[FOR NEVADA DEBATE, go HERE.]
Who won last night's "debate"?
Let's start with the authentically weird. According to a Drudge Report "instant poll," and a separate poll from the Washington Examiner, another right-wing site, Wednesday night's big winner was — Tulsi Gabbard. Don't ask me, although I suspect it has much to do with her military service; pseudo-patriotic right wingers just can't get enough of guys and gals in uniform and who play with things that go boom.
From there, Drudge and Examiner readers were in accordance with more mainstream opinion. They both chose Elizabeth Warren as the winner (in second-place, that is). Other victors were Julián Castro and Cory Booker. For reasons not entirely clear, they also liked John Delaney, who mostly made his mark last night by cutting in and not playing well with others, especially the moderators.
MSNBC's Chris Matthews had a novel take: "I think the winner tonight … was probably Joe Biden, because to quote Sherlock Holmes, 'the dog wasn’t barking tonight.' No one took on the Democratic frontrunner the whole two hours. And I think that’s a big surprise." A surprise, perhaps, but its bigness is doubtful. Each candidate possessed such little time to extol him- or herself, why squander it on Joe?
As expected, Warren dominated, except for a momentary lull midway. She aimed for progressives rather than Biden's liberals, and she scored. Although her strategy is ideal for the primary season, in which the most politically motivated prevail, it would haunt her in the general election season. "When the moderators asked the 10 candidates which of them would support eliminating private health insurance as part of a single-payer health care plan," notes the Times, "only Ms. Warren and Mr. de Blasio raised their hands."
That position is a killer with the general electorate. But since Warren's intent is to command the Democratic activist base, she has boxed herself in. Sixty percent of the electorate have a private health insurance plan and, by and large, they like it. Thus Trump & Co. couldn't be happier with Warren's mandatory single-payer-ism. The election could well turn on that issue alone.
From that perspective, Warren was the biggest loser last night.
On another note, "Do you have a plan to deal with Mitch McConnell?" Warren was asked. "I do," she replied. Turns out, though, her "plan" is somewhat gossamer. She promised to fight, fight, fight the Senate's prince of obstructionism, and that is no plan. I imagine McConnell was most amused.
Beto O’Rourke proved once again he's unquestionably not ready for the big leagues; Castro came well prepared and was surprisingly effective; and Booker, whom I had deemed little more than a wanton demagogue, was thoughtful and eloquent. Simply put, I misjudged him.
Bill de Blasio can go home now — now that he's proven himself intolerably obnoxious; Amy Klobuchar was quite reserved — which I like — but that approach became troublingly incongruent with the night's increasingly boisterous proceedings; and Jay Inslee and Tim Ryan are still Jay and Tim Who?
Now, off to another round.