DETROIT – The second night of the second round of Democratic Presidential debates featured more questions about healthcare, immigration and foreign policy. Ten of the twenty candidates who met the criteria for the debates were randomly selected to share the stage on July 31 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. The ten candidates who participated in the second night’s debate were:
- Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet
- New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
- Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro
- New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- California Sen. Kamala Harris
- Businessman Andrew Yang
- Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
- New York Mayor Bill de Blasio
The Debate Begins
About an hour out now from the beginning of night 2 of the Dem Debates. I'll be providing the play-by-play with plenty of predictions, pontifications and pondering.
Stay tuned…
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) July 31, 2019
Some things I'm watching tonight:
1. People are waiting for a @KamalaHarris v @JoeBiden showdown. Will any disagreements be over policy? Or will attacks get more personal?
Also, does Harris find an ally in @CoryBooker or @TulsiGabbard who will join her and go after Biden
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) July 31, 2019
2. As the party policies are moved left by candidates like @ewarren and @BernieSanders, more moderate candidates may be saying certain things just to try and match the progressive energy.
Will this messaging change as the field shrinks or when we get to the general election?
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) July 31, 2019
3. @AndrewYang and @JulianCastro are polling above 1% and could be looking for a moment tonight. Will that moment come from a policy idea or from a viral quote?
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) July 31, 2019
4. Without a foil like Sanders or Warren, how well can @MichaelBennet articulate his moderate policies?
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) July 31, 2019
5. How strictly will the @CNN moderators police interrupting from candidates? Last night, some points were cut off because of strict adherence to the rules. Will there be more leeway tonight?
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) July 31, 2019
Healthcare
Some of these dollar amounts being thrown around as so large that they are difficult to conceptualize. Really difficult to ground the healthcare discussion when talking about total combined costs and full tax burdens
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Health care dominated the discussion last night and more of the same tonight.
Maybe I'm dumb, but what moved healthcare into top priority for discussion?
I think it was @BernieSanders
bringing medicare for all into popular discourse.Could also be GOP challenges to the ACA
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Past records, questionable questions
As @JoeBiden's past record comes up, let's see if he defends it or owns it
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Biden leaning on the Obama relationship as a response to attacks on his record. Essentially "take his word for it." I've seen worse strategies.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
People like @AndrewYang and @marwilliamson don't get attacked on their past political record.
That's one way to avoid being asked about a troublesome political record – just don't have one.
Worked for @realDonaldTrump
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
I saw a lot of takes about how @cnn is structuring their questions.
Giving a Trump statement, then asking "why is he wrong?" presupposes that what he said is correct and needs to be disproved. That's an odd way to structure a debate.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
The most pressing issue of our time, busing, comes up at the debate. Climate change, Russian election interference, voting rights on the back-burner for now.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Climate Change
It appears that all Dems agree on the urgency of climate change.
But, their policies work on different timelines and different levels of feasibility.
The nominee would do well to adopt the best parts of each candidate's policy and figure out the best timeline for a transition
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Also, while the US may be responsible for *only* 15% of global emissions, that only takes into account current levels.
If one accounts for historical emissions, the US bears a larger burden of responsibility. This should motivate future leadership on the issue.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Of course, there is global responsibility beyond the US that lies with current high emitters. The rest of the world has shown that a coalition approach, like the climate accords, is the best way to approach the issue.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
On The Attack
Some of the candidates on the edges need to resort to targeting more popular candidates just to put themselves in the center of a conversation.
We haven't heard from @MichaelBennet in a while
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
The candidates trailing @JoeBiden who want to increase their polling numbers have decided they want to pull from his share instead of trying to eliminate some of the candidates who are much lower down.
Will they actually make a dent? Polls after the debate will tell the story
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Impeachment, Mueller and other topics
Mueller gets mentioned for the first time over the two nights, but not related to Russian interference.
Candidates will get to talk about their takeaways from the Mueller report and impeachment gets mentioned by @CoryBooker for the first time during this debate.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
This section is where the candidates show if they are speaking to Democratic voters or to the general public. Opinions and interest about the Mueller report and impeachment certainly vary across political divides.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019
Voter suppression and Gerrymandering, Dark money (mention last night but it was unprompted), Puerto Rico and disaster relief, etc.
TL;DR- There's a lot of topics we still need to hear about and learn about. Hopefully, people can do their best to learn where candidates stand.
— Noah Broder (@Noah_Broder) August 1, 2019