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"Tuesday night’s debate belonged to the front-runners, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But their counterparts on Wednesday, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Kamala Harris, couldn’t quite replicate their dominance.
"Neither did badly by any means: There was no doubt that Mr. Biden beat his lackluster performance from the first debate, and Ms. Harris held her own under a barrage of attacks, likely a product of her own strong showing last time.
"But Wednesday’s most memorable performance, the experts seemed to agree, came from Senator Cory Booker — although so many candidates scored at least some points that strategists questioned whether the polls would move much.
"Here is a sampling of responses from some of the people who know the stakes of debates best: veteran campaign strategists and consultants from both parties.
"Mr. Booker went after Mr. Biden fiercely on criminal justice, hammering home Mr. Biden’s role in creating the policies he is now proposing to reverse. Mr. Biden, in turn, attacked Mr. Booker’s record as mayor of Newark, but the consensus among strategists was that Mr. Booker came out on top.
"They also praised Mr. Booker’s argument, early in the debate, that the candidates should focus less on intraparty disagreements on health care and more on their actual opponent, President Trump.
“'Biden fired back on @CoryBooker about Newark policing under his mayoral Administration. But Booker was faster on the draw and came out ahead on style points.' — David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama.
“'. . . .'Think it’s pretty clear @CoryBooker has best night. Made his own case — and did it well.” — Jennifer Palmieri, former spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton and Mr. Obama
"'There was little doubt on Wednesday that Mr. Biden was more prepared and more polished than in the first debate, when he took a drubbing from Ms. Harris. He came armed with opposition research on her and Mr. Booker, and generally appeared more confident than last time.
"His performance was uneven at times — and as several commentators noted, he was the only candidate to abruptly cut himself off, sometimes midsentence, when the moderators signaled he was out of time — but he easily cleared the low bar set by his last appearance. . . .
“'Biden wobbling between strong moments — far better than Miami — and awkward stumbling.' — Mike Murphy, Republican consultant.
“'Castro’s hit on Biden was a tough hit. But this is a different Biden from the one we saw in the first debate. In Miami, he looked rattled. Not tonight. He’s taking the hits and pushing back.' — Mo Elleithee, former spokesman for Mrs. Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.
"Ms. Harris dominated the first debate from start to finish. That lifted her significantly in the polls, but it also meant that on Wednesday, she was as much a target as Mr. Biden. Where she had been on offense, she now found herself on defense.
Still, while she did not shine as much as last time, she held her own. . . .,
“'@KamalaHarris is getting a lot of incoming and she’s handling it all well. I do not get what people are seeing who think she is flustered or unsteady. Bizarre to me.' — Ms. Palmieri
“'@KamalaHarris’s closing is chilling. Usually these statements are formulaic. Hers is so powerful. Trump as a predator will ring true to many Democrats.” — Paul Begala, former adviser to Bill Clinton
"'Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may have had the most memorable line of the night, if not the most substantive: 'The first thing that I’m going to do when I’m president,' she said, 'is I’m going to Clorox the Oval Office.' She also brought the subjects of gender equality and sexual violence into a debate that had previously skirted them.
"But on what she clearly hoped would be a defining moment — an attack on Mr. Biden for his opposition to an expanded child care credit in 1981 — the reviews were mixed. Some strategists loved it. But within the theater, the applause left little doubt that the audience was with Mr. Biden on this one. . . .
"'Strong case by @SenGillibrand on how she looks at impossible odds, with a good mix of her own accomplishments and the fight she’ll take to Trump.' — Christina Reynolds, spokeswoman for EMILY’s List
“I think @SenGillibrand is having a good night. Better than I expected: . . . staying on brand, elevating women in the policy conversations on healthcare and immigration.” — Emily Farris, political scientist at Texas Christian University.
“'Whoa. @JoeBiden calls out @SenGillibrand for accusing him of opposing women working outside the home. You can criticize Biden for a lot of things, but this attack smells crassly, political, and Joe unmasked it as such. The audience cheers.' — Mr. Begala. . . .
"Gabbard, Inslee and Yang scored a few points. While not at the top of the pack, several lower-polling candidates managed to break through the noise at least once. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, in particular, attacked Ms. Harris on her prosecutorial record in a way other candidates had chosen not to or been unable to do. Andrew Yang and Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington also had their moments.
“'@TulsiGabbard brought up all the points against @KamalaHarris that Internet commenters having been pointing out for several months. … If @JoeBiden could deliver a takedown as effectively as @TulsiGabbard just did, he’d be the nominee already.' Frank Luntz, Republican pollster and consultant.
“'So Gabbard is the one who finally had the real courage to come for Kamala on her criminal justice record. It was FIERCE. Been waiting for this... Kamala is leaning in to her record, and she’s FIERCER. Just saying. Powerful back and forth.' — Aisha Moodie-Mills, Democratic strategist
“'Yang is having a very good debate. It’s not just that he’s gotten more comfortable. It’s also that he sounds different than the other candidates without sounding loopy. It’s the Williamson role, but played by an analytical AI obsessive.” — Ezra Klein, editor of Vox
“'I also think @JayInslee has had a very good night. Not flashy, but earnest. And on climate change, quite strong.' — Mr. Axelrod
"Takeaways: Biden dramatically improved; Kamala and Booker had strong performances. Gillibrand and Bennett had some memorable moments but does it matter? My guess is 5 people @ most on tonight’s stage make it to third debate. Oddly last night felt more energetic. #DemocratDebate' — Adrienne Elrod, MSNBC, NBC contributor.
"'I don’t pretend to know which ones will get a bump, and how big the bumps are. I will say that not enough happened in this debate to dramatically shuffle the deck. Biden was battered for two hours but it reinforced his frontrunner status. #DemDebate' — Larry Sabato, director, University of Virginia Center for Politics."
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So that's sort of what happened. All 10 were better than they were in the initial debates in June -- except perhaps Harris, who was such a stand-out in that one and had to play defense most of this one. And defense is a harder position to shine in.
To me, the significant difference in this one was that all 10 stood out in some way more than has happened in any other of the other debates thus far. One thing that puzzles me: Julian Castro I notice time and again, gets very little press coverage after a debate -- less, I think, than he deserves. It's been the same both times now. First,he doesn't get called on by moderators as much, then when commentators write their impressions, they rarely mention him.
As was mentioned here, though even Yang, Bennett, and Inslee made some good points in this debate.
One final comment: Yes, Biden was very much better prepared, he was more energetic than the first debate; but he still seems to me to be old, tired, and not as sharp mentally as we need our president to be Compare him to Bernie Sanders on those qualities -- Bernie's a dynamo by comparison.
In the end, I agree that Cory Booker was probably the stand-out of the evening in that he did the most to improve his previous lackluster standing in the polls. That's my prediction.
For the third set of debates, the criteria will be much more stringent in terms of poll standings and numbers of individual donors. Some are predicting it might be down to as few as five by the September date.
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