Washington (CNN)The field of
Democratic presidential hopefuls faced off in their first debate, hosted by CNN
and Facebook, on Tuesday night.
For more than two hours, the
candidates tried to make their best impressions before a national audience
discovering many of them for the first time.
Here's how they did:
Winner
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton proved without
a doubt Tuesday night why she is the Democratic Party's presidential
front-runner.
Clinton remained unflappable
throughout the debate, showcasing her political experience and her command of
the issues -- all the while deftly handling criticism of her flip-flops and
displaying a humor that put a more human face to her oft-criticized candidacy.
From the outset, Clinton was
pressed to defend her changing stances on various issues -- from the Pacific
Rim trade deal to same-sex marriage -- and came out from the tough questioning
with a strong one-liner that very much fits the frame of her campaign:
"I'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things
done."
David Axelrod, CNN senior
political commentator and the chief strategist for the Obama campaign that
trounced Clinton in 2008, said she did "very well" and that her
campaign was likely "thrilled with the performance."
Clinton's big night on the
debate stage
"She was poised she was
passionate and she was in command," Axelrod said. "If I were her
campaign I would be thrilled with what she did tonight."
And Clinton showed her mettle
when she came under attack from three of her opponents on the stage over her
vote in favor of the Iraq War, dismissing the idea that her judgment should be
questioned over that vote by tying in President Barack Obama's decision to tap
her as secretary of state. And to top it off, she used the question to play up her
foreign policy chops.
"I recall very well being
on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating
this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become secretary of state.
He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him in the Situation
Room, going over some very difficult issues," Clinton said.
Opinion: Clinton brings it
In what came as a surprise to
some pundits, Clinton also did not shy away from taking on her chief rival,
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Clinton tested Sanders over
his shifting stance on gun control in a way that he failed to do on her policy
flips -- Sanders even appeared flustered.
When asked whether Sanders is
"tough enough on guns," Clinton didn't do any tip-toeing.
"No, not at all,"
she said, before pointing out that Sanders has five times voted against the
Brady Bill, which aimed to curtail gun violence.
Clinton didn't just take on
her runner-up, she also made a point of going after Republicans -- making the
case yet again that she's the best prepared to take on the GOP in the general
election.
Unclear
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders didn't shock
anyone: he played to his base and thrived off the momentum that his insurgent
campaign has enjoyed.
But his attempts at expanding
his base of support -- by including criminal justice reform in his opening
statement and unequivocally stating "Black lives matter" later on --
checked boxes but likely didn't inspire voters in the African-American
community.
And he didn't do anything to
convince voters he can overcome the electability hurdles a self-declared
"democratic socialist" is sure to face in the general election.
"He spoke to his
supporters. He spoke to the base of the Democratic Party. I'm not sure he
showed why he's electable," CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger
said.
What would Clinton, Sanders do
on marijuana?
But one thing Sanders did show
was his passion for addressing the core issues of his campaign: income
inequality and reckless behavior and excesses on Wall Street. And for voters
still getting introduced to Sanders, that's likely appealing.
Sanders displayed the same
impassioned, off-the-cuff speaking style that has galvanized hundreds of
thousands of Americans to join what Sanders hopes will become a veritable
"political revolution."
But the Vermont senator faced
his toughest moment as he addressed his record on gun laws. It's the one issue
where Clinton has consistently been to Sanders' left and he seemed ill-equipped
to cope with her frontal attack.
Fact-checking the debate
Losers
Joe Biden
Clinton's win was Joe Biden's
loss.
The vice president is still
mulling whether to jump into the presidential contest, but Clinton's dominant
showing Tuesday night makes the case for a Biden candidacy that much more
difficult.
Clinton's performance at the
first primary debate is sure to soothe many anxious Democratic donors and
supporters who have been wringing their hands over the start-and-stop pace of
the opening months of Clinton's 2016 campaign -- notably the wobbly response to
the controversies that have rocked its debut.
Biden could have joined the
first debate and the result might have been different. But he didn't. And now
Biden has to grapple with the reality of the outcome.
Martin O'Malley
Martin O'Malley needed a
breakout moment and he came up empty.
At face value, O'Malley didn't
have a bad night. He cogently and concisely laid out his talking points and
even took on both Clinton and Sanders at different points during the debate. He
hit all the right notes on several of his responses and touted his
results-driven record.
And if he wasn't mired at just
1% in the polls, that might have been enough.
But O'Malley left the debate
stage Tuesday night without a standout moment or zinger that people will be
talking about Wednesday.
O'Malley's strongest moment
came when he challenged Sanders on gun control and made an fervent call for
stricter gun laws -- showing that he was prepared to fight to wrestle the
mantle of the progressive wing away from Sanders, whose candidacy has wrecked
O'Malley's plans to present himself as the progressive alternative to a more
moderate Clinton.
The Democratic debate by the
numbers
Jim Webb
It started off as a rough
night for former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb whose first impression to the
overwhelming majority of Americans came as he stumbled in his opening statement
as he listed the names of his five daughters.
And as the debate wore on,
Webb seemed more pressed squabbling with debate moderator Anderson Cooper over
the amount of time allotted to the different candidates than in making an
impression that would win over voters.
At one point, when asked about
giving undocumented immigrants access to Obamacare benefits, Webb appeared to
formulate his position on the spot after pausing for a few seconds.
Lincoln Chafee
The former senator, governor
and mayor simply didn't make a lasting impression.
He tried to stake out the
moral high ground from the get-go -- pointing to his "high ethical
standards" and the fact that he's never had any "scandals."
But he failed to turn his
thinly veiled jab at Clinton and her email woes into any kind of more direct
contrast or confrontation.
The
Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat proclaimed that he is a
"block of granite when it comes to the issues," but when pressed over
his vote to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, Chafee gave a head-scratching
response: "I had just arrived in the Senate. "
Reference: CNN
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