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Here are winners and losers from the third Democratic debate

Ten candidates qualified for the debate Thursday night in Houston

Analysis by
September 13, 2019 at 11:14 a.m. EDT

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake.

After nearly three hours of sparring between the 10 Democratic candidates who qualified for the third Democratic debate on Thursday night in Houston, here’s who won, who lost and what that means moving forward.

Democrats argue over health care and other core issues — and the direction of the party

Winners

The Democratic Party: Given this was the first time the cream of the Democratic crop was all on the same debate stage, it took on added significance. The candidates, including former vice president Joe Biden (though he still had his poor moments) and Kamala D. Harris (who somewhat fell apart in her closing statement), were generally sharper than they have been. Party leaders should be encouraged by what they saw Thursday.

Elizabeth Warren: She was not dominant, she had the best performance and, more importantly, the fewest tough moments. Warren seems to come into these debates with a clear game-plan, lots of ideas and — somewhat inexplicably — seems almost impossible for her opponents to attack. If that continues to be the case, she reaps the rewards from Biden and Bernie Sanders taking hits. She’s also the only candidate with sustained upward momentum in this race. It’s difficult to see how that doesn’t continue after this.

Here's a roundup of 5 claims from the third Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 campaign. (Video: Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

Pete Buttigieg: Buttigieg has been solid and even impressive at basically every debate, and while he may not have wowed anyone or knocked down his opponents Thursday, he was good again. He had perhaps the best argument against getting rid of private insurance for Medicare-for-all, saying, “If we’re right as progressives that the public alternative is better, then the American people will figure that out for themselves.” He said of Trump’s China trade war: “When I first got into this race, I remember President Trump scoffed and said he’d like to see me making a deal with Xi Jinping; I’d like to see him making a deal with Xi Jinping.” And the crowd loved it when he said that on public education, he’d “appoint a secretary of education who actually believes in public education.” They might have been prepared lines, but they didn’t come off as such. Buttigieg is routinely and unfailingly prepared. And his closing answer on coming out as gay came off as genuine and had a real point behind it.

Barack Obama: The last Democratic president has found himself something of an unlikely villain at the first two debates, as Democrats anxious to go further left than his administration distanced themselves from his immigration record, his deals with Republicans and even argued Obamacare is insufficient. But Thursday night, at the first debate at a historically black college since 2007, Obama got more than his share of love.

We knew that would come from Biden, who launched a campaign ad shortly before the debate hailing his achievements with Obama. But the other candidates also repeatedly hugged the Obama legacy.

“The senator [Warren] she’s says for Bernie. Well I’m for Barack,” Biden said near the beginning. Warren parried that by saying, “We all owe a huge debt to President Obama [on Obamacare]. … Now the question is how best can we improve on it.” Amy Klobuchar said of her more middle-ground approach on health care: “I want to do what Barack Obama wanted to do from the very beginning, which is a public option.” Julián Castro even invoked Obama to attack Biden, when he said Biden’s health care proposal would leave 10 million people uninsured. “Barack Obama’s vision was not to leave 10 million people uncovered,” Castro said. Harris also attacked Biden’s moderation by invoking Obama’s campaign slogan: “Instead of saying no we can’t, let’s say yes we can.” (The audience, though, didn’t seem to pick up on it.)

Democrats clash over health care and more in debate that started with calls for unity

Losers

Castro’s big attack on Biden: The former Housing and Urban Development secretary clearly came ready to go at this debate, and he went hard at Biden. But his biggest optical win didn’t have substance to back it up. He accused Biden of saying his plan would not automatically enroll people in his public health care option. When Biden denied it, Castro was apoplectic. “Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?” he said repeatedly, perhaps not subtly spotlighting Biden’s age.

Well, we checked the tape, and Castro was wrong. Biden had said that “anyone who can’t afford it gets automatically enrolled in the Medicare-type option we have, etcetera.”

Julián Castro said Joe Biden forgot his own health care position during the Sept. 12 debate. It turns out on the substance of the question, Castro was wrong. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

Prosecutors: Both Harris and Klobuchar, as former prosecutors, faced brutal questions about their records — particularly when it comes to racial justice. Harris responded to reservations about her tough-on-crime record by saying, “I made a decision that if I was going to have the ability to reform the system, I was going to have to do it from the inside” but admitted she hadn’t done enough. Klobuchar was asked about an ACLU official who said she showed no interest in racial justice as Hennepin County, Minn., prosecutor. She did okay with the question, pointing to black kids whose killers she prosecuted. But it was anecdotal, and it wasn’t great. We knew this was a hurdle, especially for Harris; that was certainly the case Thursday.

Yang’s gimmick: Yang previewed before the debate that he would be doing something unprecedented. It turns out that was giving his universal basic income ($1,000 per month) to 10 lucky people who went to his website. But that may run afoul of campaign finance laws. It also seemed to draw some patronizing laughter from his opponents. Yang is a serious candidate; he doesn’t really need to do that kind of thing.

Harris’s zingers: Harris seemed to enjoy her “yes we can” line a lot more than the crowd, laughing pretty heartily. But it wasn’t the only time she did that. At one point, she compared Trump to the Wizard of Oz. (Warning: spoiler ahead) “When you pull back the curtain, it’s a really small dude,” Harris said. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos responded, “I’m not even going to take the bait.” Harris responded, again laughing, “It wasn’t about you!” Not exactly disqualifying, sure, but the risk in this stuff is that it won’t exactly land.