In-fighting dominates Democrat TV debate

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton moved past the rancour over a breach of her campaign’s valuable voter data, shifting the debate into a pointed but polite discussion of national security, Americans’ heightened terrorism fears and the economy.

Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, kept much of her focus on the general election, sharply criticising Donald Trump’s plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States. She called Trump the Islamic State’s “best recruiter”.

“Mr Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people,” said Clinton, the former secretary of state.

Clinton and Sanders, her closest challenger, entered the debate in the midst of one of their fiercest fights — about the campaign itself rather than a national or international issue.

Clinton’s campaign accused Sanders’ team of stealing information used to target voters and anticipate what issues might motivate them. In response to the breach, the Democratic National Committee temporarily cut off Sanders’ team’s access to its own data, a move the Vermont senator said was an “egregious act.”

Still, Sanders said his staff had acted improperly. His campaign fired one worker involved in the breach and suspended two others, but also used the controversy to raise money, sending an email to supporters that said the national party had placed “its thumb on the scales in support of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”

The debate came as Clinton had solidified her standing atop the field, shaking off a rocky start and the controversy about her use of private email at the State Department.

Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who has struggled to be a factor in the race, was aggressive in seeking to play a role in the debate, repeatedly talking over moderators and accusing his rivals of having outdated views on foreign policy.

In a heated exchange on gun control, O’Malley accused Clinton and Sanders of having a “flip-flopping, political approach” to the contentious issue.

Clinton also defied moderators’ efforts to cut her off at times, leading Sanders to call out, “Now this is getting to be fun.”

While there was broad agreement among the Democratic contenders that the US should not launch a ground war to defeat the Islamic State, they differed in the tactics they would take and whether the nation should seek regime change in Syria, where IS has a stronghold.

Clinton recommended more direct action than her competitors, calling for a no-fly zone over part of Syria and insisting that the US must seek to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.

“If the United States does not lead, there is not another leader — there is a vacuum,” she said.