The very first Democratic Debate 2020 aired Wednesday night and is now in the history books. Was it everything you hoped it would be?
Politics
Staged at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and broadcast live on NBC, the inaugural Democratic Debate 2020 was moderated during its first half by Lester Holt (NBC’s Nightly News), Savannah Guthrie (NBC’s “Today Show”), and Jose Diaz-Balart (from the Spanish network “Noticias Telemundo”). The 2nd half saw Chuck Todd (NBC’s “Meet The Press”) and Rachel Maddow (MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”) at the helm.
The Democratic participants for Round 1 were Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
So, how did Round 1 of Democratic Debate 2020 go? Not well.
To put it bluntly, watching 10 people on stage at the same time fight for attention and constantly talk over each other was a train wreck and a bit of a nightmare. The field was just too large and the format simply didn’t work for this group of candidates.
Although moderator Jose Diaz-Balart proved engaging and effective, co-mods Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie were boring and a collective dud. Under their moderation, participants quickly learned that the pre-determined rules didn’t matter and that the name of the game for the night was to talk over each other in a free-for-all just to get noticed. During this time, everyone spoke much longer than their allotted time and most filibustered with memorized sound bites while frequently avoiding answering questions.
The 2nd half of the debate began much stronger with moderators Todd and Maddow — however, the very first question was marred by an open mic worn by one of the previous moderators that someone in the sound department forgot to turn off. In fact, the entire studio and at home audience could hear a full-on conversation with someone backstage just as Chuck Todd attempted to question Elizabeth Warren about immigration. After several interruptions, a flustered Todd took an unplanned commercial break, which allowed NBC to fix the problem.
Following the commercials, the real debate began in earnest and Todd and Maddow immediately showed everyone they were smooth, steady, and in control. They were even able to keep the interruptions and time allotment violations to a minimum.
The most entertaining moments of the night came when several non-Hispanic candidates chose to randomly answer their questions in Spanish. These moments of “Look, Everybody, I Can Speak Spanish” came from Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker — which prompted some rather telling looks from the actual Latino candidate on the stage, Julian Castro.
So, here are the OK WASSUP! grades for the night:
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OVERALL DEBATE:Â Â C+
1st HALF HOSTS:Â Â D
2nd HALF HOSTS:Â A-
MOST IMPRESSIVE CANDIDATE:Â Â Julian Castro
LEAST IMPRESSIVE CANDIDATE:Â Â Tim Ryan, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard
LEAST GENUINE CANDIDATE:Â Â Beto O’Rourke
THE “Why Are They Here” AWARD:Â Â Bill De Blasio
DEMOCRATIC DEBATE 2020 WINNER:Â Â A tie between Julian Castro and Elizabeth Warren.
Tonight, Round 2 of the Democratic Debate 2020 will feature the All-Star team of Democratic candidates.  Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, author Marianne Williamson, as well as businessman Andrew Yang will each square up live beginning at 9pm on NBC.
Three Democratic hopefuls — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Florida — did not qualify for this first round of debates, while former Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania entered the race too late to qualify.
If you’re available and have nothing else to do, watch. Otherwise, wait until the Democrats are able to weed out the ineffective candidates and whittle the actual contenders down to a more manageable group.
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OK WASSUP! discusses Politics:
Democratic Debate 2020 is underway.
Full disclosure: I only watched the first half …so I’ll defer to the opinion of those who watched the 2nd half.
Re: the first half
I agree with DJ…too many candidates on stage and too much talking over each other. Honestly, I really don’t know why most of them are running(?) They’ve got zero chance of winning the primary let alone the presidency. But I digress.
I gave the first half an overall grade of: B
And for me it was no contest. Elizabeth Warren owned the stage and won the debate. From what I’m hearing this morning concerning the 2nd half….Warren pretty much stood back and let the others try to outdo each other.
I found Warren to be the most impressive candidate with Julian Castro coming in 2nd place.