By HUNTER WOODALL and NICHOLAS RICCARDI/Associated Press

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Three days before the critical New Hampshire Primary, seven Democratic presidential candidates debated, with many of them fighting to survive in the race to challenge President Donald Trump.

Here are some key takeaways.

MAYOR PETE MAKES HIS CASE

Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend., Ind., was the candidate of the moment Friday. All eyes were on him Friday night to see if he could make his case.

And he did — with one significant stumble.

Attacked for his thin resume, Buttigieg shot back, “If you’re looking for the person with the most years of Washington, D.C., experience under their belt, that candidate is not me.” He promoted his youth compared with the lawmakers onstage talking about their achievements from decades ago.

“We cannot solve the problems before us by looking back,” Buttigieg said. “We have to be ready to turn the page.”

A former military intelligence officer, Buttigieg seemed comfortable discussing foreign affairs, such as the Trump administration’s killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. “There is no evidence that that made our country safer,” he said, adding later, “This is not an episode of ‘24.’” But Buttigieg's trouble spot has long been race. Asked about a spike in arrests of black people for marijuana possession in his city after he became mayor, Buttigieg began to decry systemic racism but seemed to acknowledge he couldn't escape it in the city that he ran.

SANDERS UNDER ATTACK

It didn’t take long for the candidates to make clear whom they saw as the front-runner. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was piled on by competitors fighting to become the moderate alternative to the self-declared democratic socialist.

There were two lines of attack — Sanders’ uncompromising liberal positions and, specifically, his proposal to immediately have the federal government take over the entire health care system.

The most notable punch was thrown by Buttigieg, who said Democrats will have a problem working to “unite this country at a moment when we need unification when our nominee is dividing people.” Asked if he meant Sanders, he said yes.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar scoffed at Sanders’ health care proposal. Former Vice President Joe Biden noted that Sanders says he has no idea how much his proposal could cost, though experts have put it at at least $30 trillion.

But he showed a characteristic durability. In the deeply divided field, Sanders is now leading in many polls by virtue of that following.

BIDEN BOUNCE BACK?

After his disappointing showing in Iowa, Biden was fighting to survive. Sometimes it didn’t seem like it, but Biden also displayed flashes of the fire and emotion that have traditionally endeared him to Democratic voters.

Offered a chance early to swing at his two main rivals — Sanders and Buttigieg — Biden opened by basically admitting he was going to lose New Hampshire.

“Bernie won by 20 points last time,” Biden said softly. His criticisms of Sanders and Buttigieg weren’t nearly as sharp as those offered by other candidates. Biden's had difficulty talking about the GOP investigation into his own son that triggered Trump's impeachment and has coincided with the former vice president's slide in the polls.

The former vice president was left asking the crowd to give a standing ovation to Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was led out of the White House hours earlier. Vindman had testified in December before Democrats investigating Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

Biden, 77, was more energized in the later hours of the debate. He was visibly enraged at Trump’s dismissive comments on U.S. casualties during the Iranian retaliation for the U.S. killing of an Iranian general. He sharply attacked Sanders over the Vermont senator's prior support for gun rights, defended his long record on the Supreme Court and promoted his historic support from African-Americans.

But it’s not clear whether his performance will quell worries.

WARREN DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN FOR BREAKING THROUGH

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren invested deeply in neighboring New Hampshire as a key part of her 2020 run, but she struggled to find a standout moment as she begins to make her final case to the state’s voters.

Warren skipped a chance to differentiate herself more from Sanders, a fellow progressive whom she calls a longtime friend. Given the chance to create some distance, Warren said, "We have a lot of things in common, we have a lot of things that we differ on."

She quickly shifted to making a party unity plea and echoing her stump speech lines about big money in politics and corruption.

"We bring our party together, it's an issue we can all agree on and fight to end the corruption," Warren said. "We're the Democrats. We should be the party on the side of hardworking people and we can bring in independents and Republicans on that. They hate the corruption as well."

Warren also did little to explicitly come to Sanders defense as her Vermont rival was attacked by the more moderate candidates over his prized Medicare for All policy goal, an idea Warren supports.

KLOBUCHAR MADE A MARK

Klobuchar was quick with the quips as she tried gain an edge in the primary’s moderate lane. She repeatedly made a virtue of her ability to compromise and work with Republicans. There was an urgency to her presentation, with good reason: She needs an upset in New Hampshire.

She hit familiar notes of criticizing Medicare for All as she touted her Midwestern appeal and legislative success in the Senate. Klobuchar’s plea boiled down to making a case for Democratic sensibility as a break from the smash-mouth nature of Trump’s presidency.

