In all of his campaigns, Sanders has vowed to never go negative, and he has followed that in the current presidential campaign. He even went so far as to pull an ad from the internet attacking Hillary Clinton for being funded by Wall Street fat cats. "You are looking at someone who has never run a negative TV ad in his life and never will," Sanders said.
In effect, that raises the bar for his opponents, and it also allows him to control the high ground if they go negative.
The Clinton campaign has resorted to attack ads, when necessary. Early in the 2016 campaign it dispatched Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill to endorse her very publicly while attacking Sanders as "extreme."
Since then peace has reigned between the competing Democratic hopefuls. But that could change once the voting begins in February, especially if Senator Sanders wins a few primaries, and the Clintonites see him as a serious threat. Backed into a corner, they might have the tendency to attack. Donald Trump can't help himself.
Mistake.
Harry Jaffe is the author of the first biography on Bernie Sanders, Why Bernie Sanders Matters.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
