The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

The five words that could come back to haunt Bernie Sanders

By
January 25, 2016 at 10:37 p.m. EST
The Democratic presidential candidates took to the stage for the last time before the Iowa caucuses at CNN's town hall on Jan. 25. (Video: Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

DES MOINES -- Sen. Bernie Sanders uttered a handful of words that are likely to hang over his campaign -- and he probably doesn't mind it at all.

"Yes, we will raise taxes," Sanders said during the CNN Democratic forum in Iowa on Monday night. "Yes we will."

For a Democratic audience open to the idea of universal health care, Sanders's comments haven't yet hurt him. But in a general election, where moderate and independent voters are the prize, they could pose more of a problem.