Sanders Talks Sex and 5 Other Moments that Mattered at FUSION's Democratic Forum
Though they were not onstage together, all three candidates, traded blows.
— -- All three Democratic presidential candidates were in Iowa Monday night for a forum and the talk heated up the snowy Midwest.
The annual Black and Brown Forum, hosted by Fusion, a joint venture between ABC News and Univision, touched on issues ranging from the Obama administration's deportation policy to sexuality in America and the White House as "public housing."
Here are five moments that mattered:
1. SANDERS TALKS SEX:
In one of the more eye-brow-raising moments of the night, Bernie Sanders dove head-on into a question about sexual education and called for a "national conversation about sexuality."
"I’m a United States Senator who believes in Science and who believes in facts...I think when we have too much unwanted pregnancy," he said. "I think that obviously women have the right to get the contraceptives that they need. When sexuality is in intrinsic part of human life we should not run away from it, we should explain biology and sexuality to our kids on a factual basis period."
2. CANDIDATES DISAGREE WITH OBAMA'S USE OF IMMIGRATION RAIDS AND DEPORTATION:
The Obama administration came under fire for its large-scale effort led by the Department of Homeland security to deport families hailing from Central America who have fled due to violence.
Hillary Clinton joined her primary opponents for the first time tonight speaking out against raids specifically. "I have come out against the raids. I do not think the raids are an appropriate tool to enforce the immigration laws," she said.
Sanders and Martin O'Malley have spoken out against the raids since December and O'Malley passionately reiterated his stance tonight, calling raids them "un-American."
3. O'MALLEY ON DIVERSITY IN HIS CAMPAIGN:
Martin O'Malley was asked about the lack of diversity in his campaign staff during the forum, which focuses on minority issues.
"We have a lot of diversity in our staff,” he said, before naming individuals people on his staff.
The governor, who has struggled to make headway in the polls, argued he has the smallest campaign anyway.
"In the early states here in Iowa and New Hampshire those are the only places I have staff...In these early states probably the majority of the field staff are white, but I can tell you that the leadership of my campaign and every cabinet I have put together I have had a great deal of diversity and I have made judicial appointments that were historic," he said.
4. CLINTON'S FAVORITE "FAKE RUMOR" ABOUT HER:
Too many funny memes to count? Clinton said her favorite "fake rumor" over the years was published while President Bill Clinton was in the White House -- and it was about alien lifeforms.
"The headline was ‘Hillary's Secret Alien Baby,' and the little alien was right there and it was really quite cute it was sort of ET-ish," she joked.
5. SANDERS VIEWS THE WHITE HOUSE AS "PUBLIC HOUSING":
During a rapid-fire question round, Sanders was asked if it would be "off-brand" for a Democratic Socialist to live "in a mansion like the White House?" The Vermont Senator, who lives modestly on the campaign trail and jokes about how few suits he owns, outwitted the questioner, drawing laughs as he retorted: “I would think of it more like public housing."
6. CLINTON SAYS "ANYBODY CAN WIN":
With new polls showing them neck-and-neck in Iowa, Clinton and Sanders both agreed the race was up in the air. "Anyone can win!" Clinton said. "Who would have thought Donald Trump would be leading in national polls? I mean for those who ever thought about running for president, take heart."
Sanders took a similar view.
"It could be that the inevitable candidate for the democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today," he said.
