Foreign Policy Focus of Third Democratic Debate

US Democratic Presidential hopefuls (L-R) Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley participate in the Democratic Presidential Debate hosted by ABC News at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on December 19, 2015. AFP PHOTO / JEWEL SAMAD / AFP / JEWEL SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
US Democratic Presidential hopefuls (L-R) Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley participate in the Democratic Presidential Debate hosted by ABC News at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on December 19, 2015. AFP PHOTO / JEWEL SAMAD / AFP / JEWEL SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

On Saturday night, Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley appeared on stage at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire for the third Democratic primary debate. The primary topic of the evening was foreign policy, a strength for former Secretary of State Clinton. Before getting into the debate, Sanders took a moment to apologize to Clinton for his staffers accessing the Clinton campaign’s proprietary voter data. It was revealed this week that Sanders’ staffers found and downloaded campaign data that should have been protected. The DNC has acted swiftly barring the Sanders campaign from accessing voter databases. Clinton’s campaign has been careful to respond, though her staffers and supporters have gone after the Sanders campaign. Clinton thanked Sanders for his apology and said, “Now that, I think, you know, we’ve resolved your data, we’ve agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on, because I don’t think the American people are all that interested in this.”

The moderators, ABC’s David Muir and Martha Raddatz, then asked the candidates about a variety of topics, including a few domestic questions about taxes, health care, and gun control. But the focus of the ABC debate was foreign policy. Clinton and Sanders debated the removal of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011and the power vacuum that followed. Sanders argued that the chaos was predictable, but Clinton reminded Sanders that he voted for the Senate resolution calling for Gaddafi’s removal and the intervention of the United Nations. On the foreign policy front, the candidates also discussed ISIS, terrorism, and a number of other topics. As with previous debates, the three candidates were careful about going after each other. Clinton only attacked when provoked, and she focused her criticism on Republicans, particularly Donald Trump. It was clear that Clinton is planning for the general election. A full video of the debate is below.

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News Source: Business Insider, CNN, Time