The top TWELVE 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates — yes, TWELVE — gathered for 3 hours — yes THREE — on Tuesday night at Otterbein University, in Westerville, Ohio for their 4th primary debate of the 2020 nomination cycle. We devote the hour on today’s BradCast, to post-debate coverage, analysis and, of course, occasional snark. [Audio link to program is posted below.]
The candidates at the CNN and NYTimes co-sponsored forum were: MA Sen. Elizabeth Warren; VT Sen. Bernie Sanders; former Vice President Joe Biden; CA Sen. Kamala Harris; NJ Sen. Corey Booker; MN Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Former HUD Sec. Julian Castro; South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg; HI Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; CA entrepreneur and activist Tom Steyer (making his first debate appearance); Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Yang; and former El Paso, TX Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
Among the many issues and questions covered and discussed on today’s program, following last night’s forum…
- Do we really need three hour debates?;
- Do we really need 12 candidates?;
- Do we really need Steyer to be one of them?;
- Did the moderators do any better than they have in previous debates this cycle?;
- Was there really not a single question on either our climate or voting rights crises worth asking the candidates?;
- Did Elizabeth Warren perform well in the face of direct attacks from her opponents now that she is being perceived as the front-runner?;
- Could she stand up to similar or almost certainly far worse attacks from Trump (presuming he is the GOP nominee)?;
- Is Booker right to worry about sniping and some of the direct attacks between his fellow Democratic candidates?;
- What’s the reason he is not performing better in the polls?;
- Why is Harris still slipping in the polls?;
- Will Sanders’ recent heart attack be a deal breaker for some voters (despite his energetic performance at Tuesday’s debate)?;
- As Biden slips in the polls, is he also showing signs of cognitive decline that may concern voters?;
- What’s the difference between “Medicare for All”, as proposed by Sanders and Warren, and “Medicare for All Who Want It” and a “Public Option” as proposed by Biden, Buttigieg and Warren?;
- Why won’t Warren admit out loud, as Sanders has, that her Medicare for All plan will raise taxes on the middle class, even as she correctly points out that overall costs for such families would go down?;
- And why do people who like their private insurance have to give it up under a “Medicare for All” plan?;
- Were attacks by Klobuchar and Buttigieg and Biden against so-called progressive “pipe dreams” effective for their candidacies or just damaging to the party?;
- Is “Accountable Capitalism” actually a thing?
All of those questions and many more are tackled with Eskow, Jacobson and even Desi Doyen and myself on today’s very lively, insightful and intermittently humorous post-debate special coverage!…
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