Thread by @VABVOX

There is no question that the two women candidates won the #DemocraticDebate. @amyklobuchar and @ewarren each raised issues no one else did and answered questions the moderators asked that other candidates side-stepped. Each made powerful cases for her electability and strength.

.@TomSteyer had his best debate thus far. But his argument that no one else can bring it to Trump is false. He's not that strong a debater. @AndrewYang was better than Steyer, but still too dependent on his $1k UBI. He had a superb statement about being a feminist ally, though.

.@JoeBiden had a better debate than any recently and did a good job reminding people that he has been on the political stage for decades in a good way and only referred to Obama twice.
@BernieSanders was repetitive shouty Bernie. Warren won the left polemics over Bernie--bigly.

The candidate who lost the #DemocraticDebate was @PeteButtigieg. He started strong, but his fights with Warren and Klobuchar did not serve him well. And though he tried to claim Warren has a purity test, it is he who comes from privilege and she from the working class.

The real winners were voters who got a substantive discussion of #ClimateCrisis for the first time since @JayInslee left the race. And while there are real differences among the candidates, all are vociferous in their belief that we are in a #ClimateEmergency.

The responses by Warren on #LGBTQ issues, with a focus on trans Issues, was very powerful. And elicited revelations from many LGBTQ people on here that Warren had reached out to them personally to discuss this issue. THAT was big news.
#DemocraticDebate

Yang was tasked with addressing race as the only POC on stage. But ftr, it was less of a debate without the voices of Harris, Booker and Castro. (No pretense from me of missing Gabbard.) Patrick is the other POC in the race, but he has not been visible since he announced.

Obama saying that it was time to retire old white men from politics and get more women leaders made for some interesting debate when it was raised by the moderators. Bernie took offense, Biden said PBO didn't mean him. But Warren said it was about amplifying suppressed voices.

Klobuchar raised the issue of voter suppression, invoking the work of @staceyabrams. She also noted she has legislation to address purging the voter rolls on McConnell's desk--unaddressed. Significant.
#DemocraticDebate

@staceyabrams Buttigieg had a really good moment when he raised the subject of #poverty. Alas, Bernie derailed that discourse & turned it into his boiler plate lecture on oligarchs & billionaires. Which is not wrong BUT it vitiates the power of the FACT of poverty in America. Warren took over.

@staceyabrams As both reporter and voter my takeaway was that we got much more from this debate than from others. Also, I REALLY wished @KamalaHarris had waited to drop out of the race until after the #DemocraticDebate. Her absence left a real gap.

@staceyabrams @KamalaHarris #DemocraticDebate was a reminder that Democrats have substance & purpose well beyond #impeachment. And there are candidates--including some not on the stage--who have policy and polemic worth listening to and considering. The race is still wide open.