What Went Down At The Fourth Democratic Debate

Q:I hear a lot of comparisons between Sanders and Obama vs. Clinton. What would the 538 models have said about Obama in Iowa and NH at this stage in that election? — commenter Benjamin Jones A:At this point in 2008, our “polls-plus” model would have had Clinton and Obama almost exactly tied in Iowa, with John Edwards not far behind. It would have had Clinton slightly ahead of Obama in New Hampshire.

It’s not clear how much of this is Martin O’Malley’s doing, but Maryland has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which seeks to pass more stringent gun laws. Maryland is one of six states to get an A-minus from the organization (no state gets a straight A). Clinton’s New York also gets an A-minus, while Sanders’s Vermont gets an F.

Obviously given the timing of this debate on MLK weekend, there was a lot of talk about Dr. King in the intro — Hillary Clinton brought up going to hear him speak, and it’s hard not to recall Bill Clinton’s appellation as “the first black president” right now. But Bernie Sanders’s politics probably line up closest of any of the candidates on the stage to King’s. He was, of course, best known for his work on trying to bring about equality between the races, but King was also a labor activist — he was killed in Memphis while speaking to striking sanitation workers, after all, and during his lifetime called for Americans to “move toward a democratic socialism.” Sound familiar?