Clinton, rivals court support at Iowa Democrats' 'Wing Ding'

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - Even as the FBI reviews the private email server Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state, the Democratic presidential candidate on Friday characterized GOP congressional inquiries into the matter as "the same old partisan games we've seen so many times before."

"I've just provided my server to the Justice Department," Clinton told a crowd of 2,100 Democrats here during an annual fund-raiser known as "Wing Ding."

But, she said defiantly, "I won't get down in the mud with" Republicans or "play politics with national security," referring to GOP investigations into the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton appeared here Friday along with her rivals for the Democratic nomination: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who also is seeking the Democratic nomination, did not attend the event.

In a moment of levity, Clinton mentioned she had recently started a Snapchat account and joked: "I love it. Those messages disappear all by themselves," a reference to her deletion of thousands of emails she exchanged as secretary of state that she determined were not work-related.

She has provided thousands of other emails to the government. The FBI review involves security concerns about classified information that may have been contained in emails from Clinton's server.

The fund-raiser was held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue where rock-and-roll legends Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and Ritchie Valens played in February 1959 before they died in a plane crash here in Clear Lake.

Emails aside, Clinton praised the nuclear deal with Iran, touted her plan to make college more affordable, and said most of the GOP field was just like real estate mogul Donald Trump, "without the pizzazz or the hair."

For his part, Sanders continued his call for a political "revolution" to change Washington. "The American people are sick and tired with establishment politics, with establishment economics, and with the establishment media," he said to applause.

In addition to attacking the role of money in politics, he pointedly challenged Clinton from the left, calling to break up big banks and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.

And, he declared, "I voted against the war in Iraq." Clinton, by contrast, voted to authorize the war, an issue that helped Barack Obama defeat her in 2008 and ultimately win the White House.

The dueling speeches came after a new CNN/ORC poll released this week showed Clinton leading comfortably in Iowa, with 50 percent of likely Democratic voters saying they would vote for her if the caucus were held today.

Sanders was next with 31 percent, followed by Vice President Biden (12 percent), who is said to be considering a run, according to news reports.

However, Sanders has drawn huge crowds across the country, and one poll this week put him ahead of Clinton in New Hampshire, which holds the second nominating contest.

Clinton also is struggling with the perception that she isn't trustworthy, polls show.

O'Malley touted his liberal record in Maryland and his support of gay marriage and instate tuition for undocumented immigrants. He also joined Sanders in opposing a trade accord with the Pacific.

Chafee, who voted against authorizing the Iraq war in 2002, questioned Jeb Bush's version of how the conflict unfolded: "What kind of neocon Kool-Aid is this man drinking?"