Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumNate Silver: Final Thoughts
OK heres my wrap: If you were really excited like we were! about seeing all the major Democrats on together on stage for the first time, that debate felt like a little bit of a letdown.
Whether its a Big 3, a Big 4, or something else, I dont know that any of the front-runners had a particularly strong night. As was the pattern in the previous debate, Biden started out fairly strong and got worse as the night went along, and the evening will probably most be remembered for his rambling answer to a moderators question about the legacy of slavery. Warren was
fine/good? But more evasive than usual, and she disappeared for long stretches of the evening. Bernie literally didnt sound well and I dont think Democrats will like his answer about the filibuster. Harris just hasnt been very sharp after a very good first debate, and shes developed a habit of falling into a languid speaking style and circuitous answers that sometimes land somewhere and sometimes dont.
Several of the second- and third-tier candidates performed pretty well, by contrast. ORourke had some very sharp moments. It was almost certainly Klobuchars best debate. Booker is possibly the most consistent debater in the field. Im not sure Castros not-so-thinly veiled attack on Bidens age will go over well, but who knows
and at least hes drawing attention to himself. Same with Yang.
So, well see. This is one of those cases where my default is not to expect much change, but its a fairly weak prior and Ill want to see the polling and the post-debate spin. Speaking of which, Ipsos will be re-polling our panel of Democratic voters to see how their opinions of the candidates changed. Well let you know as soon as that interactive is updated.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/abc-news-democratic-debate/
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
thesquanderer
(11,990 posts)As the night wore on, I started to get the sense that she sounded like she was a bit tipsy.
She's also big on evasive answers.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Green Line
(1,123 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden