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Sanders keeps Cambridge round table brief, avoids marathon bombers topic

BOSTON — Senator Bernie Sanders (I -Vermont) faced a crowd of Boston voters Tuesday, less than 24 hours after controversial comments.

At a town hall Monday, Sanders said everyone should have the right to vote -- even the Boston Marathon bomber.

The media was blocked from part of the round table with voters in Cambridge, but we were let in for only the last few minutes of question and answer. Senator Sanders was rushed out the back door before we had a chance to ask him anything about those comments.

Senator Sanders met with about 100 people here in a small venue after spending the morning in New Hampshire.

Last night, Sanders appeared on a CNN Town Hall, when a college student asked him about his belief that prisoners should have the right to vote. Sanders' home state in Vermont is one of only two states that allow incarcerated felons to vote.

Sanders responded by saying that even for terrible people -- like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- must be able to exercise their democratic right to vote.

Liz Norden, whose two sons were gravely wounded in the 2013 bombing, told Boston 25 News Tzarnaev doesn't deserve that democratic privilege.

"It might be forgotten to people, but it never leaves our lives and I pray every single day for people like Mr. Sanders that they will never have to live through something like this," Norden said.

Sanders did not revisit that with the crowd in Cambridge but did talk about the importance of criminal justice reform.

"You don’t have to have a Ph.D. at Harvard to know if kids are hanging around on street corners who have inadequate education, who do not have job skills that allow them to go out and earn a living, they will do destructive or self-destructive activity," he said.

Although we were told Senator Sanders would not be answering questions, we did plan to attempt to ask him, but his team made sure that didn’t happen.