Klobuchar spitting hot fire at Bloomberg suggesting a woman should step aside.
Bloomberg is basically "I'm rich, I'm from New York."
Biden: "the fact of fat...five million young black men against the wall. Look at your poll."
Buttigieg: don't make us choose between a socialist and a billionaire. "Someone who's actually a Democrat."
Bernie is scarlet. Hot to Mayor Pete's robotic cool.
"Your billionaire campaign contributors!" Bernie on Pete.
Pete: "You're the one who's at war with the Culinary union." They all came to fight.
Warren: "We are all responsible for our supporters."
Warren is hoarse. Sees the housing crisis as the briar patch.
Bernie is bragging about most of his Twitter followers. But "I disown" the Chapo types.
"End the viciousness and ugliness on the internet" (Bernie). Now there's an ambitious goal. But maybe these nasty Bernie Bros are Russian agents, he suggests.
Buttigieg: hey Bernie, why is it so many of your supporters are jerks?
Klobuchar: we should do something totally new, and nominate a woman.
Sanders: I've been listening to us talk about healthcare since Teddy Roosevelt was in office.
Bernie makes an Obama-esque vow to never replace union healthcare plans except with something better.
Warren: Pete is a creation of his consultants. Klobuchar health plan is "a post-it note that says insert plan here."
Buttigieg: "I'm more of a Microsoft Word guy." Speaking from his true self.
"Don't force it on anybody" from Buttigieg is a good message on healthcare.
Klobuchar takes offense at the slur on Post-It Notes on behalf of Minnesota-based 3M.
Chuck Todd noting that Warren insulted a lot of people in one answer, so everybody has their hand up.
Now Biden & Pete have hands up at Bernie.
Biden: "I'm the only one on this stage who actually got anything done on healthcare."
Warren pretending she just looked up their plans on line. Met a man in Reno just to talk about his insulin prices. Klobuchar "now wait a minute."
Bloomberg calls Biden a liar about Obamacare. Tells Biden to shut up, and he stays shut up.
Bloomberg sounds bland & tired. Biden has his Irish up.
Bloomberg stammers about how embarrassed he is about the law enforcement policies that were the centerpiece of his record. Asks absolution. Claims he only just discovered problems, stopped them.
Biden: Obama stopped stop & frisk. Not what the Administration would have admitted at the time.
Bloomberg so busy apologizing, he can't even defend his astounding successes reducing crime, his greatest achievement in office.
Warren: strong law enforcement was wrong from the start, should never have been tried.
Todd to Klobuchar: why haven't you suspended your campaign over sending an innocent man to jail? Klobuchar doesn't grovel for forgiveness, but gives a kind of halfway answer.
Klobuchar in blue, breaking from past debates. Bernie goes with blue tie & blue shirt.
Bernie says "vigah" like JFK.
Buttigieg goes all "OK Boomer" on Bernie saying he has released enough medical records. Dares all the Olds to take a physical.
Buttigieg to Bernie: the part of your healthcare plan that's not paid for is bigger than the whole US economy.
Buttigieg calls out Sanders for "all with me or the status quo."
Bloomberg notes he's released 12 years of tax returns as Mayor. Klobuchar: "WE could just go to Turbotax."
Warren asks why Bloomberg can't just push out his returns faster. Mike: "I wish I could, it would save me a lot of money." You could see his eye twinkle at that.
Bloomberg deflecting questions about his women issues with a binders-full-of-women answer.
Warren asks point blank if Bloomberg will release NDAs. Bloomberg: some are about jokes I told. If they want to talk, they can drop the agreements. Won't release anyone. This is NOT gonna play well with Democratic voters.
Warren says "that's not what we as Democrats do" re candidates with zipper issues. Man, memories are short.
Bloomberg: agreements "were made consensually." Ice cold.
Bernie goes after Bloomberg's W endorsement. Moderators won't let him respond.
Klobuchar digging out of her Lopez Obrador gaffe. Buttigieg won't drop the issue.
Klobuchar: "Are you trying to say I'm dumb, Pete?"
Klobuchar is now visibly angry at Buttigieg. Brings up Mourdock curb-stomping him. Buttigieg compares her to Mondale.
Klobuchar & Buttigieg won't stop yelling at each other while Lester Holt tries to move along.
Warren defends "missing a name." Jacob Weisberg dies inside somewhere.
Klobuchar is still shaking with rage. Biden finally yells over everyone to get back in.
Holt: "now, everyone is warmed up."
Warren trying to simultaneously berate Klobuchar & get indignant when any of the men criticize her.
Hey, that's Jon Ralston's music!
Now asking how they propose to prevent Nevada from turning into a desert.
Biden: rail. Rail.
