The first Democratic presidential debate was much better than expected and that’s largely due to the fact that there were only five candidates on the stage. Republicans should hope that most of their candidates drop out soon.
Hillary Clinton was the clear winner. She was well prepared for every question and left the other candidates far behind. She might not be exciting and she might be grating to those tired of her, but she’s certainly the most qualified Democrat running to be president. She only helped her candidacy tonight.
Bernie Sanders is an important voice and source of energy for the Democratic party. He did well on issues such as the “rigged economy” and campaign finance, but struggled badly on gun control and foreign policy. Nonetheless, Sanders has tapped into something very important that Democrats must harness if they want to win in 2016.
Martin O’Malley is what Donald Trump would call a “low energy” candidate. He’s mostly auditioning to be Clinton’s running mate but when he attempted to criticize her she gave him a look which suggested he might no longer be on the short list.
I’m not sure why Jim Webb, who was whiny about debate rules, and Lincoln Chafee, who was just terrible, even bother running.
The biggest losers were Republicans trying to use the Benghazi Committee to investigate Hillary Clinton’s email problems. It has energized Democrats and has backfired big time as a political issue.
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