Winners and Losers: November Debate Roundup
By Katy Gates
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
The 6th Democratic debate in Atlanta may not have been the most riveting to watch, but its repercussions were enormous. Since then, three candidates have dropped out of the race, one has continued his meteoric rise, and one has fallen further from that coveted spot atop the polls and in the spotlight. As the number of candidates in the race shrinks, the need of the remaining candidates to distinguish their platforms from others’ onstage intensifies. Here is a comprehensive review of the winners and losers of November’s debate along with some key takeaways.
Winner: Amy Klobuchar
Camille: The Minnesota senator exceeded all expectations during this debate, by far. Ms. Klobuchar was able to get in some good zingers (“Nancy Pelosi does it everyday” had the studio crowd roaring) and drew some great laughs for her answers. My personal favorite is when she joked “I raised $17,000 from ex-boyfriends” for her easily-won 2006 Senate race. She made the most of her limited time on that debate stage with smooth and cool answers. Sen. Klobuchar has been having a difficult time differentiating herself from Buttigieg and Biden as a moderate candidate, but she and her iconic shaky bang were certainly memorable this November debate.
Katy: If I could only use one word to describe Amy Klobuchar, it would be “proud”. She is proud to be a woman on that debate stage, she is proud of being a senator from Minnesota, and she is certainly proud of her witty wisecrackers. Senator Klobuchar knows she is not a frontrunner in this race at the moment, but she uses her time more wisely than almost any other candidate onstage, switching back and forth with grace and ease between sharp critiques of her competitors, lighthearted jokes, and clearly outlining her own stance on the issues. Unfortunately, the roaring laughter and applause Klobuchar receives during debates has yet to translate into top-tier polling, but the senator from Minnesota has qualified for the December debate and has been slowly gaining traction after her last two stellar debate performances. She could just be poised for a major surge of her own in this stage of the race where Buttigieg (the other Midwestern pragmatist) is on the rise, and candidates that are further to the left such as Warren and Sanders are on the decline.
Winner: Pete Buttigieg
Camille: With an exorbitant rise in the Iowa polls this past month, Mayor Pete walked into Tyler Perry studios with a target on his back. However, it seemed that not only did the moderators but also the candidates had forgotten this fact and let him relatively unscathed. A good moment for Pete was when Tulsi pressed him for stating that he’d like to have U.S. forces on the border, to which he shot back was “outlandish” and “misconstrued”. He even turned back the heat on Tulsi about the role the US military should be playing abroad. The South Bend Mayor came off presidential as ever with calm and collected reasoning, and a particularly intelligent answer to Trump’s trade war, stating he believes that farmers can be not the problem, but the solution for climate change. Pete played to his base well this debate and jostled former VP Biden for the position as the moderate candidate, all the while his polling numbers keep climbing and climbing in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Katy: Mr. Buttigieg comes off as remarkably presidential. As the youngest candidate in the race, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and the only contender for the nomination who is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, Buttigieg’s background already made him a standout. His performance in the November debate exceeded my expectations. While I expected him to crumble under the pressure and vicious attacks that come with the surge in the polls, the mayor conducted himself with poise and intellect. He responded well to Amy Klobuchar’s dig at his inexperience, boldly proclaiming, “There are over 100 years of Washington experience on this stage, and where are we right now as a country? I have the experience of bringing people together to get something done.” This was his shining moment of the night; if you still have any doubts about Buttigieg’s place in this primary, consider that your answer. What he may lack in Washington experience, he certainly makes up for it in eloquence.
Winner and Loser: Kamala Harris
Camille: While the former prosecutor and current California senator certainly didn’t have the best debate night of her life (that honor goes to the June debate with “That little girl was me”, pushing Harris as a frontrunner in the Democratic primary), her performance was very good in the November debate. She got in some signature zingers (“Donald Trump got punk’d”) with good delivery and made the most of her speaking time. Perhaps as a result of her experience as a prosecutor, Kamala easily draws attention when she speaks and people listen. Yet, despite her strong performance on November’s stage, it was no surprise Kamala announced her withdrawal of her presidential bid. I will miss her signature cackle. With her withdrawal, the December debate stage will be the least diverse it has been this election cycle.
Katy: Kamala gave a solid performance on the November debate stage. She seemed to regain some of her signature spark from the summer debates, and gave what I believe to be her best debate since June. She was less confrontational than she has been in past debates, only really engaging in a spat with Tulsi Gabbard, but I thought her approach as a unifier onstage really worked for her. I thought, momentarily, that it could have been enough to keep her in the race a while longer and boost her numbers a bit. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. Her campaign lacked a clear message and direction. She was not as progressive as Sanders, nor was she as moderate as Biden, and her in between lane did not seem to appeal to many. Her positions on issues such as Medicare For All were wishy-washy, and her prosecutorial record remained a subject of criticism. Despite these difficulties, she was a force to be reckoned with on the debate stage, and her presence there will be missed immensely.
