Tensions flare in New York as candidates go on the attack

New Yorkers are known for speaking their mind and as the US presidential race head to the Empire State, candidates are reflecting their environment, escalating their attacks before the next big election test in the state on April 19th.

In the Democratic battle, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each attacked the other's qualifications to be president, while Republican frontrunner Donald Trump lashed out at rival, Texas senator Ted Cruz, for challenging the billionaire's conservative credentials by digging him on his liberal "New York values".

The two Democrats sparred as Mr Sanders repeated his assertion that Mrs Clinton’s ties to big Wall Street donations disqualified her for the Oval Office and Mrs Clinton questioned again whether his ideas were realistic.

The Vermont democratic socialist showed a more pugnacious streak in taking on Mrs Clinton, adopting a manner more often seen from Republican candidates.

“If Secretary Clinton thinks that I just come from the small state of Vermont, that we’re not used to this, well, we’ll get used to it fast. I’m not going to get beaten up; I’m not going to get lied about. We will fight back,” said Mr Sanders.

Mrs Clinton responded after mixing with New Yorkers on the 4 subway train in the Bronx – another effort by the candidate to show a more common touch.

Querying Mr Sanders’s capacity to fulfil his often-lofty campaign promises, Mrs Clinton told reporters it was important to tell “how you can produce results”.

Mr Sanders has been criticised for an interview he gave to the New York Daily News this week in which he struggled to explain how he would break up the big banks, one of the central planks of a populist economic manifesto.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Mrs Clinton said.

Tensions arise as Mr Sanders, despite six straight state victories, trails Mrs Clinton by more than 200 nominee-picking delegates as well as in the New York polls. He needs a big- margin win in the state of his birth to keep his campaign alive.

At a fiery Long Island rally on Wednesday night, Mr Trump jabbed Mr Cruz on his dismissive “New York values” slur by invoking the courage of New Yorkers following the 9/11 attacks.

“Remember when he started lecturing me on New York values like we’re not good?” Mr Trump asked about 10,000 supporters at the event in Bethpage.

“I looked at him and started talking about our incredible police, our incredible firefighters,” he added, drawing chants of “USA!” and “Lyin’ Ted” – the nickname that the billionaire loves to use against the first- term senator.

Mr Cruz, who has run an anti-immigrant, climate- change denying campaign, received an expected and characteristically angry response from New Yorkers.

"Take the F U train, Ted!" screamed the front page of Thursday's Daily News after he was booed at a campaign event in New York on Wednesday.

“Ted Cruz has no business being in the Bronx,” said one protester. “This is an immigrant community. We deal with climate change every single day and he wants to say it doesn’t exist! We are one of the poorest congressional districts in the country and to receive this right- wing bigot is an insult to the whole community.”