MANCHESTER, New Hampshire—Hillary Clinton has been here before, watching a political rival generate youthful enthusiasm with lofty proposals she believes are going unchallenged.
So on Thursday, she took matters into her own hands.
In the first head-to-head debate between Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the former secretary of state tried to systematically undermine the Vermont senator’s plans for a government-run health care system, his call for free college tuition and his foreign policy judgment. And she upbraided Sanders for his “artful smear” of the high-dollar speaking fees she received from Wall Street banks and the implication she’s beholden to the financial firms as a result.
“I really don’t think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you,” Clinton said to Sanders. “If you have something to say, say it directly.”
