Bernie Sanders surge forms backdrop for Hillary Clinton S.C. visit

Bernie Sanders surge forms backdrop for Hillary Clinton S.C. visit

Her stop in the first-in-the-South primary state is exposing her to a dose of Bernie-mentum.

By Gabriel Debenedetti

6/17/15 2:46 PM EDT

Updated 6/17/15 4:47 PM EDT

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — This humid Southern city just a few miles from the Atlantic coast is far from Bernie Sanders’ home turf.

But his shadow seemed to follow Hillary Clinton as she made her second visit to South Carolina since declaring her presidential candidacy.

Clinton’s Wednesday stop in the first-in-the-South primary state exposed her to an unwelcome dose of Bernie-mentum, giving the Democratic front-runner a first-hand look at the grass-roots fervor Sanders is generating on the left.
Over the weekend, the state chapter of the AFL-CIO jumped the gun and effectively backed the Vermont senator’s candidacy before being forced to walk back its message. Last night, on the eve of Clinton’s arrival, Sanders’ campaign said it had to change the venue for his upcoming swing through Charleston due to overwhelming local interest. That announcement — which pointedly noted that the new venue is a high school gym located on President Street — came just hours before Clinton unveiled a new plan to combat youth unemployment through tax credits for businesses who hire apprentices.

The former secretary of state continues to maintain a commanding lead over Sanders in most national and early state polling — including in South Carolina, where Sanders has no permanent staff. But the liberal challenger has been gaining on her in New Hampshire polls, and the energy and overflow crowds of his recent early-state events are attracting notice.

Clinton’s visit and policy rollout come during an early-voting state tour that follows her weekend rally on New York’s Roosevelt Island: She met with community leaders in Santee, South Carolina before a speech at Trident Technical College here in North Charleston in the afternoon. In the evening, she’s attending a fundraiser hosted by a Charleston attorney.

At the college event, Clinton laid out a plan to provide businesses with tax credits when they hire apprentices.

“It is time to be able to plan for the future in a way that gives you that path forward, so I support high-quality job training programs. On-the-job training can raise pay by thousands of dollars per year, apprenticeships even more,” Clinton said. “This should be a no-brainer.”

The release of Clinton’s youth employment plan comes less than two weeks after Sanders unveiled his own youth jobs bill, which proposes $5.5 billion in new funding for states and local governments who employ young citizens.

There’s little evidence to indicate that Sanders’ recent surge reflects a serious long-term problem for Clinton, who remains the overwhelming front-runner for the nomination. But the timing coincides with a trade debate that has divided Democrats in Washington, and left organized labor — an important constituency for her — unsettled by her ambiguous stance.

“At the center of the issue is whether she defies labor,” explained a national Democratic strategist who is close to the Clinton campaign, pointing to the stark split between the labor unions and President Barack Obama. “There’s a very careful algorithm here about how to stay with Obama and how to differentiate from him, and this feels like a differentiator. But it needs clarity.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/hillary-clinton-south-carolina-bernie-sanders-119117.html#ixzz3dN9rBSZW