WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders became Hillary Clinton's first official left-wing challenger on Thursday, but he showed more interest in attacking right-wing billionaires than in slamming his former Senate colleague.
The self-described "Democratic Socialist" is undertaking a White House bid focused on Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
As a long shot, his best chance of stirring media attention is by attacking Clinton, but he made it clear that he wasn't looking to throw mud at her.
Instead he ripped the ultra-conservative Koch brothers.
Sanders declined to go after the Clinton Foundation, which has been facing a rash of negative stories about questionable donors and failures to disclose all its supporters.
"The issue here is not the Clinton Foundation. That's a fair issue. The issue here is the huge amounts of money that it takes to run a campaign today," he said in a press conference outside the Senate.
"I wonder now in this day and age whether it is possible for any candidate who is not a billionaire or who is not beholden to the billionaire class to be able to run successful campaigns."
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed "democratic socialist," is running for President. 
BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS
Hillary Clinton now has a challenger for the Democratic nomination.
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EnlargeSanders has long disdained the dog-and-pony show of electoral politics, a stance that could prove problematic on the campaign trail.
"I hate and detest these 30-second ugly negative ads. I believe in a democracy what elections are about are serious debates over serious issues, not over political gossip, not making campaigns into soap operas. This is not the Red Sox versus the Yankees, this is the debate over major issues facing the American people," he said.
But on substance, he showed he's willing to start drawing contrasts with the former First Lady and heavy favorite for the Democratic nomination, ticking off his vote against the war in Iraq (she voted for it) and strong opposition to a new pending trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Keystone XL oil pipeline (she has avoided taking a position so far on either).
"Those are some of my views. We'll see where Secretary Clinton comes out," he said before brusquely ending the press conference.
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