Bernie Sanders wins Elizabeth Warren's praise on Wall Street reform

His remarks were laced with direct and indirect criticisms of the policies and track record of primary campaign front-runner Hillary Clinton, whose constituency when she was a United States senator from NY included the financial industry. He said that JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co are almost 80 percent bigger than when they accepted money from the US government during the 2008 bailout.

When a cross section of all registered voters, not just likely Democratic primary voters, are asked their impressions of the leading Democratic presidential candidates, about half have a favorable opinion of the two Democrats. The Sanders campaign is falling behind, while Clinton is gaining. Alternatively, when matched with Trump, Sanders was backed by 51% of American voters to Trump's 38%.

Warren, who progressives urged to run for president earlier a year ago, is the only female Democratic senator who hasn't endorsed Clinton. I would just refer you to a recent Quinnipiac poll, which had us beating Donald Trump by nearly twice the margin that she was beating Trump.

(AP Photo/John Locher). Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, left, and Martin O'Malley walk on stage at the Battle Born Battleground First in the West Caucus Dinner, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Las Vegas.

Although it is not a full endorsement, much needed by Sanders' struggling campaign, it is high praise from another proponent of Wall Street reform.

"Except when she defines herself, as she did a few months ago, as a moderate", Sanders said, before echoing the specific examples that Scarborough referenced.

Nevada will be the first test of strength in the West and the first to test the ability of Democratic candidates to reach out to a rapidly growing population of Latino voters.

Clinton promised to stand her ground and she told the crowd that she is the candidate that moneyed special interests really fear.

Sanders deadpanned, "Well, we are taking on the establishment, and I think it is fair to say I'm not the candidate of the establishment".

Sanders now says he supports banning assault weapons and closing the so-called gun show loophole that exempts private, unlicensed gun sales from background check requirements.

But the Clinton campaign says that isn't enough.

SANDERS: Well, actually they are not.

JANICE CABAN: I think people trust him, and he's very honest.

Clinton made the same case on her behalf, saying that "in January of 2017, a new president is going to walk into the Oval Office and America can't afford it to be a Republican who will rip away all the progress we have made".

While it won't make headlines, one of the most important proposals buried in Sanders speech has to do with tranforming the credit rating agencies, nearly none of which are honest brokers. Sanders and O'Malley were speaking later in the night. "We will not succeed unless we galvanize the American people".

"If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist; when it comes to Wall Street reform, that must be our bottom line", Mr Sanders said in a blistering speech. But "I'm working class, so Bernie resonated the most", she said.

Though the candidates spoke separately, the evening did highlight several policy differences among the contenders. She warns that a Republican president would repeal Obama's health care law, slash taxes on the wealthy and undercut executive actions on gun violence and pollution. That was a not-so-subtle jab at Sanders, who has proposed moving to a single-payer system.

Jill Sanders, an Alameda County resident, said she's so frustrated with income inequality and the Bay Area's skyrocketing cost of living that she had planned to sit out this year's presidential election until she learned about Bernie Sanders' candidacy.