Loser: Joe Biden
Camille: The former vice president is a voter favorite, but in the past few months since he announced his presidential ambitions, he has drawn criticism for his political past and age from the press and fellow candidates. However, this may have been one of his worst debates yet. Mr. Biden came across as tone deaf: when responding to a question about domestic violence, he stated that Americans must keep “punching at the problem”. Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue, but this certainly came at the wrong place at the wrong time. Mr. Biden also has a problem with cherry-picking his political record, broadly boasting about his shining moments during the Obama administration while stumbling when questioned about his past opinions. An example of this is Senator Booker cornering him on his opposition to the legalization of marijuana. With his poll-numbers slipping in Iowa, Biden has a lot of ground to cover and is banking on his “No Malarkey!” tour to drum up support.
Katy: Joe Biden has been a staple of American politics for who knows how many decades (as he constantly reminds us during these debates), but there comes a time in a man’s career when he must realize that he has fallen behind the times to be able to compete at the same level. For Mr. Biden, this moment is now. He is constantly slipping up during the televised debates saying things that are just incorrect (claiming he received the endorsement of the only black female senator elected when another black female senator was onstage with him), and eventually the listeners of these debates inevitably begin to question his mental acuity and ability to go head to head with Trump in the general. Biden maintains his lead over the rest of the field, but this lead seems to be growing more fragile by the day.
Loser: Tulsi Gabbard
Camille: The Hawaii congresswoman and veteran’s two clashes on stage were some of the most heated, showing a bit of cognitive dissonance from her party. She first got into a heated clash with Kamala Harris on her appearances on Fox News, and later verbally sparred with fellow veteran Pete Buttigieg on border security and the role of the US military abroad. Aside from these two clashes, nothing substantial about her platform particularly came across as memorable or meaningful during the debate. Still, it’s not a good look when Trump’s 2020 campaign frequently quotes her responses and even congratulated Gabbard when Harris dropped out of the race.
Katy: With every passing debate that Tulsi Gabbard is present in, I have only one question in my mind: Why is she vying for the presidential nomination from a party she seems to detest? She attacks other candidates with false accusations that sound like they came from Fox News (i.e. when she said that Buttigieg wanted to go to war with Mexico) and she seems to slam the Democratic Party on everything they do. Constructive criticism is an excellent tool, intraparty differences are a good thing, and free thinking should always be encouraged, but most of the time it seems that Gabbard’s only goal is to destroy the party from within. She provokes other candidates, even when doing so does not benefit her in any way. She spews an endless stream of misinformation in between repeating the same robotic sentences about bringing an end to endless war. Gabbard needs some new talking points, and she needs to stop stirring up needless drama, deepening the divides within the Democratic Party.
Loser: Tom Steyer
Camille: It’s no secret that billionaire Tom Steyer has bought his way into the 2020 Democratic primaries. Media Post recently reported he has spent $18.1 million in television ads in the past 30 days — that’s 1 million more than what Castro, Booker, Gabbard, and Klobuchar fundraised for the third quarter, who are polling much higher than him. He spoke a few times, but I really couldn’t remember anything of substance. Mr. Steyer had a moment of temporary solidarity with Andrew Yang on the debate stage (as billionaires do), but if Steyer really wants to rise in the polls, he must separate himself from Mr. Yang, who certainly isn’t going anywhere. Mr. Steyer is running on a shaky-at-best platform on climate change and governmental overhaul, which doesn’t really resonate with voters like hot-button issues do.
Katy: Tom Steyer’s involvement in this race makes minimal sense. He lacks a clear cohesive platform, which is very apparent in the debates. He entered the race relatively late, and he is already involved in politics through his organization, “Need to Impeach”. Him and his billions of dollars are much more useful there, than they are on the debate stage. Being extremely wealthy does not automatically equal political savvy. Many Americans learned that unfortunate lesson through the Trump presidency. If there’s one thing we do not need any more of, it is a wealthy man who has never before been elected to office, paying his way through a primary. When Steyer spoke, his comments did not speak to a larger message, and I could not tell you what he spoke about if I tried. Most candidates have a token issue: one issue they are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about, and around which many of their other positions revolve. Warren has healthcare, Yang has artificial intelligence, Booker has criminal justice reform, but Steyer does not seem to have anything. This became a lot clearer in the most recent debate, turning potential supporters away from his candidacy.
Forgettable: Cory Booker, Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders
Both authors can agree that none of these candidates had any particularly memorable moments that could translate into a large shift up or down in the polls or fundraising. Booker landed a couple of zingers (though none of them were as amusing as Klobuchar’s), Yang continued to rant about automation of jobs, Elizabeth Warren spoke vaguely about her healthcare plan and avoided the brunt of the scrutiny, and Bernie Sanders was as energetic and alive as ever, although he failed to appeal to those beyond his current base. Warren and Sanders will likely stay comfortably in the top tier of candidates, while Booker and Yang seem unlikely to experience any major surge in popularity right now. The November debate did very little to change their standings.
Despite its slow start, this November debate covered a lot more ground than previous debates did. What both authors liked was that while healthcare was an important topic, it did not dominate debate time for an hour. Topics like paid maternity leave, journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and domestic violence were brought into the discussion by the all-female panel of moderators. This November debate was also a lot more relaxed, perhaps due to the slimming of the field and the candidates feeling more comfortable on the debate stage. Overall, the debate heralds a bright future for the Democratic party with healthy and substantial repartee that is certainly better than the horrendous rhetoric espoused by the White House.
