Sanders-Warren row highlights lib divide: purity v. pragmatism

The current rupture between Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over who called whom a liar is exposing genuine anger between two candidates who often present themselves as friends and allies. But it has also laid bare the central fight among liberals: Is the Trump era of scorched-earth politics a moment for purity or pragmatism?

Sanders, I-Vt., has risen in the presidential field by pushing a revolutionary agenda with little regard for cost or compromise, while Warren, D-Mass., has won a following as a liberal who is ambitious but practical. On Thursday, as an array of left-leaning groups urged a truce, some acknowledged the difficulty of bridging the gap between two figures who despite their shared status as liberal icons have sharply different personalities and approaches.

That split could play into opponents' hands, some liberals fear.

"We should be finding a path forward through solidarity," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants. "I think also that we have to have some perspective that this is the Democratic primary, and both of these people are running because they believe that they would best serve the American public as president United States."

She added: "I think it's absurd to think that they wouldn't come together and find common ground. Is it going to happen before Iowa? Maybe not."

The two have not spoken since Tuesday evening, Sanders said Thursday afternoon, and his campaign officials said the campaign sent emails to surrogates this week encouraging them not to escalate the conflict with Warren. But their differences are increasingly on display as the candidates make their closing arguments in the final days before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, and the choice facing the newly energized liberal camp comes to a head. Their rift is colliding with a long-held ambition by liberal activists to unite around a candidate and prevent a more moderate Democrat from winning the nomination.

Warren, who describes her philosophy as capitalism with tougher rules, has produced a slew of detailed policy plans, some with multiple pages listing funding mechanisms and other specifics. Sanders, by contrast, calls himself a democratic socialist and says billionaires shouldn't exist; he speaks in broad-brush terms and has shown less interest in justifying his ideas by explaining precisely how they would be enacted or detailing how they would be paid for.

The two also show very different personal styles. Sanders recently revealed to the New York Times editorial board that he avoids calling people on their birthdays, which he sees as distasteful pandering that distracts from the issues. Warren uses nearly any excuse to contact numerous acquaintances, calling people when they get a new job just to wish them luck.

But if the Sanders-Warren conflict has been a long time coming, the catalyst was abrupt and unexpected. In recent days, Warren has said that during a private 2018 dinner at her condo, as the two discussed the 2020 presidential race, Sanders told her he did not think a woman could beat President Donald Trump. Sanders forcefully denies saying that.

The dispute erupted further on Tuesday, as both stuck to their accounts during the Democratic debate. After the event, Warren approached Sanders, and as he reached out his hand she refused to shake it, saying, "I think you called me a liar on national TV."

Sanders, who seemed taken aback, replied: "You know, let's not do it right now. If you want to have that discussion, I'll have that discussion."

Warren replied, "Any time." Sanders said, "You called me a liar. You told me - all right, let's not do it now."

Until several years ago, neither senator seemed a likely powerhouse in the Democratic Party, but as the Trump era drives a surge in liberal activism, Sanders has found an audience for ideas he has championed for decades, and Warren's brand of academic populism has garnered a newfound appeal.

But the Democratic primary is making it clear that they can't both be the liberal standard-bearer. Their supporters are battling over the best way to defeat Trump's brand of unconstrained, no-holds-barred politics - whether to respond with a countervailing purity and passion, or to seek allies and trim ambitions, if minimally, in the interest of attracting voters and allies.

The pressure is especially intense given how badly liberals want to defeat Trump and usher in what they hope will be a progressive moment.

Because of that, groups on the left have hoped for months that Warren and Sanders could avoid targeting each other and focus their fire on the more centrist candidates. With Democrats arguably embracing more left-leaning policies than at any time in years, liberals do not want to blow what they see as a historic opportunity to gain power.

Leaders of six liberal groups that have endorsed either Warren or Sanders issued a joint statement Thursday saying the senators' campaigns and supporters "will need to find a way to cooperate."

They added, "The crossfire amplified by the media is unhelpful and does not reflect the relationship between two Senate colleagues who broadly worked well together for most of the last year." It outlined a strategy to build alliances between delegates for the two candidates going in to the Democratic convention.

"This is all about delegates," said Larry Cohen, who chairs Our Revolution, a nonprofit organization established by Sanders. "It's going to take collaboration to accomplish results in July in Milwaukee," he said, referring to the Democratic National Convention.

Liberals will have to join forces to ensure that either Sanders or Warren is the nominee, Cohen said, or assemble enough delegates to block a candidate the left finds distasteful.

In addition to Our Revolution, groups signing onto the statement included the Sunrise Movement, RootsAction, the Working Families Party, Justice Democrats and Democracy for America.

On Wednesday, 18 liberal groups launched an effort that includes a pledge to "focus our fight for the nomination against candidates supported by the corporate wing, instead of fighting each other."

Sanders and Warren met nearly two decades ago, when he was a member of Congress and she was a rising academic star. Warren made a presentation at a dinner salon hosted by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., describing her research on how middle-class families were going bankrupt, according to an account in The Boston Globe.

Sanders invited Warren to be on his radio show from time to time, and even occasionally to speak as a guest at his town hall meetings in Vermont. He campaigned for Warren's successful Senate bid in 2012, boasting on one occasion that "I knew Elizabeth Warren before she was Elizabeth Warren."

Sanders has said he spoke to Warren in 2015 before launching his own presidential campaign, saying he would defer to her as the left's standard-bearer if she wanted to get in the race and challenge eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

Warren chose not to run that year, however. And to the dismay of many liberals, she also did not endorse Sanders during that campaign, instead staying on the sidelines until the very end when she gave her nod to Clinton.

So while Warren and Sanders are both staunch liberals, when one leading Democrat was asked whether anything suggests the two have a close personal relationship, replied, "Frankly, no."

In the presidential race, Warren and Sanders are also drawing from different voter pools. Sanders has a wide margin of support among younger voters, while Warren does slightly better with older Democrats. Warren also has a small edge among women. She fares better with self-identified Democrats, and he does better with voters who say they're independent, as he is.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who has worked closely with Sanders and Warren, said in an interview several months ago that "both have a crusader mentality around correcting what is wrong."

Warren, she said, is "very personable, she reaches out to people." And she texts frequently, Jayapal added: "She kind of makes it a point to do that."

On Thursday, Sanders and Warren joined their colleagues in Washington for the first official day of Trump's impeachment trial, and the two senators attended a lunch for Senate Democrats in the U.S. Capitol.

They sat at different tables, which isn't unusual for them, and did not appear to interact , according to a person with knowledge of the lunch who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

As Sanders exited, he told reporters that he hadn't spoken to Warren.

"We're talking impeachment of a president, allegations that he has tried to disrupt the American process through blackmail," Sanders said. "That is what we're focused on."

A few moments later, Warren emerged from the luncheon. She did not respond to questions from reporters.

But others said such disputes among candidates are to be expected.

"It's a primary. You're going to have fights in the middle of a primary," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who himself had considered running for president this year. "Nobody should expect anything otherwise."