So far, an hour in, this looks like the best debate so far.

[highplainsdem]

Anyone else agree?

[nolabear]

1. I do. They're going for Warren but it's a good question.

I want to see her under fire.

I’m worried they’re ignoring Joe though.

[flamingdem]

3. They are ignoring him!

Also he has to jump in..

[nolabear]

5. Yeah, he needs to get in there. Have some fire.

[highplainsdem]

6. I do wish they'd give Joe more time. But I also have the impression the moderators are

giving all the candidates a fairer chance to speak than in the past debates.

And I think our candidates are making their points better than in past debates (well, except for Warren continuing to dodge the question of higher taxes to pay for MFA).

[UniteFightBack]

2. I don't like too much piling on though. nt

[tishaLA]

4. There are basically three or four people talking

and the rest are just standing there. Barely anything from Castro, Booker, Harris, O'Rourke....

[highplainsdem]

10. It'll be interesting to see the stats later. My impression has been that they've been

fairer in terms of speaking time than in past debates.

[frazzled]

12. Right now the speaking times are wildly skewed

Last I looked, Warren had around 11 minutes, while the next two (Sanders Biden) had less than half of that, at five and change. Seven of the candidates have 3 or less. Wha?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/15/us/elections/debate-speaking-time.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

[George II]

7. Pretty good, but hate the format, as usual. Some have to realize that insisting on talking...

...or interrupting does more harm than good.

[question everything]

8. Spent too many valuable time on impeachment

But the later ones injected some o their ideas

[highplainsdem]

11. I thought it was important to have our candidates' comments on impeachment at the start.

And I thought all their answers were really good.

[herding cats]

14. I've thought Amy looked good tonight.

Just FWIW.

[question everything]

17. She does. Offers sensible MidWestern appeoach

[herding cats]

20. That she does.

I'm surprised she's not higher in the polls. She's smart, articulate and just damn sensible. Not to mention sharp and personable.

[Raine]

27. I'm liking her

more and more!

[Kahuna7]

9. This is my first debate. I'm watching it on facebook. Erin is doing a good job. nt

[Mike Nelson]

13. Agree...

... and I don't mind the candidates contrasting ideas and issues.

[Goodheart]

15. Everybody... I mean EVERYBODY... is as impressive as all get out.

[herding cats]

19. Right?

They're all so much better than Trump it's mind boggling how there's even a question here.

[Arkansas Pilot]

16. I would like to see how E Warren is going to collect a wealth Tax

it is easy to collect a tax on income, is she really talking about all taxpayers having to produce a balance sheet that shows assets and liabilities?

[Blue_true]

21. I am leaning toward supporting her, but I never liked the wealth tax idea,

it is just too hard to execute in practice and takes voluntary compliance to work, that is one issue with it. The second issue is the definition of wealth. I often see people on DU getting angry about how rich Jeff Bezos is, but they fail to see that the vast majority of his wealth is paper wealth that is dependent upon the businesses that he run continuing to operate profitably. So, how does one apply a wealth tax to Bezos?

I, like you seem to, believe that an income tax is the better route. What needs to be done is the definition of income should be broadened and capital gains taxes should have the same tax rate as regular income, that way CEOs and other high company officials can't pay themselves in stock to avoid the immediate income tax, hold the stock beyond two years and sell it to pay a much lower capital gains tax.

[DrToast]

24. It's completely unecessary.

We have ways to collect the fair share of taxes from the wealthy. There's no point to institute an entirely new form of taxation that will probably be difficult to enforce. Just set the income taxes and capital gains taxes at appropriate levels. Problem solved.

[Blue_true]

25. I agree. nt

[peggysue2]

26. I agree on the Wealth Tax

I've been doing a bit of research and reading and the Wealth Tax is a shiny new object for the United States. Sounds good but beneath the surface it's simply not a practical way to go and the revenue collections have historically been disappointing where it's been tried. Warren needs to rethink the funding because the numbers won't work.

[herding cats]

18. It's definitely better than the others.

I still hate the time limits, but I understand the need.

[StevieM]

22. I don't agree.

If we had two debates, like we should have, then we could have given so much more time to all the candidates. And it would have been that much more time to promote Democratic ideas.

What we are seeing in this primary is what it really looks like when the DNC screws up the debates. Many candidates in this cycle have the complaints that Bernie claimed to have in the last primary.

[ecstatic]

23. The first segment on impeachment was like heaven

for me. I was just soaking and basking in their words and unity.

[Ninga]

28. Sen Warren laid out in clear terms, the value her stewardship brought to the Consumer Protection

Bureau.

She was told to go small...you know the rest of the story.