For the first time in this primary season, the gloves came off for the Democratic candidates. Personal attacks, quips, and zingers dominated the Vegas showdown. Warren took no prisoners, Bloomberg floundered and flailed, Sanders emerged largely unscathed. In the last debate before Nevada, South Carolina, and, crucially, Super Tuesday, progressive candidates and ideas dominated, while moderates struggled to make an impression.
Winner: Elizabeth Warren
It did not take long for Warren to come out swinging. Her first salvo against Bloomberg set the tone for her debate performance, the strongest of the night.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” she said. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”
Her attacks on Bloomberg did not stop as the debate went on. She demanded a better apology for his implementation of stop and frisk. “No, this isn’t about how it turned out” she said, “this is about how it was designed to begin with”. When asked about reports of a toxic workplace environment in his business, Bloomberg offered a lacklustre response. Warren pressed hard, asking about the women who have signed non-disclosure agreements about allegations of harassment by the Former Mayor of New York.
He was not the only one facing blows from a revitalised Elizabeth Warren. On healthcare, she criticised Buttigieg’s plan as a “Power Point” and Klobuchar’s as a “Post-It note”. In a rare move, she was openly aggressive against Bernie Sanders: “[Voters] are worried about gambling on a revolution!”
Far more important than her quips against candidates (there were plenty) was a reignited sense of purpose and a return to her original message. Her performance in New Hampshire was a shock to the system, threatening fundraising and the continuation of the campaign. Warren’s message of uniting moderate and progressive wings of the party slowed her down and helped little.
In Vegas, she was back to the policy chops that captivated voters at the start of her campaign, with particularly compelling segments on her wealth tax and on the climate. Both in rhetoric and in action, Warren was back to her fighting self, emphasising her history of taking on the difficult fights and winning. Widely lauded as the winner, positive headlines will give a much-needed burst of momentum going into Super Tuesday. As her campaign reports, the cash is flowing in already, with almost three million raised since the debate.
One thing is certain from her electric performance – Elizabeth Warren will not allow herself to be written off lightly.
Loser: Michael Bloomberg
With a stark rise in the polls and a muddled field in the moderate wing of the primary, Bloomberg positioned himself as the strongest competitor to Bernie Sanders in the weeks leading up to the debate. It is safe to say that his performance did little to strengthen this claim. As Jason Johnson jested on MSNBC, he had “the most expensive night in Vegas I’ve ever seen”.
He was the ideal punching bag for progressive Democrats: a billionaire with a fraught record of supporting stop and frisk, funding Republican candidates, and facing accusations of sexual harassment by numerous women.
As Warren pushed him on the NDAs, he retorted: “In my company, lots and lots of women have big responsibilities.” She moved in for the kill, addressing the audience: “I hope you heard what his defence was: ‘I’ve been nice to some women.” As the crowd erupted in cheers, Bloomberg rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows – not a good look.
Not only did his opponents’ attacks land again and again, but Bloomberg offered little in response. The debate was a chance for him to offer a real message to voters, a single reason why he would make a good President. It was the first chance to move beyond his increasingly controversial $400 million ad spend and assuage critics that he is not simply trying to buy the Presidency. Instead, critics will undoubtedly emerge emboldened. Where Bloomberg escaped from the defensive, he managed to make himself look even worse: a muddled answer on climate, a “cheap shot” at Sanders, and the infinitely relatable closing statement “you can also join me, but I’m not asking for money.”
Mike Bloomberg had a very bad night indeed. Time will tell if his bottomless war chest will buy him a recovery.
Winner: The Climate
In the most contentious debate to date, one issue stood above the rest as an area of relative consensus: the Climate Crisis. With the opening answer to the question, Joe Biden, a self-proclaimed moderate, called the crisis “the existential threat humanity faces”. He went on to give his most progressive stance of the night, advocating for targeting polluting companies and holding company CEOs personally accountable.
Buttigieg, perhaps stronger rhetorically than substantively came out with one of his best lines of the night: “Let’s be real about the deadline. It’s not 2050, it’s not 2040, it’s not 2030. It’s 2020.”
