Clinton focuses on Republicans during Democratic debate

Hillary Clinton largely looked past her Democratic rivals in Saturday night's debate, instead repeatedly assailing the Republican field, led by Donald Trump. She called Trump a threat to the nation's safety, saying he was fast "becoming Isis' best recruiter."

Deflecting persistent attacks from Senator Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley of Maryland over gun control, Wall Street and foreign military entanglements, she accused Trump of undermining the fight against terrorism.

Mrs Clinton, the former secretary of state, sought to frame next year's election as a choice between her clear-eyed approach to national security and what she suggested was the recklessness of Republicans who have demonised Muslims since the recent attacks on Paris and San Bernardino, California.

"I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States, and literally around the world, that there is a clash of civilisations," she said, "that there is some kind of Western plot or even war against Islam, which then I believe fans the flames of radicalisation."

Mrs Clinton defended herself forcefully when she came under assault from Mr Sanders and Mr O’Malley. But from her opening statement, she took every opportunity to ignore her adversaries on stage and go after what she suggested was the true opposition.

Her above-the-fray posture in the debate, held at St Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire, signaled Mrs Clinton's confidence, just weeks before the first votes in Iowa, that neither of her Democratic rivals would prove a significant obstacle on her march to the nomination.

“Bringing Donald Trump back into it,” she said at one point, “you don’t want to alienate the very countries and people you need to be part of the coalition” ? referring to the Muslim nations that would be sought as military allies in fighting the Islamic State, also known as Isis or Isil.

Mr Sanders and Mr O’Malley both did their best to anger Mrs Clinton.

Mr O'Malley claimed she changed her views on guns "every election year," and Mr Sanders reminded viewers of her 2002 vote to authorise the use of force in Iraq. "Our differences are fairly deep on this issue; we disagreed on the war in Iraq," Mr Sanders said, accusing Mrs Clinton of being overly hawkish in embroiling the United States in overseas conflicts.

“Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be.”

Mrs Clinton criticised Mr Sanders for his previous opposition to bills backed by supporters of gun control, but she was at her fiercest after he challenged her over national security. "With all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya, " she said, before mentioning former Libyan dictator Mummar Gadafy. "You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadafy, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution."

Both her rivals argued that the United States needed to fight the Islamic State, but not necessarily to depose President Bashar Assad of Syria. "It is not Assad who is attacking the United States," Sanders said. O'Malley agreed. "We shouldn't be the ones declaring Assad must go," he said. "We have a role to play, but it is not the role of traveling the world looking for new monsters to destroy." Clinton all but accused her rivals of naivet?. "I think it's fair to say Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians," she said, adding that she had wanted to arm the moderate Syrian opposition years ago to avoid the creation of a dangerous power vacuum. "I wish it could be either-or," she said.

Mr O’Malley, who has been lagging badly behind his rivals, proved an irritant to Mr Sanders and Mrs Clinton. He faulted them both for being insufficiently courageous on gun control and made a point of noting his relative youth next to Sanders, (74), and Clinton, (68).

"May I offer a different generation's perspective on this?" Mr O'Malley (52) interjected at one point. Later, in an exchange about assault weapons, he said, "Isil training videos are telling lone wolves the easiest way to buy a combat assault weapon in America is at a gun show, and it's because of the flip-flopping political approach of Washington that both of my two colleagues on the stage have represented there for the last 40 years."

Mrs Clinton has spent much of this year repositioning herself to appeal to her party’s progressive base, but she bypassed the best chance she had Saturday to embrace the sort of populism that is Mr Sanders’ calling card. When she was asked, “Should corporate America love Hillary Clinton?” - a reference to a magazine article during her 2008 presidential campaign - she spread her arms. “Everybody should,” she said, grinning. “I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful.” She spoke at length about wanting to strengthen the economy and offered praise for responsible employers, noting that her father had been a small-business man.

Mr Sanders, finally stepping in after Mrs Clinton was finished, was blunt about his views but only glancingly criticised her ties to corporate interests. “They ain’t going to like me,” Mr Sanders said of the business community. “And Wall Street is going to like me even less.”

