Readers React: Race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders gets noisier

You might not know it reading The Times’ letters pages, but there’s a race going on for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination too.

With a big personality like Donald Trump taking up the GOP’s spotlight, it’s understandable that most of the political news coverage would focus on the more freewheeling contest among Republicans for their party’s nomination — and letter writers have reflected that media trend. But with the erstwhile prohibitive favorite Hillary Clinton barely emerging victorious over Bernie Sanders in Iowa on Monday and facing an uphill battle in New Hampshire, more letters are starting to trickle in on the Democratic race, some of them from readers wondering why Sanders and Clinton have received little attention compared to the Republicans.

Here are some of those letters.

Seal Beach resident Linda Stephenson faults The Times’ coverage:

The Democrats held a debate in New Hampshire Thursday night, but The Times’ coverage was buried on the back page of the California section and mostly talked about the perceived contentiousness of the debate. The debate was called substantive, but none of the policy prescriptions were reported.

The article shared the page with another piece describing the sniping among the various Republican candidates, and the lead story on the front page featured a discussion of the Republican candidates posturing on illegal immigration. All the articles reported on the “horse race” aspects of the campaign, but provided no other useful information.

Frankly, I expect better.

John Oldach of Ventura feels encouraged by the Democratic candidates’ debate:

However The Times chose to characterize Thursday night’s debate between the Democratic candidates (“rancorous” figured prominently in the coverage), what emerged from the two-hour exchange was a clearer picture of a party with a far deeper grasp of the issues we face. Sanders and Clinton spent much of the time agreeing with and conceding points to each other.

It is encouraging that there are adults willing to chaperon our national temper tantrum.

Los Angeles resident Mary Jacobs echoes what other supporters of Sanders are saying:

Sanders’ talk of revolution may scare Clinton, but what marks the beginning of our beloved country? The Revolutionary War. We rejected King George III, and now with the help of Sanders, we’re going to topple the oligarchical billionaires and corporations that own “our” government.

Big Pharma, Wall Street, insurance companies and media conglomerates are surprised by the enthusiasm Sanders inspires. He touches the American spirit that abides in our hearts.

Under Republican President Eisenhower, the highest marginal income tax rate was greater than 90%. Republican President Nixon wanted universal healthcare. Only decades ago community and state colleges were practically free. Sanders’ ideas are not far-fetched.

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