Clinton, Sanders in fierce debate for NY

New York

They challenged each other’s judgment and experience in a fiercely combative US presidential debate ahead of Tuesday’s crucial nominating contest in New York. Clinton and Sanders attacked each other over Wall Street, gun control and other issues on Thursday in a series of exchanges that laid bare the mounting pressures on them both but seemed unlikely to change the dynamics of the race. While falling far short of the brawls that have characterized Republican debates, the tone reflected a contentious turn in the Democratic contest. Clinton and Sanders out-shouted each other while a split crowd roared its approval.  “If you’re both screaming at each other, the viewers won’t be able to hear either of you,” moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN warned during the debate at the historic Navy Yard in the New York borough of Brooklyn.

As the two-hour debate ended, social media analyst Brandwatch said Sanders had more than 173,000 mentions on Twitter, 55 percent of them positive, while Clinton had more than 191,000 mentions, 54 percent of them negative.  

At a Manhattan hotel across the East River, Republican front-runner Donald Trump, 69, spoke at a party fundraiser while his rivals voiced fears of a disaster in the Nov. 8 presidential election unless they got the nomination. Cruz, 45, pointed to opinion polls showing the New York billionaire losing badly to Clinton and getting far less support from women and minority voters. Trump needs a win to further his drive toward the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination, and avoid a contested July convention that could sow Republican chaos.