Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Democrats Clinton, Sanders Debate Over Progressive Credentials by VOA News U.S. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took issue with each other over their political leanings during a televised "town hall" forum in New Hampshire Wednesday night. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist from the neighboring state of Vermont, questioned the former secretary of state's liberal, or progressive, credentials over such issues as regulating Wall Street, campaign finance reform, and her vote authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq when she was a U.S. senator representing New York state. "I do not know any progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street," Sanders told the audience at the CNN-hosted event, following up on a day filled with back-and-forth sparring between the two campaigns on Twitter over who best represents the progressive wing of the party. Progressive standards Clinton said her opponent has "set himself up to be the gatekeeper on who is a progressive," and that under his standards, neither President Barack Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden fall under that category. ''She defended her record of fighting for such causes as health care Wednesday's forum came two days after Clinton scored a razor-thin victory over Sanders in the Iowa caucus, the first nominating state in the 2016 presidential race. But Sanders holds a huge lead in polls over Clinton heading into New Hampshire's primary vote on February 9, fueled in large part by young voters inspired by his message of ending income inequality and corporate influence over politics. Sanders won 84 percent of the vote among Democrats under the age of 30 in Monday's Iowa caucus. While acknowledging her failure to connect with young Democratic voters so far, Clinton said, "They don't have to be for me, I will be for them." The candidates appeared separately at Wednesday but will take part in another face-to-face debate Thursday. Trump attacks On the Republican side, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump accused Texas Senator Ted Cruz of using underhanded tactics to win the Monday's vote in Iowa. Trump, who finished second in Iowa, wrote a Twitter message alleging that Cruz, a conservative firebrand, "didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!" ''The 69-year-old Trump, who was competing in his first election, also attacked Cruz for putting out a statement, which Cruz later retracted and apologized for, suggesting that another candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, was leaving the race and that his supporters should instead vote for Cruz. Trump also accused Cruz of lying about Trump's policies and of sending some Iowa voters a mailing designed to look like an official document that accused them of a "voter violation." The mailers gave the recipients a failing grade for not voting in past elections and said they could rectify it by voting for Cruz in Monday's caucuses. Trump called for either a new election in Iowa or nullifying Cruz's win. Neither is likely to happen and Cruz's campaign treated Trump's broadside with amusement. 'Reality just hit' "Reality just hit the reality star -- he lost Iowa and now nobody is talking about him, so he's popping off on Twitter," a Cruz spokesman said. "There are support groups for Twitter addiction. Perhaps he should find his local chapter." While the small state of New Hampshire is rural, like much of Iowa, analysts say its Republican electorate is much less religious than the group of voters that helped give Cruz a 28-to-24 percent margin over Trump in Iowa. Another conservative, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, finished a close third with 23 percent in Iowa and is looking to move higher in the New Hampshire voting. Rubio said he would seek to win over voters who supported Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who dropped out of the race Wednesday. ''Pre-election voter surveys in New Hampshire show Trump with a commanding lead over his Republican challengers, but the polling was conducted before the Iowa vote debunked any thought that Trump would sweep to the nomination with wins in state-after-state party elections. Other candidates Several Republican candidates, all calling themselves conservatives but minus some of the harsher rhetoric employed by Cruz, are looking to New Hampshire to revive their campaigns after poor showings in the farm state of Iowa. Ohio Governor John Kasich, endorsed by The New York Times for the Republican nomination, has campaigned for weeks in New Hampshire and has pulled to second place behind Trump in some voter surveys in the state. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he intends to campaign hard in the state in the coming days, and he leveled new attacks on Trump and Rubio as unqualified to be president. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the son and brother of U.S. presidents, has made numerous political stops in New Hampshire and is looking to breathe new life into his well-funded, but stumbling, campaign. He is bringing his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, now 90 years old, to New Hampshire to campaign for him. Republicans are set to hold a debate on Saturday. __________________________________________________________________ [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate -over-progressive-credentials/3176247.html References 1. http://www.voanews.com/content/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-over-progressive-credentials/3176247.html