Mr O’Malley did criticise CMrs linton for her Wall Street connections, recalling that at the Democratic debate last month in Iowa, she defended her fundraising from the financial industry by suggesting those donors supported her efforts to rebuild Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Mrs Clinton said again on Saturday that donations from Wall Street made up a small percentage of her contributions, then turned the question around by noting that O’Malley had gladly raised money from Wall Street as head of the Democratic Governors Association.

There were a few such tense moments, but the disputes were tamer than those that have become routine on the Republican debate stage, and were entirely on policy grounds.

Mrs Clinton criticised Mr Sanders for proposing expensive government programs without providing details of how to fund them. She estimated his proposals to make health care and college free would require a 40 per cent increase in federal spending or $18 trillion to $20 trillion. “I think we’ve got to be really thoughtful about how we’re going to afford what we propose,” she said. “Which is why everything I propose I explain exactly how I’m going to pay for it.”

Mr Sanders said his plans would help middle and working-class families and likened his proposals to Social Security and the New Deal. Pressed repeatedly on how he would pay for them, Mr Sanders cracked a wry smile and said, “Now, this is getting to be fun.”

Mr Sanders said his plans would require an increase in taxes but would ultimately save working Americans money. He said a three-month family leave for working families would amount to only $1.61 a week in higher taxes. Mr O’Malley also would not rule out raising taxes.

Mrs Clinton, casting an eye toward tax-averse general election voters, pledged not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. At another point, Mr Sanders attacked Mrs Clinton's ties to Wall Street. But he also pointed to the policies of the presidential administration of her husband, Bill Clinton, including the dismantling of part of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, leading to the commingling of commercial and investment banks. "I led the effort," Mr Sanders said, "against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton - maybe you know him, maybe you don't."

But Mrs Clinton scarcely wanted to engage her rivals, except when sharply attacked, and the three Democrats found much to agree on. Mr Sanders and Mrs Clinton both, for example, proposed building a coalition of Muslim countries to help fight the Islamic State.

"Tell Yemen, go to war against Isis," Sanders said. "I would tell Qatar, instead of paying $200 billion on the World Cup, spend it on fighting Isis, which is at your doorstep." There were even moments when undiluted comity broke out. Asked whether it was time for the role of the presidential spouse to be redefined, Mrs Clinton said her husband would not, as first gentleman, pick out the china or flowers for state dinners but would offer advice on policy issues, particularly "how we're going to get the economy working for everybody, which he knows a little bit about."

Mr Sanders used the question to heap praise on Hillary Clinton, saying she “not only did an outstanding job as our first lady but redefined what that role could be.”

At the outset, Mr Sanders was asked about the revelation that at least one of his aides had gained access to and copied information about Mrs Clinton’s supporters from the Democratic Party’s voter database. But neither he nor Mrs Clinton showed any appetite to relitigate it.

Asked by the ABC News moderators whether Mrs Clinton, who looked on icily as Mr Sanders explained the data breach, deserved an apology, Mr Sanders said, “Yes, I apologise.” “I very much appreciate that comment Bernie,” Mrs Clinton said. “It really is important that we go forward on this.”

The breach prompted the Democratic National Committee to bar Sanders' campaign temporarily from the party's voter file. Mr Sanders called for an independent investigation of the breach and noted that one campaign worker had already been fired and that he would fire any other aide found to have acted improperly. (After the debate, his spokesman, Michael Briggs, said two other aides had been suspended in connection with the breach.)

But Mr Sanders said his aides might not have been the only ones viewing information they should not have seen. “I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign,” he added.

Yet even the unsubstantiated suggestion of impropriety by Mrs Clinton’s campaign was not enough to lure her into a back-and-forth on the subject. As in the first two debates, Mrs Clinton was the focal point throughout - even when she was not actually on stage. As the moderators resumed after a long commercial break, both her opponents returned to their places to answer questions about the economy, but Mrs Clinton’s podium stood empty.

"Sorry," she said with a grin as she returned. Both Mr Sanders and Mr O'Malley used their closing statements to compare the Democratic trio favorably with the Republican field. "I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right-wing extremists," Mr Sanders said. But Mrs Clinton, emerging from another debate unscathed, seemed to acknowledge that much of the American public was probably more absorbed, on the Saturday night before Christmas, by the return of the Star Wars franchise. "Thank you, good night, and may the force be with you," she said, beaming.

NYT