The five Democratic presidential candidates shared a debate stage for the first time on Tuesday night. Hillary Clinton entered the campaign as the prohibitive front-runner, but her path to the nomination hasn’t been as easy as once thought.
Did the debate change the complexion of the race? Here are six takeaways:
1. Clinton vs. Sanders, Round 1
Hillary Clinton won’t hesitate to go after Bernie Sanders, her nearest rival in the Democratic race. The former secretary of State hit the Vermont independent over gun control and foreign policy, and described some of his positions as unrealistic.
On guns particularly, she didn’t mince words when asked whether he was aggressive enough on the issue.
“No, not at all,” she responded. If Clinton needs to shore up her left flank as the caucuses and primaries near, it became clear Tuesday night that this is an issue she’ll likely highlight.
2. Sanders and the ‘revolution’
Clinton may be more than willing to hit Sanders from the left on guns, but she likely won’t be trying to match his rhetoric on economic issues.
Sanders has surged in Democratic polls by appealing to voters concerned about economic inequality. But he may have to continue explaining what it means to be a “Democratic socialist.” The political independent found himself on the defensive over his views of capitalism and his call for a voter “revolution.”
Clinton, no doubt thinking ahead to a general election campaign, defended capitalism, saying it would be “a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class” in world history.
3. The Biden question remains
The unused podium: While Vice President Biden’s name did not surface during the debate, his prospective candidacy hovers over the race.
So how will Tuesday’s debate affect his calculus? We can only guess what will ultimately tip the scales for the vice president, but if he was hoping to face a front-runner weakened by the opening debate, he likely won’t get his wish.
4. Not a breakthrough night for the long shots
It’s going to be hard for Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee to break through and become competitive, and maybe O’Malley as well. Clinton and Sanders got more air time than the other three candidates — a fact that Webb harped on repeatedly. O’Malley landed some punches against Clinton and Sanders at times, but by and large failed to register the kind of breakthrough moment most analysts thought he needed to be viewed as a real threat to Clinton.
Chafee, meanwhile, had a moment people will remember (good, if you’re floundering in the polls), but one he was widely mocked for on social media (not so good). When asked about his vote on the Glass-Steagall banking law, he explained that it was his “very first vote” after being appointed to succeed his father, who had just died, suggesting he really wasn’t sure what he was voting on.
5. Twitter just can’t get enough Trump
Yes, it was the Democrats night in the spotlight, but that doesn’t mean Donald Trump was about to exit stage right. The Republican front-runner took plenty of shots at his Democratic rivals throughout the night, live tweeting the debate with thoughts about his own candidacy and his own unique brand of political analysis. “Can anyone imagine Chafee as president?” he asked. “O’Malley… has very little chance,” read one tweet.
And Trump wasn’t the only one tweeting about Trump. Twitter’s Adam Sharp notes: “When adding Republicans to the mix, Donald Trump emerged as the third most-Tweeted-about (candidate), behind Clinton and Sanders, fueled by his live-tweeting the debate.”
Trump didn’t come up too often in the debate itself, though Sanders worked in a dig, as did O’Malley, who called the billionaire real estate developer a “carnival barker.”
6. Clinton all in on making history
Clinton won’t be shy about pointing out that she would be the nation’s first female president; she made several references to her gender throughout the evening.
When asked why her administration would not be a third term for President Obama, she said: “Well, I think that’s pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we’ve had up until this point, including President Obama.”
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