ABC Democratic Debate: Live Coverage

As this debate heads towards its finale, I’m not sure there was any sort of “game change.” Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a swing in the polls to either Clinton or Sanders in New Hampshire (where this debate is being held). Why? Both of them are really popular among Democrats. According to a Franklin Pierce University poll out this week, Sanders has an 85 percent favorable rating. Clinton has an 83 percent favorable rating.

This is a very different discussion about Libya than what Clinton will face in the general election. It’s going to be all Benghazi all the time. But this debate is providing the Democrats an opportunity to hold a more philosophical conversation about regime change.

Micah, to circle back to your question about Baltimore and O’Malley: I’m a Baltimore native — a proud Baltimore native. I think the city gets tarred with a brush of failure when, frankly, I dare anyone to do a quick turnaround on a city which dropped from a population of 1 million in 1950 to 600,000 now, with all of the vacant housing; and which is a stop on the global drug pipeline into the East Coast via its ports. I’m not judging whether O’Malley could have done more. And frankly, I believe Baltimore will be fine in the long run. It’s one of the last places for affordable (and often historically beautiful) real estate in the East Coast megalopolis. All of that said: O’Malley is not scoring any points for being from Baltimore.