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IPFS News Link • Politics: Democratic Campaigns

Socialism debate roils Democratic primary

• http://thehill.com By Jonathan Easley

Three low-polling contenders — former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.) and former Rep. John Delaney (Md.) — are unloading on socialism or taking shots at "Medicare for All" and the Green New Deal, which have gone mainstream in the Democratic Party since being embraced by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.).

Hickenlooper and Delaney made waves with their warnings about socialism and Medicare for All at the California Democratic Party convention over the weekend in San Francisco, where they were booed mercilessly by the liberal crowd.

Now they've become targets for the party's energized left wing, including Ocasio-Cortez, who encouraged Delaney to "sashay away" from the race after he said that Medicare for All would result in hospital bankruptcies and cost 150 million Americans access to health insurance.

But the centrists are doubling down and warning that a leftward lurch toward socialism could cost Democrats the White House in 2020.


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