Biden Opens New Hampshire Debate Swinging at Sanders: Trump Will Stick Every Democrat With ‘Socialist’ Label

The Democratic candidates competing for their party’s 2020 presidential nomination wasted no time heating up the battle at tonight’s debate at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was target number one.

Former Vice President Joe Biden got the first question of the night, about how despite his comments that it would be a “risk” for Democrats to nominate Sanders or former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the two of them had bested him in the Iowa caucuses this week.

Biden acknowledged he had “taken a hit” in Iowa, and expected that he might also struggle in New Hampshire, which borders Sanders’ state, but that he was continuing to campaign to “bring people together.”

Biden then pointed out President Donald Trump‘s propensity for “putting a label on every candidate,” and the need for Democrats to not only win the White House, but also take back the United States Senate.

Sanders, noted Biden, had already voluntarily adopted the label “Democratic Socialist,” playing into Trump’s strategy of smearing Democrats across the board as socialists.

Sanders dismissed Biden’s criticism, saying that it did not matter what Trump called any of them “because Donald Trump lies all the time.”

“Everybody up here, by the way, is united,” said Sanders, ” no matter who wins this damn thing, we’re all going to stand together to defeat him,” and that the path to victory was in increasing voter turnout by reaching out to new or disengaged voters.

Debate moderator George Stephanolopoulos asked the candidates on stage, “Is anyone else on the stage concerned about having a Democratic Socialist at the top of the Democratic ticket?”

After a brief pause, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar raised her hand, the only one to reply, other than Sanders raising his hand to say, “I’m not!”

Watch the video above, via ABC.