Clinton’s rivals try to seize her spotlight

“It’s our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn’t run amok and doesn’t cause the kind of inequities we’re seeing in our economic system.

“But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in history.”

— Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

“It’s our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn’t run amok and doesn’t cause the kind of inequities we’re seeing in our economic system.

“But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in history.”

— Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server has shadowed her campaign through a difficult summer. But when it was invoked Tuesday at the first Democratic presidential debate, she got help from an unlikely source: her fiercest rival.

“Let me say something that may not be great politics,” said Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Clinton, whose use of the server while secretary of state is under attack by Republicans. “I think the secretary is right. The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”

It was the standout moment in a debate that largely revolved around Clinton, the front-runner for her party’s nomination, as she carefully worked to avoid any missteps that could give her challengers an opening.

No, it was not the rollicking affair that helped the first two Republican debates shatter ratings records for their cable news hosts. (There was no Democratic version of Donald Trump, after all.) But it offered sharp contrasts — and a few gripping moments — that could define the Democratic campaign ahead.

Lincoln Chafee highlighted his scandal-free tenure in office. Jim Webb said he wouldn’t be “co-opted” by the Washington establishment. And Martin O’Malley positioned himself as the heir apparent to President Barack Obama’s legacy.

But they struggled to escape the shadows of Clinton and Sanders, who clashed with one another over Clinton’s reversals on several high-profile issues and Sanders’ disdain for capitalism.

Clinton took the offensive from the start with a two-pronged strategy: one that challenged Sanders, who is so far her biggest threat to the Democratic nomination; the other aimed at pacifying Vice President Joe Biden, who wasn’t there but may yet enter the race.

“This is about bringing our country together again, and I will do everything I can to heal the divides,” Clinton said, invoking the potential of a historic first. “And yes, finally, fathers will be able to say to their daughters, ‘You, too, can grow up to be president.’ ”

Sanders proved to be a sharp-elbowed debater, pushing the same tenets of his left-leaning agenda that helped his insurgent campaign attract raucous crowds and rising poll numbers that could threaten Clinton in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

“Democrats will win when there’s a large turnout and a lot of excitement,” he said, claiming to be the only candidate who can inspire the party’s base.

And some biting rhetoric came from the lesser-known contenders who so far hardly register in the national polls.

Looming over the debate was the specter of Biden, who has hinted for more than two months that he may enter the race as a champion for President Barack Obama’s policies.

He wasn’t at the debate Tuesday — though CNN had a lectern at the ready for him — but his supporters searched for clues Tuesday night that Clinton may be vulnerable to a late challenge.

Flip-flops or evolution?

Clinton, who has faced sagging poll numbers this summer, almost immediately was pressed to explain reversals on key policy fights, including her October 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq and her opposition to the White House's major Pacific trade agreement that she once supported.

“Will you say anything to get elected?” CNN moderator Anderson Cooper asked Clinton.

“Like most people, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience,” she said. “And I don’t take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment.”

She then took the offensive against Sanders on his support for a 2005 law that shields firearms makers from some lawsuits filed by shooting victims. He called it a “large and complicated bill” with some merit.

But Clinton, when asked whether she thought Sanders was tough enough on gun control, answered flatly: “No, I do not.”

Pointing out that she voted against the law as a senator, Clinton added, “It wasn’t that complicated to me.”

The two clashed again over the notion that Sanders couldn’t win the general election because he calls himself a democratic socialist and, as Anderson noted, he honeymooned in the Soviet Union.

When asked whether he described himself as a capitalist, Sanders decried the “casino capitalist process by which so few have so much.”

Clinton, though, responded with a fierce defense of the economic principle. She said when she thinks of capitalism, she thinks of “all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that.”

It was the surprising answer from Sanders on the email controversy that was perhaps the debate’s biggest surprise. Republicans have put the server at the center of an inquest into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.

“It wasn’t the best choice,” Clinton said, repeating an earlier apology. “And I have been as transparent as I know to be.”

Sanders, leaning into the camera, quickly followed up with his approval.

“Enough of the emails,” he exclaimed. “Let’s talk about the real issues facing America.”

And the crowd erupted with the biggest applause of the night.