Democrats Tangle in New Hampshire Over Rights to ‘Progressive’ Label

Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont clashed in heated terms over the meaning of progressivism in America on Wednesday, with her forced to defend positions that he argued are not in line with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

Mr. Sanders criticized Mrs. Clinton’s credentials as a progressive, claiming that her views on foreign policy, trade, the environment and money in politics separated her from those lawmakers who proudly wear that label.

At a town hall forum hosted by CNN less than a week before New Hampshire holds the first primary election of the 2016 presidential race, Mr. Sanders suggested that Mrs. Clinton’s positions sometimes shifted depending on her venue.

“You can’t say you’re a moderate on one day and be a progressive on another day,” he said, noting that Mrs. Clinton described herself as a moderate last year. “You can’t be a moderate and a progressive. They’re different.”

Minutes after Mr. Sanders spoke, Mrs. Clinton pushed back at his assertion, saying that by his definition, President Obama or Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. would not be considered progressives.

“I am a progressive who likes to get things done,” she said. “I was somewhat amused today that Senator Sanders has set himself up as the gatekeeper of who gets to be a progressive.”

Mrs. Clinton went on to say that it was inappropriate for the senator to be defining such labels so rigidly.

“I know where I stand, I know who stands with me, I know what I’ve done,” she said.

The forum was the first direct encounter between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders since she stopped him in the Iowa caucuses by the narrowest of margins.

he argument that has boiled over ahead of the town hall forum was over which of the two could claim the true mantle of liberal values. On Wednesday, Mr. Sanders accused Mrs. Clinton of being a part-time progressive and a patron of Wall Street.

“I do not know any progressive who has a ‘super PAC’ and takes $15 million from Wall Street; that’s just not progressive,” he said.

He added: “The key foreign decision of modern American history was the war in Iraq. The progressive community was pretty united in saying, ‘Don’t listen to Bush, don’t go to war.’ Secretary Clinton voted to go to war.”

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