Bloomberg talking about how many coal-fired plants his philanthropic foundation closed.
The local pronunciation of "Nevada" is, you know, a deliberate rejection of the original Spanish pronunciation.
Warren cheers her own daring bravery for saying "I believe in Science."
Bernie won't budge on fracking ban. The world will literally end without it.
Klobuchar on the defensive for having a small amount of common sense on fracking. But "a president can do this herself without Congress."
Warren: "listen to Senator Klobuchar, who says we have to make it smaller in order to make it pass." Burn down the filibuster.
Warren's anti-corruption-first arguments are basically the Sarah Palin playbook.
Question: "What would you do with these companies that are responsible for the destruction of our planet?"
Biden: sue them all!
Biden: sue them all!
Bloomberg: you're not gonna go to war with China over climate. India is an even bigger problem.
Bloomberg actually more or less defends fracking, recognizes impossibility of immediate transition.
Buttigieg: the world will end if we lose this election.
Warren: environmental justice! Your apocalypse is just not woke enough.
Warren seems to suggest reparations for the placement of factories & power plants.
Biden shifts to bashing China over coal, threatens trade war.
Warren: the problem with entrepreneurship is that it's not woke enough.
Bloomberg: entrepreneurs? Hey, I'm the only one here who started a business!
Power move for Bloomberg to ask if anybody else started a business. Silence.
Bloomberg to Bernie: who wrote the tax code? Senators, not billionaires.
Klobuchar: "I believe in capitalism." Sparse applause.
Klobuchar repeating her lines again.
Bernie says Bloomberg's wealth is immoral. Lips purse. Todd: "Mayor Bloomberg, should you exist?" Bloomberg: "I worked very hard for it! I'm giving it to Democrats!"
Buttigieg: [string of platitudes]
Bernie: hey, maybe your workers worked for your money.
Bernie: pit workers on the board. Bloomberg: you're going to get Trump re-elected. "This was tried, it was called Communism."
Warren: a 2% wealth tax would pay for everything simultaneously and be more woke than what you people are talking about.
Holt: poll says voters mistrust socialism. Bernie: who was winning that poll, Lester?
Bernie: we already have socialism for the rich! (He's not entirely wrong.)
Bloomberg: Bernie, you have three houses.
Bloomberg: tax hikes good, but not wealth taxes.
Biden: reward work, not wealth. Old timey Democrat union-hall rhetoric.
Todd to Buttigieg: you praised Bernie for being a socialist when you were in high school! Flip-flop?
Buttigieg: where's the other $25 trillion going to come from?
Warren accuses Klobuchar of wanting to be liked by McConnell. "Oh please."
Warren more or less says she identifies as a capitalist so as not to spook the rubes.
Holt has to stop Klobuchar in the midst of berating Warren.
Nobody misses Tom Steyer on this stage.
Buttigieg: from the porch of my ONE house in Indiana, you can't even see us sometimes. Bernie wants to burn the house down.
Biden, somewhat backhandedly, says he's an enemy of McConnell because of Hunter.
Biden is mad now at Warren, interrupting her about his relationship with McConnell.
Buttigieg goes after Klobuchar on backing official English, backing some Trump nominees. Klobuchar taking notes.
Klobuchar: "I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete." Undisguised bile.
Klobuchar stands up for Bush-McCain-Kennedy on immigration. "You haven't been in the arena. You've just memorized talking points."
Dammit Chuck Todd, don't close with a horse-race question.
You cannot overstate how much Klobuchar openly loathes Buttigieg.
Ad for Chris Matthews having a podcast. Doesn't he still have a television show?
Klobuchar: "This has been quite a debate." [Uncomfortable audience laughter]
Klobuchar: they were talking a lot about heart conditions. Trump doesn't have a heart.
Bloomberg: you can go to my website, too, but I'm not asking for any money.
Bloomberg all but literally promises to make the trains run on time. "This is a management job."
Buttigieg closes with the argument that he's the middle way between Bernie & Bloomberg.
I think Pete just won the race for class president.
Warren cribs from Jim Webb: I grew up fighting.
Warren manages to get through her closing without going woke. Her voice is almost gone.
Biden gets interrupted by hecklers. Lester Holt is unamused.
Biden: I've been knocked down a whole lot, I know what it's like to get back up. One of his strongest arguments. Oh and Bernie is against immigration, good night.
Bernie mumbles something about immigration and slavery.
I'm not sure the transcript will capture Buttigieg's smarm, Klobuchar's rage, Warren's self-righteousness, or Bloomberg's snideness.
Biden & Bernie in a finger pointing exchange after, but didn't look angry.
Who won? This debate can't have helped Bloomberg, that much I'm sure of. It can't have hurt Biden. Beyond that, anyone's guess who "won".
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