Tonight we saw 10 of the Democrats running for president on the same stage in Miami.
The ten candidates on stage during this debate are: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Rep. Tim Ryan, (D-OH), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Former Rep. John Delaney and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Here are Dan’s thoughts.
11:05pm: Warren, Inslee and Castro may have helped themselves most tonight. There’s a long, long trail winding ahead, including another “debate” tomorrow night.
11:00pm: Every closing statement good. Not a bad one in the bunch.
10:44pm: Beto with his best answer re: Trump/Russia/Mueller.
10:43pm: Congress woman Gabbard has best moment challenging Ryan about Afghanistan.
10:30pm: This second hour was hurt by NBC technical problems and nature of questions and answers. Suspect that some of audience may be drifting away.
10:28pm: Inslee strongest on climate change.
10:18pm: First big blunder comes from DeBlasio who says he is “different from other candidates in this race in that I’m raising a black son.” This was on the same stage as Cory Booker, who is a black man.
10:07pm: Technical difficulties prove to be a big hiccup, slowing the momentum.
10:04pm: The New York Times says Cory Booker actually has the most speaking time. Followed by Warren, Castro, Klobuchar and O’Rourke.
9:59pm: A lively and informative first hour. No candidate made a major mistake. All appeared to be smart and articulate.
Worth pausing for a moment to remind ourselves that -even with all of our problems and worries-ours is a terrific country
9:55pm: WaPo says Castro has caught up with Warren on speaking time….and Google Trends finds that searches for “Julian Castro” have spiked +2,400% in search since the debate started.
9:50pm: After almost an hour, Warren, Castro and Inslee have helped themselves the most..O’Rourke may have hurt himself the most.
9:44pm: Castro on the photo of the dead father and daughter: “It should piss us all off.”
9:43pm: Castro scores against Beto over border issues. Hottest exchange so far.
9:42pm: Castro working his way onto the ticket…my thought.
9:40pm: Castro strongest, most specific so far on border/children abused issue.
9:24pm: Delaney jumps in and get major applause as he says Democrats should be the party that keeps what’s working and fixes what’s broken.
9:23pm: DeBlasio first to go on attack. Interrupts o’Rourke, tries to rip him on healthcare.
9:17pm: Donald Trump barely mentioned 17 minutes in.
9:09pm: Warren gets a second question before most candidates get their first one. She is two for two with first two answers.
9:05p: Beto O’Rourke answers in Spanish. Perhaps he’s doing it because he’s in Miami or he is simply courting Hispanic voters.
9:03pm: Warren scores early. Focused, passionate, specific.
9:02pm: Elizabeth Warren gets the first question seems deliberate.
