Democratic candidates gather to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.
COLUMBIA, S.C. Not long after leaving each other on the debate stage Sunday night, the three Democratic candidates for president met again Monday morning to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Dr. King died with his work unfinished, and it is up to us to see it through," said Hillary Clinton, who was the first to speak to the crowd of hundreds gathered on the steps of the South Carolina State House for King Day at the Dome.
Clinton ticked through figures and issues in the headlines, including the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and framed them as modern "civil rights issues."
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"When the children of majority-black Flint, Michigan, have been drinking and bathing in lead-poisoned water for more than a year, making sure all Americans have clean air and water isn't just a health issue," she said. "It's a civil rights issue."
Bernie Sanders, who often recalls his experience hearing King speak on the trail, cast himself in his remarks as carrying out King's work in his own campaign.
"I think if he were here today," Sanders said, "and he saw that moms and dads that went to work could not find decent, affordable, health care, he would say that childcare is a right for all people."
Sanders has proposed a single-payer, "Medicare-for-all" health care plan that would provide universal health care, and his campaign released the details of his plan Sunday night ahead of the debate.
Ahead of the rally at the capitol building, organized by the South Carolina NAACP, Sanders marched with church leaders and community members in remembrance of King. Martin O'Malley, who is running a distant third behind Clinton and O'Malley in the polls, also joined the march.
"How many marches have we done," Sanders asked his wife, Jane, who walked between him and O'Malley.
"A lot," she replied, simply.
The candidates' appearance in Columbia on Monday was likely to be the last before the candidates return to South Carolina ahead of the primary on February 27.