Asked by John Heilemann who he thinks “would be a better Democratic nominee” in 2016, Hillary Clinton or MSNBC host Ed Schultz, Vermont’s socialist Senator Bernie Sanders avoided a direct answer but made clear his affection for Schultz: “I think Ed does a great job. I think Ed is one of the heroes of the media. I think he speaks to the needs of the working class people.”

Mark Halperin followed up on Thursday’s (October 30) With All Due Respect on Bloomberg: “But if you walked into the Vermont voting booth and the two candidates on the Democratic primary ballot were Hillary Clinton and Ed Schultz, who would you vote for?”

Sanders: “I respectfully decline to answer the question at this time. Ed Schultz is a very good friend of mine.”