In a more ambitious stance, Warren and Sanders refused to back down on the issue of fracking, calling for a total ban despite a projected political cost in states like Pennsylvania where thousands are employed by the industry. Both progressive candidates echoed their support for the Green New Deal, an ambitious plan that seeks to revitalise the US economy with investment in renewable energy and other sustainably industries.
Warren spoke out about the crucial issue of environmental justice, highlighting that the most disadvantaged communities were the first to feel the effects of climate change. She specifically alluded to communities of colour threatened by pernicious and often overlooked climate harms.
With a memorable line, Sanders closed his answer by echoing Biden: “This is an existential threat. You know what that means, Chuck?”
Tensions ran high throughout the evening, with the candidates more divided in this debate than ever before with climate being a notable exception. The Overton Window has clearly shifted within the Democratic party, especially on climate. Given the position of the US as the leading global polluter, a shift in attitude and policy is deeply needed. As Sanders showed in 2016, the ideas raised by a campaign, even by a losing one, can affect the Congressional party. As consensus builds around the urgency of the climate crisis at a higher level, a shift among Democratic lawmakers is inevitable.
Loser: the moderate wing
As Sanders pulled away in the latest polls as a clear frontrunner, moderate candidates continued fighting among themselves. Just as Buttigieg attacked Sanders for trying to “burn down the house”, he spent much of the debate going after Klobuchar and others. A clash between Buttigieg and Klobuchar persisted throughout the night, often reduced to petty quibbles rather than substantive debate.
The first line of attack came from Buttigieg, who pressed on Vanessa Hauc’s line of questioning about Klobuchar’s inability to name the President of Mexico in a recent interview. The Minnesota Senator snapped back: “Are you trying to say that I’m dumb? Or are you mocking me here, Pete”.
Later on, Buttigieg launched sustained attack on her record, highlighting her vote to confirm he head of Customs and Border Protection under Trump – one of the figures behind the border separation policy. “You voted to make English the national language.” said Buttigieg. “Do you know the message that sends in as multilingual a state as Nevada to immigrants?”
Ultimately, the duo suffered through their squabble, allowing Warren and Sanders to take centre stage. Given both Buttigieg and Klobuchar’s insistence on party unity, some of their more personal attacks may hurt their credibility in the eyes of voters. The Midwestern duo’s moderation did little to inspire the crowd. Hoping, no doubt, for a strong reaction, Klobuchar’s “I believe in capitalism!” drew a few muted claps from the audience.
Winner: Bernie
In light of the Bloomberg evisceration, Warren’s superstar moments, and the duel of Midwestern moderates, Bernie Sanders is unlikely to make many headlines for his performance. Overall, however, he may be the biggest winner of the debate. As the clear frontrunner, he faced less pressure than many may have expected, and delivered a confident performance where he acknowledged his growing support.
Two blows from his opponents certainly landed: the question of his medical records, and that of the “Bernie Bros”. On concerns about his health, he failed to deliver a convincing rebuke. His confusing allusion to Russian Twitter bots when discussing his extreme supporters served to undermine an otherwise solid answer.
The main line pursued against him by Bloomberg – the fact that he is a democratic socialist – was cheapened by an allusion to communism, which drew sighs from audience and candidates alike. When pressed on paying for single payer healthcare, or the electability of a socialist, Sanders returned to a tried and tested message. “It should not be polarizing to speak to the needs of the working class”, he responded to Buttigieg’s attack, drawing applause from the audience.
The most significant moment of the night for Sanders was his answer to the very last question: whether a candidate with a plurality of delegates should triumph even if they are short of a majority. Sanders was the only candidate to answer with an unequivocal “yes”, with all others saying they would let the rules of the Convention work their course.
The importance of his answer on the Convention cannot be overstated. Questions of “systemic” change have dominated the rhetoric of many candidates, especially that of Sanders, Warren, and Buttigieg. While the latter two decry the undemocratic nature of campaign finance, the electoral college, and gerrymandering, their support of the Convention process may be seen as hypocritical. Most critically, it allows for the influence of “superdelegates” appointed by the DNC who do not reflect voters in any sense.
For Bernie, this provides a perfect line of attack, especially given his experience in 2016. The other candidate’s answers are certain to fire up his supporters, possibly giving him crucial a boost going into Super Tuesday.