7 Moments That Mattered at the Democratic Presidential Debate in Miami
Clinton and Sanders faced off in Miami, Florida.
MIAMI -- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders went head-to-head in Miami in a bilingual debate Wednesday night hosted by Univision and the Washington Post.
The contentious debate focused heavily on immigration, and both candidates came armed with plenty of prepared lines about their opponents past record on the issue.
Florida votes next Tuesday and winning over Hispanic voters here could make all the difference. The two candidates knew it and came ready to rumble.
Here are seven moments that mattered at the debate:
1. Email Exasperation
Clinton got seriously fed up with questions about her "damn" emails tonight.
Moderator Jorge Ramos asked the Democratic front-runner —- twice -— whether she would drop out of the race if she is indicted for sending classified information over her personal email account while she was Secretary of State.
But Clinton wouldn’t have it. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, throwing up her hands. “That’s not even going to happen. I’m not even answering that question.”
Earlier, Clinton gave a canned response when asked who gave her permission to use her private email. "I'm gonna give the same answer I've been giving for many months,” she said. “It wasn't the best choice. I made a mistake. It was not prohibited. It was not in any way disallowed.”
The questioning came the same morning the GOP announced they are suing the State Department for access to more of Clinton’s records and those of her top aides.
2. Changing positions? Or “Hispandering?”
The debate audience may have learned a new word Wednesday night, as moderator Maria Elena Salinas asked each candidate whether their immigration policies were a form of pandering to Latinos, or “Hispandering.”
In a 2003 radio interview, Clinton castigated employers of illegal immigrants; in 2007, Sanders voted against an immigration reform bill over guest workers that “drive wages down.”
Each candidate, though, pivoted to moments when they stood up for immigrants -- and times their opponent hadn’t.
“I said ‘Welcome those children into this country,’” Sanders said of the Central American migrant crisis. “Secretary Clinton said ‘Send them back.’ Big difference.”
Clinton fired back, accusing Sanders of standing “with vigilantes known as Minutemen who were taking up outposts along the border to hunt down immigrants.”
Sanders claimed Clinton was picking and choosing pieces of a larger bill he supported.
“Madam Secretary, I will match my record against yours any day of the week,” he declared.
There were moments of agreement, too. Under prodding from Ramos, each candidate also offered a solemn vow not to deport undocumented children already living in the United States.
3. Both Candidates Won’t Say If Trump Is Racist
Neither Democratic candidate would give a "yes" or "no" answer when asked “Is Donald Trump racist?” But the two didn’t hold back on attacking the Republican frontrunner, making their feelings towards him very clear.
Calling Trump un-American, Clinton said it’s up to the voters to draw their own conclusions about Trump's inflammatory rhetoric.
“I was the first one to call him out,” Clinton said. I called him out when he was calling Mexican rapists, when he was engaging in rhetoric that I found deeply offensive. I said basta!”
And Sanders called him unelectable.
“I think that the American people are never going to elect a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims, who insults women, who insults African-Americans,” Sanders said.
4. Clinton Mocks Trump’s “Beautiful” Wall
Clinton acknowledged that she has voted for increased border security, including building a wall, but she was quick to argue that the wall she backs would be nothing like Donald Trump’s proposed barrier. She went on to mock the businessman.
“I understand him, he's talking about a very tall wall, right, a beautiful tall wall, the most beautiful tall wall, better than the Great Wall of China,” she said taking a teasing tone as she imitated the Republicans frontrunner. “He would somehow magically get the Mexican government to pay for, and, you know, it's just fantasy.”
By comparison, she insisted that she supported “a pedestrian fence in some place, a vehicle fence in other places.”
5. Clinton Gets Self-Reflective
In between the questions about her emails and exchanges with Sanders on immigration, Clinton opened up when asked about an issue that has dogged her for more than 30 years: Her honest and trustworthiness.
"Look, I have said before and it won’t surprise anybody to hear me say it, this is not easy for me,” Clinton explained in response to a question about a new Washington Post poll released yesterday that found that only 37 percent of Americans consider her honest.
"It's not easy to do what I think is right to help people, to even the odds, to hear a story like the woman's story we just heard and to know that I can make a difference and I want to in every way possible,” she added, referring to a Guatemalan-immigrant whose husband was deported three years ago. The woman questioned about Clinton about immigration during the debate.
Clinton then continued with this moment of self-reflection: "I am not a natural politician, in case you haven't noticed,” she said, “Like my husband or President Obama.”
6. Woah look at that youngster!
Fewer wrinkles, big glasses and a little more of that hallmark hair, Univision dug into the archives and played some retro footage of Sanders from the early 1980s talking about Fidel Castro.
“Everyone was totally convinced Castro was the worst guy in the world. They forgot that he educated their kids, gave them health care and totally transformed their society,” a younger Sanders said in the clip.
Sanders responded trying to put the clip in context, saying he was arguing against the United States history overturning Latin American governments.
“I think the United States should be working with governments around the world, not get involved in regime change. And all of these actions, by the way, in Latin America, brought forth a lot of very strong anti-American sentiments. That's what that was about,” he said.
7. The most confusing suit in political history
Was it brown? Or blue? The online argument over Bernie Sanders’ suit was perhaps as fiery as the debate itself.
But in a different light, the suit appeared blue.
The internet did what it does, instantly turning “the suit” into a politically-tinged version of “the dress” -- black, blue, walnut, hickory and even coffee.
The Sanders campaign, meanwhile, definitively told ABC News the suit was blue -- not that that settled anything.
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