against Donald Trump, the team that has been trying to take away health care for millions of people — what’s going to matter the most is we are the people on the side of those who need health care across the country,” Ms Warren said. “That’s who Democrats are.”

Andrew Yang, the billionaire who has described the crisis facing America as one of purpose, with millions facing the potential of lost jobs due to automation and a runaway tech industry, took issue with the focus that Mr Trump is the problem. The president is just the most prominent symptom of the issues facing America.

“Donald Trump is not the cause of our problems,” Mr Yang said, “and it is a mistake to pretend that he is.”

Mr Yang was joined by Tom Steyer as a relative outsider on the stage, with the Mr Steyer choosing to make improving race relations his raison d’etre for the evening (one that proved contentious among the candidates, who described the issue in varying terms from being an issue of criminal justice, to one of economic concerns).

“I am the person on this stage who will say openly, ‘I’m for reparations.’ Something wrong happened...and anyone who thinks racism is a thing of the past and not an ongoing problem is not dealing with reality,” Mr Steyer said.

The New Hampshire primary will be held on Tuesday evening. Mr Sanders leads in aggregates of polls in the state at 26.3 per cent, followed by Mr Buttigieg at 21.8 per cent, Ms Warren at 13.3 per cent and Ms Klobuchar at 8 per cent.