Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Sanders Campaign Doubles Down On Last-Minute Barrage Of Negative Attacks

Yesterday, the Sanders campaign showed again how they're determined to end their Iowa campaign: making negative attacks. After denying a story claiming they were debating attack ads, they acknowledged later in the day they were still openly considering running ads based on personal attacks on Hillary Clinton.

"This last-minute sneak attack from the Sanders campaign is clearly meant to plaster the Iowa airwaves in the days before the caucus with negative ads slamming Hillary Clinton, without giving our campaign time to respond. It's a cynical political ploy in a primary that had until recently been characterized by a respectful back-and-forth about the issues, and it's not one that's going to go over well with Iowans. Since the very beginning of this campaign, Hillary Clinton has been listening to Iowans about the issues they care the most about, and proving that she's the fighter that will stand up for them and bring real change to people's lives. That's what motivates Iowa voters – not cheap political attacks," said Hillary for America Iowa State Director Matt Paul.

Yesterday morning, the Sanders campaign confirmed to the New York Times that they were considering running negative attack ads against Hillary Clinton, despite months of promising they wouldn't:

• New York Times, 1/27/16: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and his top advisers returned to Iowa on Wednesday evening having confronted a decision that will have lasting consequences for his presidential campaign and his political image: whether to open a new, tougher line of advertising against his rival Hillary Clinton in the closing days of the race for Iowa."

Then, Sanders' campaign manager denied that there was a meeting about airing a negative ad, saying they would not change the tone of their campaign: 

• CNN's Dan Merica: "Sanders campaign manager says their campaign is not meeting tdy re: airing a negative ad: 'Our tone is right on & doesn't need adjusting.'"

• CNN: "Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager, refutes the Times report, saying that their campaign is happy with the tone of their campaign and have no plans to air a negative ad."

But later in the same day, the New York Times story was updated with further information about their deliberations on running a negative ad:

• New York Times, 1/27/16: "That night, at the end of a rally here, the campaign's spokesman, Michael Briggs, said the advisers had not made a decision. Mr. Devine declined to describe the advertising in detail, other than to say that the tougher ad would give 'new information more in the wheelhouse of the kind of Wall Street argument.'"

And the Wall Street Journal further elaborated on the negative ads they were planning to run:

• Wall Street Journal, 1/27/16: "But the ads could include new spots drawing attention to the speaking fees Mrs. Clinton has received from Wall Street banks, he said...What the campaign is considering are 30-second spots that would reinforce an argument Mr. Sanders has already made on the trail: 'Cash coming from Wall Street to the politicians is causing them to not be able to make decisions that are for the good of the people,' Mr. Devine said. ... Though Mr. Sanders hasn't insulted Mrs. Clinton, he has compared her to a reviled figure in Democratic circles: former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney. He has also suggested Mrs. Clinton is in Wall Street's pocket because of six-figure speaking fees she has gotten from large banks."

This is all part of Sanders' increasingly negative campaign, which has devolved from the positive, policy-based campaign he promised into one marked by personal attacks against Hillary Clinton.

• Des Moines Register, 1/27/16: Bernie Sanders fires against Clinton

• Much, much more on that here