Democratic debate was a slugfest, but had rural resonance

L-R: Bloomberg, Buttegeig, Warren, Sanders, Biden, Klobuchar, Steyer (Photo via Real Clear Politics)

Last night, seven top Democratic candidates took the stage for a debate ahead of South Carolina's Saturday primary and Super Tuesday, when 14 states will vote. The debate quickly turned into a slugfest; Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was a popular target, since he recently became the front-runner. Here are some of the highlights concerning issues with rural resonance:

Under pressure from former vice president Joe Biden, Sanders said his 1993 vote against the Brady Bill "was a bad vote," and notes that the National Rifle Association now gives his voting record a D-minus. "Sanders’ firearm votes in the past have reflected his constituency in rural Vermont," write Tim Marema and Adam Gorgio of The Daily Yonder, adding:

"Minnesota Sen, Amy Klobuchar said the way to get gun legislation passed is to work with moderate gun owners in parts of the nation where recreational gun use is more prevalent. 'I look at these [gun] proposals and say, do they hit my uncle Dick in the deer stand? They do not." Klobuchar said she wrote the part of the Violence Against Women Act that blocks unmarried domestic abusers from buying firearms (the "boyfriend loophole"), and is the only candidate who has carried Republican congressional districts while openly supporting an assault weapons ban.

"Biden was less conciliatory," the Yonder reports. "I want to tell you, if I’m elected, NRA, I’m coming for you, and gun manufacturers, I’m going to take you on and I’m going to beat you. I’m the only one who has done it," with the Brady Bill's assault-weapon ban and magazine-size restrictions, background checks and waiting periods, he said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said gun-safety legislation can't pass, even with a majority vote, as long as the Senate employs the filibuster, and said that if Republicans continue to use it against a Democratic majority, Democrats should change the rules and eliminate it.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said he had founded the nation's biggest organization to prevent gun violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, which has a volunteer wing called Moms Demand Action. Bloomberg provides about one-third of Everytown's annual budget. He said he supports background checks, and implied that MDA had led to background-check laws in 20 states.

Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said he believes that the kind of weapons he had access to as a soldier in the Middle East should not be sold "anywhere near an American school or church or neighbor."

Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer said the problem isn't so much that Americans need to be convinced that there's too much gun violence; the real problem is that corporate lobbyists have too much influence in the government. "The gun manufacturers own the Senate of the United States," he said. "So even though more than 90 percent of Americans want mandatory background checks on every gun purchase, we can't get it through the Senate."

On other issues, Klobuchar was asked about affordable housing and education for minimum wage workers. She said it's important to take care of the Section 8 housing backlog and create incentives to build and pay for affordable housing. She said it's a huge rural problem, and that businesses sometimes can't locate in rural areas because there isn't enough housing.

A moderator noted that rural areas have populations that are older, sicker, and poorer than non-rural communities on average, and asked Klobuchar how she would ensure health-care accessibility in rural areas. Klobuchar said there is no "one size fits all" solution, and said she is the lead Democrat on a bill that would expand funding for critical-access hospitals and other rural health-care providers. She suggested making associate's degrees for some health-care jobs free, since rural areas especially will need more home-health workers and more. She also endorsed loan-forgiveness programs and expanded immigrant visas for health-care workers who agree to work in rural America.

Sanders said he supports debt forgiveness for health-care workers in under-served areas, and said Medicare for All would help expand rural coverage because it would remove the profit incentive.

CBS, the Congressional Black Caucus and Twitter hosted the debate in Charleston.

This item may be updated.