Bernie Sanders wants to take on âbillionaire classâ
If Bernie Sanders plans to takes shots at Hillary Clinton, heâs saving his ammo. The Vermont independent and self-proclaimed socialist said Thursday that heâll continue to explore running in the Democratic primary with a trip to New Hampshire this weekend and a visit to Iowa shortly thereafter. But asked to critique the presumed Democratic nominee, Sanders wouldnât go there, at least explicitly. Story Continued Below âAll I know is if I run, Iâm not running against Hillary Clinton,â Sanders said in an interview on C-SPANâs âNewsmakersâ that will air on Sunday. âWhat Hillary Clinton, or Mitt Romney, or anybody else has to say â thatâs their business. And once weâre in a campaign, I can debate those issues.â Absent a change of heart by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sanders is seen as perhaps the Democratic Partyâs best vessel to channel populist outrage and push Clinton to the left in the Democratic primary. But he insisted that if he were to run, it wouldnât be for that reason. Sanders said his biggest causes on the campaign trail would be the âcollapse of the middle class,â the rise of what he called the Koch brothersâ political âoligarchyâ and the GOPâs position on climate change, which the senator called an âinternational embarrassment.â âThese and other issues are looming in front of us. And weâre going to need bold leadership, weâre going to need people prepared to take on, frankly, the billionaire class,â he said. Still, Sanders is cautious about launching a quixotic campaign. He stressed that he wonât run if he âcanât do it wellâ and worries whether he can raise enough money to compete with the Clinton machine or deep-pocketed Republicans. âMy God â¦ if you run for president, youâre going to need a gazillion dollars,â Sanders said. âI will not run for president if I canât do it well and if I canât run to win.â POLITICO reported Thursday that Clinton may delay the launch of her campaign for several months. That could give Sanders space to begin pushing his message to a receptive political media itching for the Democratic race to crank up. But Sanders said he wonât be affected by Clintonâs timing, repeatedly deflecting questions about her during the interview. âShe will make her own decisions,â he said, âand I will make my decisions.â