Apr 22, 2016 4 min read

GETTYSBURG – Bernie Sanders is sending mixed signals on whether he will persist in his pointed critique of Hillary Clinton’s record as some Democrats urge the party to coalesce around the former secretary of state.

Sanders largely gave her a pass Friday, except by implication, as he denounced the thinking behind the Iraq war, which she supported, and warned of the risks of pushing regime change, as he addressed and took questions from a crowd of some 2,000 in a gym, with hundreds more in an overflow room.

“It is very easy for politicians to give a passionate speech talking about the ugliness of a dictator in this part of the world or that part of the world,” he said, but not enough attention is paid to “what happens the day after that dictator is gone.”

“The hard part is to think about what happens in the future, and it turns out that regime change more often than not ends up causing instability and unintended consequences that people have not thought through,” he said.

A day earlier Sanders invoked Clinton’s acceptance of $200,000-plus in speaking fees from Wall Street firms, urging his opponent to release transcripts of the addresses. The Vermont senator also reiterated his differences with Clinton over fracking, the use of super PACs, trade deals and the Iraq war, which he opposed, as the two campaign for the primaries Tuesday in Pennsylvania and four other states.

Clinton has been more muted in her assessment of Sanders since she won a convincing victory in her home state of New York. She briefly mentioned his handling of gun control at an event Friday in Pennsylvania, as she did a day earlier with Connecticut family members of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

“I voted against it,” she said of a bill to protect gun-makers from legal liability. “My opponent, Senator Sanders voted for it.” She said the bill “has given a really free hand to gunmakers and sellers.” But on both occasions she resisted wading deeply into his record.

Clinton’s event in the Philadelphia suburbs was focused on ensuring equal pay for women and she was joined by Lily Ledbetter, who inspired the namesake fair pay law signed by President Barack Obama that aimed to make it easier for women to sue over wage discrimination.

The Jenkintown event offered a glimpse of how Clinton may seek to appeal to suburban women whose votes could be up for grabs in a general election against Republicans Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. She spoke of online bullying of women and said she would expect “insults, derogatory comments” if she’s the Democratic nominee.

Of Trump, she said, “It isn’t really about me. And I’m not going to respond to what he says about me. I’m going to respond to what he has said about women in general.”

Pennsylvania offers the biggest prize in Tuesday’s primaries and has been the focus of the Clinton and Sanders campaigns following her win in New York. Both candidates are also vying for delegates who will be awarded Tuesday in primaries in Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware.

Sanders took a daylong break in Vermont after his New York defeat, raising speculation he might be more restrained in discussing Clinton’s record. But he resumed his demand that Clinton release the transcripts of her high-priced speeches after her tenure in the State Department to investment banks such as Goldman Sachs.

Clinton’s campaign has said Sanders could hurt the party’s ability to unite against the eventual Republican nominee.

“I do think it is time to tone down some of the rhetoric and the harshness of those disagreements,” said former Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, a longtime Clinton supporter. Schwartz said Clinton is already focused on what unites Democrats.

As in New York, which she represented in the Senate for eight years, Clinton has deep ties to Pennsylvania. Her grandfather worked in a lace mill in Scranton, where she was campaigning Friday, and her father grew up there. As a child, the candidate spent parts of every summer at a cabin on Lake Winola.

Clinton leads Sanders 1,428-1,153 in delegates won in primaries and caucuses. Clinton also has the support of more than 500 superdelegates, according to a count by The Associated Press, and when those Democratic officials and elected leaders are included, Clinton’s lead grows to 1,930-1,191. It takes 2,383 to clinch the nomination.