"I didn't come from money," Klobuchar said, insisting voters "want to have someone that they can understand" in the White House.

STEYER'S FIERY PLAY ... FOR SOUTH CAROLINA

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer does not have much of a chance in New Hampshire. So he used the debate to make a strong appeal to African American voters in South Carolina, where his campaign has invested heavily and black voters make up two-thirds of the primary electorate. The billionaire noted that well into the debate, "we have not said one word tonight about race."

"Are you kidding me?" he asked as a discussion of race ensued.

He added later, "I am for reparations to African Americans in this country and anyone who thinks that racism is a thing of the past and not an ongoing problem is not dealing with reality."

YANG NOT BURDENED

Businessman Andrew Yang was not burdened by low expectations. He was at ease and having fun on the debate stage Friday night, even though his chances to win New Hampshire, let alone the Democratic nomination, are minuscule.

He bounced onto the stage without a tie, in stark contrast to his more buttoned-up male rivals. But Yang was largely left out of the heated exchanges that simmered through the debate, focusing instead on stepping back and looking at the larger picture.

“Donald Trump is not the cause of all of our problems," Yang said. “And we are making a mistake when we act like he is. He is a symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years and decades.”

THE ELEPHANT NOT IN THE ROOM

Two words were spoken Friday night that have rarely come up on the trail or in prior debates: Mike Bloomberg.

The former New York mayor and multibillionaire is skipping the early nominating states and instead spending hundreds of millions on Super Tuesday states with far more delegates at stake.

A viewer-submitted question asked why the candidates were better than Bloomberg.

“I don’t think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a nomination or to be president of the United States,” Warren said.

“I just simply don’t think people look at the guy in the White House and say, ‘Can we get someone richer?’” Klobuchar said.

“There are millions of people who can desire to run for office but I guess if you’re worth $60 billion and you can spend several hundred millions of dollars on advertising you have a slight advantage,” Sanders said.

The responses were clear signals that they take Bloomberg seriously.

Share:
More In Politics
'American Insurrection' Documentary Updated With New Info a Year After January 6 Attacks
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
End of Child Tax Credit Could Mean Slide Back Into Increasing Child Poverty
Millions of Americans with young children have relied on the child tax credit since the federal government began issuing checks in July 2021. The last round of payments was sent out just before the Christmas holiday — at the same time as the omicron variant surged. Leah Hamilton, associate professor of social work at Appalachian State University, joined Cheddar to discuss what the end to the tax credit means as the U.S. sees the end of many relief programs and its highest number of COVID cases since the start of the pandemic. "It'll become harder for families to meet their basic needs, increasing national childhood poverty rates and the proportion of families who have difficulty putting food on the table, maintaining stable housing, and paying their bills," Hamilton said. She also pointed to research that the credit as a long-term investment in children offsets claims that it contributes to macroeconomic impacts like inflation.
President Biden Speaks with Ukrainian President Ahead of Russia Meeting
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the week-end, just days after he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call comes as Washington prepares to meet with Moscow on January 10, as tensions mount over Russia's military build up near its border with Ukraine. Cheddar News speaks with Mustafa Tameez, a former advisor to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, about the issue.
NYT Piece Claims Silicon Valley Investors and Founders Contorted Legal Tax Break to Avoid Taxes on Investment Profits
Several Silicon Valley insiders are being accused of contorting a 1990s-era tax break to avoid taxes on millions of dollars of investment profits. The tax break is known as the qualified small business stock exemption, and it allows early investors in certain companies to avoid half of the taxes on up to $10 million in capital gains. A piece recently published in the New York Times says venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz replicated the tax exemption by giving shares of companies to friends and family, who would otherwise face a 23.8% capital gains bill. The CEO of Roblox is also accused of replicating the tax break for his family members at least 12 times. Although the loophole known as 'stacking' is considered to be legal, the Times piece implies that the exemption has been manipulated for the ultra-wealthy to become more wealthy. Greycroft co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Alan Patricof joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
This Year In Trivia
Hena Doba and Azia Celestino recap some of the biggest stories of the year, and learn a thing or two while they're at it. It's This Year in Trivia!
Looking Ahead to Regulating Uber, Lyft, and the Gig Economy in 2022
The push to regulate the gig worker economy is gaining steam as the share of workers who participate in freelancing through businesses like Uber and Lyft have also exponentially grown during the pandemic. Employment attorney Mark Kluger, founding partner at Kluger Healey, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down how the battle to reclassify gig workers will continue in the new year, and why the issue continues to generate conflict. "More and more workers are using gig work as their primary source of income and as a result of that they are not like employees in the sense that they don't have benefits like health insurance," Kluger noted.
Load More