Bernie Sanders. AP Photo/Jim Cole Some of the most powerful figures in the Republican Party are doing everything they can to help Democratic presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders.

It's been a strange race from the start — an insult-spewing outsider trumps an establishment favorite on one side; a Denmark-loving socialist mounts a serious challenge on the other — and during Sunday evening's fourth Democratic presidential debate, things got stranger.

During the debate, the Republican National Committee sent out four separate e-mails defending the Vermont senator against Hillary Clinton on issues ranging from single-payer healthcare to guns to Wall Street, as reporters noted across Twitter.

On Twitter, Sean Spicer, the RNC's chief spokesman and strategist, tweeted multiple messages supporting Sanders and his points with the pro-Sanders hashtag #FeelTheBern.

And following the debate, Republican operatives did their best to cast Sanders as the debate winner.