10 Democrats showed up in Atlanta for another debate and once again we watched the whole debate, while most voters undoubtedly turned it off. Interestingly, three of the top four candidates did not do that well while several of the second tier candidates (Klobuchar, Booker) seemed to have the strongest debates. Here are our key takeaways:
1. Biden is way past his prime. Several times in the evening he seemed lost. He started off by stumbling over names, seemed to reference the 70s more than the present, committed a gaffe about black women in the Senate (forgetting that Senator Harris is a black woman), and seemed culturally out of touch with younger voters. His final statement was rambling and disjointed. In short, it was painful to watch.
2. Warren started off fairly well, but as the evening went on, she became increasingly irrelevant. Other than an answer about abortion on demand, Warren was absent in the second half of the debate. She did not dominate the debate, but then again probably did not hurt herself.
3. Of the big four candidates, Sanders may have had the best evening. He seems fully recovered from his health issues and was passionate in articulating a socialist vision for America. Sanders is unequivocal in his support for socialism. Judging by the crowd’s cheers, there are a large number of socialists in the Democratic Party.
4. Buttigieg did not fare that well. Several questions came up over his lack of experience. The moderators asked about his loss in a statewide election and then he got into a spat with Tulsi Gabbard that questioned his judgment. Some of Buttigieg’s answers were reasonable and, in contrast to Biden, he did not commit any major errors. That said, he could have solidified his recent rise in the polls. We don’t think he did that.
5. Klobuchar had a good evening. She was funny, made a strong case for Democratic women’s votes, and made a good case that she can win swing states and beat Trump. Some twitter users commented that she seemed to be shaking while speaking, but we thought she had a good evening. She also effectively brought up Buttigieg’s inexperience without seeming to attack him. We would not be surprised to see her get a boost in the polls and could be a solid general election candidate.
6. Booker was another potential nominee that had a good evening. He was articulate, pledged to unify the Democratic Party, and made a compelling case that he can bring out the Obama coalition by turning out black voters. Booker also came out for making marijuana legal and caused Biden to commit a major gaffe when responding. It was a good evening for Booker.
7. Harris has an odd way of speaking and gave a few one liners that we thought missed the mark. She has sunk in the polls and we don’t think she reversed the trend.
8. Steyer focused on climate change, but there is really no reason that he is still on the stage.
9. Yang is great at getting cheers for one liners, but he is not going to be the nominee and seems to know it.
10. Gabbard is not popular with the Democratic Party establishment. For publicly criticizing Hillary Clinton on foreign policy, she is being ostracized by the establishment. Indeed, the moderators called on her less than any other candidate. Additionally, both Harris and Buttigieg tried to go after her and may have scored a few points. We would not be surprised to see Gabbard leave the Democratic Party.
So to sum it up, we think that Klobuchar, Booker and Sanders probably had the best performances. Biden was the big loser. The others did ok, but did not help themselves significantly.
NewEnglandPolitics.com 