Democrats debate guns, health care as voting nears

With Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a near dead heat in the election season’s first two contests, the leading Democratic presidential candidates Sunday engaged in heated exchanges over firearm policy, health care and income equality in their last meeting before the Iowa caucuses.

The Charleston, S.C., debate, which also featured lower-polling candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, opened just hours after the first of five Americans freed following a dramatic prisoner swap with Iran stopped over in Europe on Sunday on their way back to the United States.

The five Americans, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who had been held since July 2014, were released in exchange for seven Iranian citizens who had been held on sanctions-related offenses. Clinton and Sanders both said they were encouraged by the developments, which came as Iran began dismantling its nuclear program.

"We have had one good day over 36 years,'' Clinton said of the U.S.'s long-troubled relationship with Iran and the need to continue monitoring Tehran's nuclear compliance.

From the debate's opening moments, the candidates sought to stake out sharp differences with Clinton, emphasizing her long experience in government as preparation for the presidency, while Sanders began defending his reversal on legislation that provided gun makers and dealers immunity from lawsuits filed by victims of violent crime involving firearms.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

"I am pleased to hear that Sen. Sanders has reversed his position on immunity,'' Clinton said, adding that "no other industry'' had been provided such protection.

Clinton 'pleased' that Sanders 'reversed' position on gun issue

Martin O'Malley wants 'just 10 seconds'

O'Malley, meanwhile, highlighted his own record of supporting some of the strictest gun legislation in the country during his tenure as Maryland governor. Through much of the debate, however, O'Malley was a forgotten candidate who was often forced to plead for more time to talk as the debate focused on Clinton and Sanders.

The quick attention to guns came as the candidates gathered in Charleston, where just seven months earlier nine worshipers were killed in an attack on a Bible study session at the iconic Emanuel AME Church.

From guns, the candidates quickly pivoted to criminal justice reform, police brutality and the scourge of heroin addiction and health care policy.

Clinton was sharply critical of Sanders' Medicare-style health care plan, saying that such a proposal would thrust the government back into yet another contentious fight that could endanger the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's signature health care law.

The former secretary of State described the Obama program as "historic'' and in need of expansion along with stronger political support.

Just two hours before the debate's start, Sanders unveiled the long-awaited details of his plan that would be supported by a mix of taxes on employers, middle-class workers and wealthiest Americans.

Responding to Clinton's criticism, Sanders said his proposal would lower health care costs for average Americans by $5,000.

"To tear it up,'' Clinton said of Obamacare, "is the absolute wrong direction.''

Analysis: Clinton, Sanders get personal as Democratic race tightens

Fourth Democratic debate: Highlights from South Carolina

Sanders found an ally in O'Malley when the discussion turned to proposals to strengthen enforcement on Wall Street financial institutions, suggesting that Clinton had been compromised by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from New York's Goldman Sachs.

"I have put forward a plan that would put cops back on the beat on Wall Street,'' O'Malley said.

Clinton and Sanders have been turning up the rhetoric on guns, health care, taxes and other issues as polls showed the Vermont senator surging in Iowa and New Hampshire in the initial rounds of a campaign that Clinton had long appeared to have secured.

A new poll released earlier Sunday showed that Clinton was well ahead of Sanders among Democrats nationally. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll put the former secretary of State at 59%, while Sanders registered 34%. O’Malley had 2%.

On taxes, Clinton renewed her pledge not to raise taxes on middle-class Americans, while Sanders acknowledged that funding his health care plan would require some tax increases that he said would be offset by savings in actual health care costs.

The candidates appeared to find the most common ground, though, on difficult foreign policy challenges facing the country. All three said they would oppose the deployment of ground troops in Syria to confront the brutal Islamic State.

Clinton said the "political and diplomatic course'' offered the best path to success, while continuing to contest ISIL's strong online recruiting efforts across Europe and reaching into the United States.

To send troops into Syria, Sanders said, would fail to acknowledge the lessons offered by America's experience in Iraq, which the senator called a "unmitigated disaster.''

Clinton has increasingly sought to separate herself from Sanders, especially on gun policy, criticizing the senator for his past support of manufacturer and dealer immunity.

Sanders has said he opposed liability in the past because they may have made small retailers vulnerable to lawsuits over gun violence. He now says he will support a plan to hold large gun manufacturers liable and will look at other ways to close loopholes on the sale of firearms at gun shows and other venues. Clinton has vowed to prohibit the sale of firearms at licensed dealers until the FBI can complete background checks. Current law allows dealers to proceed with sales even if background checks are not completed within three days.

The Vermont senator seemed to draw a harsher line between the former secretary of State more than a week ago when he criticized former president Bill Clinton's behavior in the White House for an affair with an intern.

But Sunday, Sanders said he was bothered by the line of questioning. While he found the former president's conduct "deplorable,'' Sanders said he would not make it an issue in the current campaign.