What Went Down At The First Biden vs. Sanders Debate

This was a pretty fragmented debate, each fragment of which had a different takeaway, in my opinion. On the coronavirus, both Biden and Sanders seemed very serious and prepared and projected the leadership people are probably looking for in this time of crisis. On most other policy issues, though, they spent a lot of time bickering — a lot more than I thought they would, given that the primary is basically not competitive anymore. I think Sanders won most of those exchanges and did a good job exposing that Biden has not been consistent in his positions over the years, but I think Cuba and China was one topic where Biden bested Sanders. Finally, though, I think the most newsworthy parts of the debate were when Biden made, well, actual news — he committed to ending most deportations and picking a female running mate. Overall, the debate did not feature the kind of colossal Biden gaffe that was needed to dislodge him as a national front-runner.

Despite being shorter than some of the other debates, it was a long night for Biden and Sanders, who spoke more than twice as much as they did at any other debate, perhaps a consequence of being the only two candidates on tonight’s stage.

As others have said, it would have taken a lot to shift the trajectory of the race. I don’t think that happened. But it was striking to hear the closing messages from the candidates about the coronavirus. Sanders said that the coronavirus crisis is a call to dramatically shift the system, a “time to ask how we got to where we are” and make broader changes. Biden instead went personal — saying he can’t imagine how fearful people must be. It’s a pretty good encapsulation of the differences between the two candidates. And obviously, one of those styles/strategies seems to have won over Democratic voters this year.