Democratic White House hopefuls rounded on leftist frontrunner Bernie Sanders at a feisty debate on Tuesday, attacking him as too extreme for American voters and a flawed challenger to President Donald Trump .
Joe Biden, who needs a victory in South Carolina’s crucial primary on Saturday to keep his campaign alive, hit Mr. Sanders as soft on gun control, while billionaire tycoon Michael Bloomberg claimed Russia was working to help Mr. Sanders win the nomination.
And Mr. Sanders’ rivals joined in savaging the self-described democratic socialist as too radical to appeal to a broad swathe of Americans. Fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren and centrists Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar laid into his ability to deliver on costly programmes such as universal health care and tuition-free college.
Mr. Buttigieg warned a fight between Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump would spell “chaos” and divide the nation. “I tell you what it adds up to,” Mr. Buttigieg said, “it ends up as four more years of Trump.”
The 78-year-old hit back at the charge his policies were too “radical,” insisting such ideas “exist in countries all over the world,” including the notion that health care is a human right.
