Feb. 2020 Democratic Debate (9th Debate)

Ninth Democratic primary debate, with six candidates, at the Paris Theater in Las Vegas, on the Wednesday before the Nevada caucus. Moderated by NBC News' Lester Holt; Meet the Press' Chuck Todd; MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson; Telemundo senior correspondent Vanessa Hauc; and Nevada Independent Editor Jon Ralston.
• This debate was NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's first debate appearance. He has not officially entered any primary races yet (his name will first appear on ballots on Super Tuesday, March 3), but he could make a decent showing as a write-in candidate in NV and SC.

• Bloomberg's appearance set an acrimonious tone for the debate -- he was bashed as "buying the vote", a sexist, a racist, and a disloyal Democrat. The negative tone spread to squabbles between just about every pair of candidates.

• Amy Klobuchar was forced to apologize repeatedly for having forgotten the name of the president of Mexico. "Who's that?" you might ask, "and why does it matter?" -- those were never explained either. (The "right answer" if a candidate forgets a name during an interview is, "I don't play 'gotcha' with press trivia; but I'm happy to discuss my Mexico policy.")

• Bernie Sanders was bashed for his supporters' tweeted remarks about the Las Vegas Culinary Worker's Union. "The what?" you might ask, "and what did they say?" -- those were never explained during the debate, except for a lot of Buttigieg yelling at Bernie about it.

• Those issues are called "Inside Baseball" by the pundits. That term refers to the detailed dissection of baseball games that takes place after the day's game -- and, while fun, becomes meaningless the next day. Will anyone remember the Las Vegas Culinary Union's tweetstorm, or dissing Mexican President L&?oacute;pez Obrador in November? Or even by the summer convention? Nope; so what's the point of fighting about those now? The pundits love "Inside Baseball", but the pubilc need not be subjected to it. Voters deserve better than being forced to watch it!

• I've watched just about every presidential primary debate since Reagan vs. Bush, and I've watched every one from start to finish. But not this time. The level of negativity was so high that, after more than an hour of non-stop squabbling, I shut off the TV and went to bed. My breaking point was when Senator Klobuchar -- normally so calm and monotoned -- bashed Mayor Buttigieg for who-cares-what. When even Klobuchar lost her temper -- with her claim-to-fame Midwestern reserve -- there was no point watching, since it had become nothing more than a verbal fistfight.

• Of course we found a few issue excerpts anyway -- linked from headlines below -- but they were few and far between. If you're considering watching the recording, we recommend instead watching CNN's Nevada Town Halls, which surrounded this debate on Tuesday and Thursday, giving an hour of audience Q&A to each candidate. (and yes, the pundits played "Inside Baseball" there too, asking Sanders about the Culinary Union and making Klobuchar apologize to Mexico -- but the audience members all ask real questions once the pundits shut up).

• There was a clear winner of the Nevada debate: Donald Trump. The Democrats demonstrated the partisanship that Trump voters rebelled against in 2016. And if they keep this up, 2020 will echo the same.

• --Jesse Gordon, OTI editor-in-chief, Feb. 2020

Click for quotations from other sources by: Amy Klobuchar Minnesota Democratic candidate for President; Minnesota Senator Bernie Sanders Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren Massachusetts Senator Joe Biden Democratic V.P. Mike Bloomberg New York Mayor of NYC Pete Buttigieg Indiana Democratic candidate for President; Mayor of South Bend, IN

The above quotations are from Feb. 2020 Democratic Debate (9th Debate).

Presidential race debates: Presidential debate #3 (Oct. 22, 2020) Second presidential "debate" (Oct. 15, 2020) Vice presidential debate (Oct. 7, 2020) First presidential debate (Sept. 29, 2020) Debates and Surveys in the 2020 Democratic Primary: 11th Democratic Debate, one-on-one between Biden and Sanders, March 15, 2020 10th Democratic Debate, between South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday, Feb. 25 2020 Feb. 2020 Democratic Debate (9th Debate) on eve of the Nevada caucus, Feb. 19 2020 February Democratic candidates debate in N.H., (Feb. 7, 2020) CNN New Hampshire Town Halls (Feb. 5-6, 2020) January Democratic candidates debate in Des Moines, (Jan. 14, 2020) December Democratic candidates debate at UCLA, (Dec. 19, 2019) November Democratic candidates debate in Atlanta, (Nov. 20, 2019) October Democratic candidates debate in Ohio, (Oct. 15, 2019) CNN LGBT Town Hall (Oct. 10, 2019) Business Insider Republican candidates debate, (Sept. 24, 2019) September Democratic candidates debate in Houston, (Sept. 12, 2019) CNN Climate Town Hall (Sept. 4, 2019) July Democratic candidates debate in Detroit (July 30-31, 2019) June Democratic candidates debate in Miami, (June 26-27, 2019) CNN Town Halls (April-May, 2019) Surveys and other coverage of the Democratic Primary: Survey of 2020 Presidential campaign websites Politico 2020Dems Presidential survey NPR Morning Edition 2020 Presidential survey CNN Kfile, investigative reporting on presidential contenders Jacobin Magazine, socialist perspectives on presidential contenders CNN Town Halls, with presidential contenders Fox Town Halls, with presidential contenders 2020 Presidential Hopefuls by OnTheIssues.org Books by 2020 Presidential hopefuls: The Truths We Hold, by Kamala Harris (2019) Shortest Way Home, by Pete Buttigieg (2019) The Mueller Report, investigation and commentary (2019) From the Ground Up, by Howard Schultz (2019) Where We Go From Here, by Bernie Sanders (2018) The Right Answer, by John Delaney (2018) An Unlikely Journey, by Julian Castro (2018) Healing the Soul of America, by Marianne Williamson (2018) Promise Me, Dad, by Joe Biden (2017) This Fight Is Our Fight by Elizabeth Warren (2017) The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston (2017) United, by Cory Booker (2016) The Opposite of Woe, by John Hickenlooper (2016) The Senator Next Door, by Amy Klobuchar (2015) Off the Sidelines, Kirsten Gillibrand (2014) Dealing Death and Drugs, by Beto O'Rourke (2011)

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