BROOKLYN NAVY YARD — Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton slugged it out with rival Sen. Bernie Sanders during a feisty debate Thursday in Brooklyn where Clinton portrayed Sanders as having more critiques than answers and the senator questioned whether the former secretary of state was controlled by Wall Street.
With just five days before New York's presidential primary, the pair shouted over one another at times during the contentious debate as they criticized one another's position on the minimum wage, foreign policy, healthcare and post-secondary education.
The first sparks of the night came when CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked Sanders whether Clinton was qualified to be president.
"Does Secretary Clinton have the experience and the intelligence to be a president? Of course she does. But I do question her judgment," Sanders said in criticizing Clinton's stance on the Iraq War and her acceptance of money from Super PACs and Wall Street contributors.
Clinton came back swinging, setting the tone for the rest of the night.
"Sen. Sanders did call me unqualified. I've been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first," Clinton said.
"Well, the people of New York voted for me twice to be their senator from New York and President Obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of state for the United States."
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Another point of contention was the $15 minimum wage. At one point, Blitzer had to quiet both candidates.
"If you're both screaming at each other, the viewers won't be able to hear either of you," Blitzer said.
Sanders said Clinton was not a true supporter of a $15 federal minimum wage he advocated because her proposal starts at $12.
Clinton, citing the minimum wage bill championed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and recently passed by the state Legislature, said she would start at a $12 federal minimum wage and that, where possible, it could go higher.
"When this campaign began, I said that we've got to end the starvation minimum wage of $7.25, raise it to $15. Secretary Clinton said let's raise it to $12. There's a difference," Sanders said. "And, by the way, what has happened is history has outpaced Secretary Clinton, because all over this country, people are standing up and they're saying $12 is not good enough, we need $15 an hour."
Clinton said Sanders had mischaracterized her plan.
"The minimum wage at the national level right now is $7.25, right? We want to raise it higher than it ever has been, but we also have to recognize some states and some cities will go higher, and I support that," Clinton said.
"I have taken my cue from the Democrats in the Senate, led by Sen. Patty Murray and others, like my good friend Kirsten Gillibrand, who has said we will set a national level of $12 and then urge any place that can go above it to go above it," she added.
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Clinton wrapped herself in President Barack Obama and his policies throughout the debate, deflecting Sanders' criticisms, for example, on her use of Super PACs.
"President Obama had a Super PAC when he ran. President Obama took tens of millions of dollars from contributors. And President Obama was not at all influenced when he made the decision to pass and sign Dodd-Frank, the toughest regulations on Wall Street in many a year."
Sanders continued to set himself up as the anti-establishment candidate in spite of his many years as an elected official.
"I believe that this country has enormous potential if we have the guts to take on the big money interests who dominate our economic and political life," Sanders said.
Clinton also continued to question whether Sanders' proposals were just idealism or whether he could actually accomplish them.
"Describing the problem is a lot easier than trying to solve it," Clinton said when Sanders criticized her on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.
Clinton also hammered Sanders on gun policy.
"Sen. Sanders voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for the most important NRA priority, namely giving immunity from liability to gun-makers and dealers, something that is at the root of a lot of the problems that we are facing," Clinton added.
But Sanders struck back at Clinton on her support of President Bill Clinton's 1994 crime bill, which helped increase mass incarceration, and her use of the term "super predator" to describe an alleged new breed of criminal the bill was supposed to target.
Sanders, in one of the hardest hitting lines of the night, said he criticized Clinton for her use of the term because "it was a racist term, and everybody knew it was a racist term."
NY1 anchor Errol Louis asked Clinton if she regretted advocating for the bill's passage.
"Well, look, I supported the crime bill. My husband has apologized. He was the president who actually signed it, Senator Sanders ... voted for it. I'm sorry for the consequences that were unintended and that have had a very unfortunate impact on people's lives," Clinton said.
The debate and the primary carry extra significance. Both Clinton and Sanders claim ties to New York. Sanders has won seven of the past eight primaries and Clinton is looking to stop his momentum.
A Quinnipiac University poll found that Clinton leads Sanders among likely New York Democrat voters by 53 percent to 40 percent, largely due to Clinton's massive lead over Sanders among black voters.
Sanders leads Clinton among likely Democrat voters ages 18 to 44 and among voters who describe themselves as "very liberal," while Clinton leads among older likely Democrat voters.
Those differences were seen in the carnival-like atmosphere outside the debate venue.
Sanders supporters featured a man wearing a Muppet-style Bernie costume, LED lights that spelled out "Bernie," and a Super Mario-like video game called "Go Bernie Go" where Sanders jumps over objects and gets points for dodging corporate spending.
Hillary supporters had official posters, organized chants, and a much bigger crowd.
Karen, a Ditmas Park resident who didn’t want to give her last name, said Clinton was going into more detail in this debate than in previous debates.
“This debate almost feels like the election, not the primary,” she said. “She’s really presenting her plan, her answers are clear and succinct.”
Ronny Wasterstrom, 44, came from Williamsburg with his handheld Bernie puppet.
Asked if he supported Sanders because he best represented New York, Wasterstrom said, “I don’t care if he came from Mars, I feel like he’s the first human candidate, the first humane candidate.”
