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(CNN) - The fifth Democratic debate of the 2020 presidential campaign is already in the books.
With only six qualified candidates for the next debate, in December, this was a last chance for some of them to show voters that they deserve to stay in this race.
I saw and took some notes about the best and worst of the night.
Next, my winners and losers.
Winners
Amy Klobuchar: The Minnesota senator has been desperately searching for her moment during the first four debates, and could have found one on Wednesday night. Klobuchar was one of the few people on stage who faced the mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg (more on that below) and his point that a woman has not yet been elected president was strong: “If you think a woman You can't beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every day, ”he said. Klobuchar's biggest problem is that the central and pragmatic lane has been dominated by Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden. His performance on Wednesday night could change that.
Andrew Yang: Sure, Yang didn't have the chance to say a single word in the first 30 minutes of the debate. (More or less surprising since his arc in the race is directly ascending.) But when Yang had the opportunity to speak, he found himself as, by far, the candidate on stage with whom people can most be identified. Yang's phrase when asked what he would say to Vladimir Putin after being elected president (he said: "Sorry to beat your man") landed well. Yang's candidacy still feels too far from where people are, he is not wrong about the data being the new oil, and there are strong defenses for his universal basic income proposal, for him to be a top-level contender. But, man, it has dramatically exceeded expectations.
Kamala Harris: Unlike the last debates, Harris seemed much looser, and willing to take a risk. (She said Trump had been "punked" by foreign policy at any given time). That ease is probably the result of the fact that Harris acknowledges that he has very little to lose due to his abysmal numbers of surveys and monetary problems. But regardless of the reason, it worked for the night. He got the best of Representative Tulsi Gabbard in a debate on US foreign policy, a reversal of a confrontation between the two in the CNN debate in Detroit, at the end of July, and realized what his campaign wants it to be : a fighter for the average person.
Pete Buttigieg: It was as if the other nine candidates completely ignored that the polls published in recent days showed the mayor of South Bend as the favorite in Iowa and emerging in New Hampshire. With the exception of a soft Klobuchar hook, no one really faced Buttigieg, and he seemed to get the best of Gabbard in a direct confrontation over the military and the role that the US I should play abroad. At a time of the second hour, the moderators spoke to Harris for his attack on Buttigieg for his lack of appeal to black voters. But she said she agreed with him! Buttigieg seemed too routine and programmatic, sometimes it seemed that he was reciting a speech he memorized, but his campaign will be delighted that he is moving away from this debate without a scratch. In addition, you will hear this Buttigieg line a lot in the analysis of the debate: “I know that from the perspective of Washington, what happens in my city may seem small, but frankly, where we live, the internal struggles in the Capitol is what seems small "
Losers
The debates: The debates are, um, about debates. Candidates talk about where they differ on key issues so that voters are fully informed about the options before them. That was not what happened in Atlanta on Wednesday night. Instead, candidates were asked about issues on which they totally and completely agree (which Democratic presidential candidate is not going to support dismissing Trump?) Or they were given ample space to offer essentially practiced speeches. An undecided voter tuning in to find out where the differences between the candidates are would be very disappointed.
Joe Biden: The former vice president's opening response was weak. And everything got worse since the question was an absolute soft ball: how did it feel to be attacked by Trump? In half an hour of debate, Biden found his balance; His answer about why he wanted to be president and why he was singularly ready to do the job was his best response of the entire debate season. But then things changed. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker scored with a blow on Biden's mistake about marijuana legalization. ("I thought you might have been drugged when you said it," Booker joked, with the laughter of the crowd). And Biden committed something he is known for: an unforced error. Speaking about domestic violence, he said that people should simply continue to "hit" the problem. I know what he meant. But that was definitely a bad choice of words. And then another: he said he had the support of the only black woman elected to the Senate. Except he forgot that Harris was on stage. “Proud to be the second black woman elected to the United States Senate. #DemDebate, ”Harris tweeted shortly after. (Biden seemed to refer to former Illinois senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman elected to the Senate, although not the only one. Moseley Braun is a great defender of Biden.)
LOOK : Trump, migrants and vulnerability, the issues of the Democratic debate
Health care: The issue that has been decisive in each of the last four elections (at least) is medical care. It is also the subject on which the four favorites: Buttigieg, Biden, Warren and Sanders disagree. So why then we only had a few minutes of the debate dedicated to it? And none of the differences between the candidates, "Medicare for all" or not, was significantly litigated. Hey?
Tom Steyer: Quick, name something the billionaire said in the debate. Right. And that is the problem. Steyer and his campaign had to be delighted that Biden, in some inexplicable way, fought with him for his participation in the coal industry, but that fight failed before it really began. Steyer is not going anywhere, he has a lot of money and is willing to spend it, but he really needs to find a way to make a good impression. And he didn't do it on Wednesday night.
