As expected, night 2 wasn't quite as interesting as night 1 mostly because there wasn't as much of an ideological divide. It seemed obvious that a lot of the candidates were struggling to differentiate themselves and reconciled this by going on the offensive. Ultimately I don't think that strategy will work out. There was clearly blood in the water not just from Biden but also Harris. A lot of the low pollers seemed to frequently go after one or the other, Biden much more so. Sometimes it worked, like when Tulsi went after Harris, sometimes not as much, like Gillibrand vs Biden.
I mentioned yesterday that Tulsi was probably the only progressive on stage but totally forgot about de Blasio, who is actually running a progressive campaign. He seems to be playing the Trump role in the sense that he has the same New York brashness and isn't afraid to directly attack other candidates. When a moderator asked which opponent a candidate was specifically referring to when making a general statement about other Democrats, de Blasio was the only one who would name names without dodging the question. Whether that's good or bad is up for debate, it ultimately doesn't matter because this will be the last we hear from him.
Andrew Yang got a lot more speaking time and also performed infinitely better than last time around. He was basically ignored by the other candidates and pretty much used every question as a way to promote his Freedom Dividend. I would really like to see a moderator ask any of the other candidates if they agree with his proposal. Anyway, he had a lot of great moments and even had some nice applause lines. I'll be curious to see if he sees any improvements. Apparently he is one of the few who have qualified for the third debate, which is interesting. We'll see how he performs on a smaller stage.
Gillibrand came off much better this time I thought. Her attack on Biden's record with women was a dud though and probably ruined any other good moments she had. She basically implored people to help her make the next debate stage at the end. She's done.
Add Bennett, Castro, and Inslee to the list of finished candidates. Castro had a real chance going into this to build on his momentum and maybe cross that third debate threshold but he didn't really have any memorable moments. He is also not doing a good job with explaining what a lot of people are interpreting as essentially a call for open borders, which is a politically toxic position. Inslee is obviously in this to push the climate change issue and seems to be doing fine on that front. More than any other candidate, I really have no idea why Bennett is running. I'll miss him though, I like hearing him talk. He's definitely from Colorado.
If I was a Democratic frontrunner, the last candidate I would want to see meet the third debate requirements is Tulsi Gabbard. She is a great debater and speaker. She is really good job at coming off as the more knowledgeable and qualified person while making the opposition look really bad. She did it to Tim Ryan last time and last night she did it to Kamala Harris. I'd love to see her up against Trump. That said, she is probably done. However she did have a much better performance overall and seems to have generated some buzz.
Of course the match everyone wanted to see was Harris and Biden. Biden performed about the same as last time, minus any particularly embarrassing moments. So it was probably about as good as he could hope for, as the frontrunner. He does get tongue tied a lot though and has a tendency toward long ramblings before abruptly stopping. It doesn't look good and gives me serious concerns about his health. I still think that, of the frontrunners, he is by far the worst choice and I really hope he isn't the nominee.
Harris wasn't quite as strong tonight. She tried to have another moment with Biden and while she did OK I don't think it'll land the way it did last time. Her exchange with Tulsi looked really bad and exposed what is really a wishy washy platform and a questionable record.
At the end of the day, I don't think any candidate really came out of this looking good. It was a much more confrontational debate and that's not a great look for the Dems. I actually think Cory Booker was the one who came off the best. He has a ton of charisma and I'm actually surprised he isn't a frontrunner. He's certainly more appealing than a Beto or a Mayor Pete with similar policy and charm.
After this the debate requirements become more strict and we're going to see a lot of candidates dropping out. I think this is ultimately going to come down to Warren and Biden. I'm really looking forward to seeing the two of them finally share a debate stage. I still like Harris in terms of her being qualified and having a presidential demeanor. She's probably to the right of me on policy, but I think at least some of the progressive agenda will ultimately win out in the end regardless. No matter who wins the nomination, Bernie Sanders is going to be one of the lead voices in whatever healthcare or education legislation is written. Obviously healthcare under President Biden would look different than under President Sanders, but a lot of the debate over the details that we're seeing now is going to happen again in congress.
