CBS Democratic Debate: Live Coverage

Micah asked earlier how we thought the candidates did and whether we expect Saturday’s debate to affect the race at all. Well, we solicited our usual staff debate grades, and — according to our quick, night-of impression — this debate was not a game changer.

	GRADE
CANDIDATE	AVG.	HIGH	LOW
Hillary Clinton	B	A-	C+
Bernie Sanders	B	A-	C
Martin O’Malley	C+	B	C-

Unlike the first Democratic debate, we didn’t see Hillary Clinton as the clear winner. Her average grade was basically the same as Sanders’, who did about as well as he did in the first debate. Clinton and Sanders did beat O’Malley, who earned his second C+ average from the FiveThirtyEight crew. Of course, this was a Saturday night debate. Most of the perception of who won and lost will be shaped by the media coverage in the days to come. The terror attacks in Paris on Friday are also likely to shape the race, and how this debate is remembered. The Democratic candidates’ most memorable moments came during the domestic policy section of the debate, but how much attention will the media pay attention to them with the story in Paris still unfolding? What we think was important tonight may not be what we think was important this time next week.

And, this makes me happy! Our live blogs can be consumed many ways: as a live “second screen” experience to the debate; as a live second-screen experience while you’re doing something else (like commenter Kyle Ten Berge):

Appreciate you guys doing this. I’m not afraid to admit I mostly watched college football throughout the debate, but appreciated getting good information here.

Or, later, not live at all.

Nate, I didn’t view it as “mediocre” as much as an attempt to tread water until more people care about the race. But as you mention, Clinton had a couple of moments where her words could be used by critics.