Clinton, Sanders Set Date for NYC Showdown

Mayor steps in after days of disagreement
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 5, 2016 12:01 AM CDT
Clinton, Sanders Set Date for NYC Showdown
A demonstrator sports Clinton and Sanders buttons during an anti-Trump rally in NYC.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

It's on: After days of disagreements, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have settled on a date for a debate in New York City ahead of the state's April 19 primary. The debate, co-hosted by CNN and NY1, will be held on April 14 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Politico reports. The Sanders campaign had a permit for a park rally that day and had asked for the debate to be held on any of the four previous days, but it gave in after Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Clinton supporter, offered to arrange a permit for an alternative date. Sanders will hold the Washington Square Park rally on April 13, NY1 reports.

De Blasio said it was a "very, very important moment" for New York to be holding a Democratic presidential primary "that matters for the first time since 1992." A Sanders spokesman issued a statement that Politico sees as a preview of the debate's tone. "Fortunately, we were able to move a major New York City rally scheduled for April 14 to the night before," the spokesman said. "We hope the debate will be worth the inconvenience for thousands of New Yorkers who were planning to attend our rally on Thursday but will have to change their schedules to accommodate Secretary Clinton's jam-packed, high-dollar, coast-to-coast schedule of fundraisers all over the country." (Insiders say Sanders could be in the lead if he hadn't made some early missteps.)

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