In Iowa, O'Malley and Sanders Say What Unions Wish Clinton Would

While Republicans took the stage in waves for a pair of nationally televised presidential debates on Thursday, some of their would-be Democratic rivals were at a much lower-key forum in Altoona, Iowa, offering the state's union leaders words that they wished they could hear from the contender who wasn't there.

Appearing one at a time, four candidates—all the Democrats, except front-runner Hillary Clinton—each fielded the same eight questions from a panel of labor leaders. Two former senators and former Republicans, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb, took pains to highlight the union-friendly parts of their resumes, extolled the virtue of organized labor, and—except for when Chafee awkwardly, apologetically said he had to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership so as not to be a flip-flopper—mostly downplayed potential disagreements.