Elizabeth Warren spoke to reporters on Sunday about a report that Bernie Sanders had gone negative on Warren (as well as Buttigieg and Biden), distributing a script to volunteers painting her as an affluent, elitist candidate.
Said Warren: “I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me. Bernie knows me, and has known me for a long time, he knows who I am, where I come from, what I have worked on and fought for and the coalition and grassroots movement we’re trying to build. We all saw the impact of the factionalism in 2016 and we can’t have a repeat of that. Democrats need to reunite our party and that means pulling in all parts of the Democratic coalition. It means building a grassroots movement. … I hope Bernie reconsiders and turns his campaign in a different direction.”
Politico reports: ‘The script instructs Sanders volunteers to tell voters leaning toward the Massachusetts senator that the ‘people who support her are highly-educated, more affluent people who are going to show up and vote Democratic no matter what’ and that ‘she’s bringing no new bases into the Democratic Party.’ … The document also instructs to tell voters who are favorable toward Pete Buttigieg that he lacks support among African Americans and young people and to tell voters sympathetic to former Vice President Joe Biden that ‘he doesn’t really have any volunteers’ and that ‘no one is really excited about him.’ All of the attacks relate to the electability of Sanders’ top rivals.”
Sanders denied he’s trashing Warren in an exchange with reporters and denied responsibility for the script: “I got to tell you, I think this is a little bit of a media blowup, that kind of wants conflict. Elizabeth Warren is a very good friend of mine. We have worked together in the Senate for years. Elizabeth Warren and I will continue to work together, we will debate the issues. No one is going to trash Elizabeth Warren.”
In the latest Iowa poll, Sanders leads the field of Democratic candidates, three weeks before the caucuses.
The Des Moines Register reports: “A new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 20% of likely Democratic caucusgoers name Sanders as their first choice for president. After a surge of enthusiasm that pushed Pete Buttigieg to the top of the field in November, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor has faded, falling 9 percentage points to land behind both Sanders and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Warren is at 17%; Buttigieg, 16%; and former Vice President Joe Biden, 15%.”
