Sanders, O’Malley make central Iowa campaign stops

WAUKEE - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told a Jewish group Sunday he believes a regional Mideast coalition is the best hope to defeat radical Islamic extremists and eventually a two-state solution that includes a Palestinian state will be needed to enhance security for Israel.

About 10 miles away, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told a Latino festival in downtown Des Moines that America must assert its 'moral leadership” by taking in Syrian refugees and adopting comprehensive immigration reform that will give 11 million in 'the shadows” at path of U.S. citizenship.

'We need to stand up like the generous, passionate and courageous people that we are and do our part in this humanitarian crisis,” O'Malley. another Democrat seeking the White House in 2016, said of the mass exodus fleeing war-torn Syria.

O'Malley said he took a similar welcoming stance as governor in Maryland in resettling refugee children fleeing violence in their Central American homelands, noting that 'our endearing symbol is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty.” He also granted driver's licenses to new Maryland residents needing a way to get to work and passed a state version of the DREAM Act so immigrant children paid in-state college tuition.

'There is a big difference between the saying and the doing,” O'Malley told Iowans attending the Iowa Latino Heritage Festival on Sunday afternoon. 'I have not waited for polls or focus groups to tell me what are the true principles of our country.”

During a nearly hourlong meeting with the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, Sanders sounded domestic themes similar to O'Malley in pushing for higher wages and more middle-class income to end a 'rigged” economic model that has created a 'grotesque” level of income inequality in recent times.

'We can do significantly better,” he told the gathering.

Pressed on foreign policy matters by the Jewish group, Sanders, a second-term independent senator from Vermont, said 'It goes without saying that Israel must be guaranteed the right to live out their lives with security without having to worry about terrorist attacks. That is a given.” However, he said he does not have 'a magical solution” for a complicated and complex Mideast dilemma with 'blame that can be assigned all over the place.”

While noting the security of Israel is 'very, very important to me,” Sanders added that 'I happen to also believe that what we need is a two-state solution. I happen to believe that the Palestinians are entitled to a state of their own and to gain economic support from countries around the world, including the United States.”

He noted he voted sending U.S. troops to Iraq in 2002, fearing the Bush administration had 'cooked the books” by providing 'misinformation” and American involvement could lead to the destabilization of the region that has occurred.

'I am not supportive of bringing American combat troops on the ground” in the current Midwest circumstances, Sanders added. 'I fear very much that we can get sucked in to perpetual warfare in the Middle East year after year after year.”

Sanders has logged a steady climb in public opinion polling of Iowans to where he is in a locked in a virtual dead heat with Hillary Clinton, while O'Malley has logged a lot of time campaigning in Iowa but has battled to gain traction among likely Feb. 1 caucus attendees.

'People tell me, man, you're facing tough odds. This is a tough fight,” O'Malley said. 'But you know what, I kind of like the tough fight. I like the tough odds. I never bet against the United States of America and I believe the toughness of the fight might be the hidden God's way of telling us that we're fighting for something worth saving.”