Tonight’s the first debate with all of the top candidates sharing a single stage, so I thought we’d try something new. I’ll provide live analysis and thoughts throughout the evening, and would love to hear from you as well. Let’s watch the debate together!
Before the debate begins, tell me what YOU are looking for tonight.
The most important, strategic thing that happened tonight was Joe Biden tying Warren to Bernie. Watch that thread over the coming days.
The top three front-runners basically held serve in my view. I thought Harris did not have a good night, but recovered a bit in the last hour. Booker and Klobuchar have got to be happy with their performances. Buttigieg and Beto were fine, overall, but I don't expect them to see a major spike in polling that would put them in the top-tier. Castro falsely attacked Biden in a pretty underhanded way, and that was not a good look. He did have a very strong closing statement.
I loved that opening statement from Klobuchar. Says that if you feel stuck between two political extremes, you have a home with her. (Suggests my opening question regarding her candidacy might have been right)
Really powerful moment from Beto here. All the praise from others didn't take oxygen away from when he got to speak. Also, maybe I'm reading the body language incorrectly, but Booker seems frustrated that Beto gets the label that gun violence is personal for him.
1. Does Sen. Warren maintain her relentless commitment?
2. Does Sen. Harris have to play defense as she did in July, or will she be able to stay on the offensive now that her poll numbers have dipped, Tulsi Gabbard isn't there, etc.?
3. Does Sen. Booker build on his strong July performance, and is his team ready to capitalize on it if he does?
4. What does the "new Beto" look like, and will he be any more effective?
5. Does Sen. Klobuchar (aka #TheKLOB) put herself forward more strongly as the moderate alternative to Biden?
6. Just how much oppo is unloaded on Biden tonight, and is it driven by the candidates or the moderators?
I'm not going to comment much, but wanted to say that I love reading everyone's thoughts and like this idea of a smaller chat (as opposed to twitter) a lot so thank you Michael Wear.
Looks like Beto and Buttigieg have decided to chip at the 30-40% who support Warren/Sanders as opposed to the 30% that support Biden in the first 30 minutes of this debate.
I just think voters have an issue with the fact that we "fundamentally transformed health care" in 2010 after fighting for that kind of reform since at least Truman, all these Senators voted for it, and now Sanders/Warren want to completely scrap that and support a $30 trillion overhaul?
Will anyone deviate from totally pro-choice, no exceptions? May not even come up tonight... but it really matters for my vote and I know I’m not alone.
I feel like health care has gotten more expensive since The Affordable Care Act and the Health Insurance Companies have become so much more difficult to work with. I like that Bernie’s plan gets rid of these companies
Sen. Harris is going to try to be relentless in pivoting from earlier in this race, and position herself as a unifier. Will others push her on that, or let her make the claim?
Booker's response there was really strong. There is a sense (at least for me) that O'Rourke is rather performative and come-lately on racism. Booker added some depth and pragmatism to the conversation in a really powerful way there. He didn't go after O'Rourke, but he dismissed him in a delicate way while giving a strong answer himself.
I'm watching for a Castro breakout. This may be his last chance. I've been pulling for him to be the Warren alternative (wonky but not far-left economically).
The most important, strategic thing that happened tonight was Joe Biden tying Warren to Bernie. Watch that thread over the coming days.
The top three front-runners basically held serve in my view. I thought Harris did not have a good night, but recovered a bit in the last hour. Booker and Klobuchar have got to be happy with their performances. Buttigieg and Beto were fine, overall, but I don't expect them to see a major spike in polling that would put them in the top-tier. Castro falsely attacked Biden in a pretty underhanded way, and that was not a good look. He did have a very strong closing statement.
I loved that opening statement from Klobuchar. Says that if you feel stuck between two political extremes, you have a home with her. (Suggests my opening question regarding her candidacy might have been right)
Booker and Klobuchar have had great nights so far. Biden strong, and really, really smart to tie Warren to Bernie.
I know I'm a broken record on this, but Sen. Booker is going to pop in this campaign.
Just remember: The median Hispanic voter is more moderate on immigration reform than is often assumed
Really powerful moment from Beto here. All the praise from others didn't take oxygen away from when he got to speak. Also, maybe I'm reading the body language incorrectly, but Booker seems frustrated that Beto gets the label that gun violence is personal for him.
Really, really strong from Klobuchar on health care.
Here are some of my questions going into tonight:
1. Does Sen. Warren maintain her relentless commitment?
2. Does Sen. Harris have to play defense as she did in July, or will she be able to stay on the offensive now that her poll numbers have dipped, Tulsi Gabbard isn't there, etc.?
3. Does Sen. Booker build on his strong July performance, and is his team ready to capitalize on it if he does?
4. What does the "new Beto" look like, and will he be any more effective?
5. Does Sen. Klobuchar (aka #TheKLOB) put herself forward more strongly as the moderate alternative to Biden?
6. Just how much oppo is unloaded on Biden tonight, and is it driven by the candidates or the moderators?
I'm not going to comment much, but wanted to say that I love reading everyone's thoughts and like this idea of a smaller chat (as opposed to twitter) a lot so thank you Michael Wear.
I hope there aren't closing statements, because these candidates are all using this question to say why they're running.
Not sure anything has happened in the last 40 minutes that matters for the race except that Booker is still very strong
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Looks like Beto and Buttigieg have decided to chip at the 30-40% who support Warren/Sanders as opposed to the 30% that support Biden in the first 30 minutes of this debate.
I just think voters have an issue with the fact that we "fundamentally transformed health care" in 2010 after fighting for that kind of reform since at least Truman, all these Senators voted for it, and now Sanders/Warren want to completely scrap that and support a $30 trillion overhaul?
"I think we should have a debate on health care. I know the Senator (Warren) says she's with Bernie, well I'm with Barack."
Sen. Harris really taking "debate performance" literally
So interesting, and smart, for Castro to argue that he'll win back the Rust Belt. Force others to say WHY they'd be the ones to win it back.
Will anyone deviate from totally pro-choice, no exceptions? May not even come up tonight... but it really matters for my vote and I know I’m not alone.
Who will cast the best, most compelling vision for the country, post-Trump?
For the love, can Pete Buttigieg have a breakout moment tonight. I am *ready* for it.
I feel this debate has had more substance than some of the other ones.
We need baby pictures.
I feel like health care has gotten more expensive since The Affordable Care Act and the Health Insurance Companies have become so much more difficult to work with. I like that Bernie’s plan gets rid of these companies
Mayor Pete is dialed in
Now that the debate is over, what are your takeaways?
Sen. Harris is going to try to be relentless in pivoting from earlier in this race, and position herself as a unifier. Will others push her on that, or let her make the claim?
This has been the most interesting things with these debates. After the frontrunners have the debate, how does the rest of the field sort itself out?
Booker's response there was really strong. There is a sense (at least for me) that O'Rourke is rather performative and come-lately on racism. Booker added some depth and pragmatism to the conversation in a really powerful way there. He didn't go after O'Rourke, but he dismissed him in a delicate way while giving a strong answer himself.
Do we have a baby photo for this debate? If not I might log off.
Hope
I'm watching for a Castro breakout. This may be his last chance. I've been pulling for him to be the Warren alternative (wonky but not far-left economically).