That’s A Wrap
Well, tonight’s debate was touted by the chair of New Hampshire's Democratic Party as perhaps “the most consequential New Hampshire primary debate ever.” The question is … was it? I’m not entirely sure. There were a number of strong moments from nearly all of the candidates, but perhaps there wasn’t one solid zinger like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s takedown of Sen. Marco Rubio in 2016.
Sanders and Buttigieg both had quite a bit of speaking time, which makes sense given their performance in Iowa and their standing going into New Hampshire, but Biden also managed to steal the mic quite a bit, and actually spoke more than Buttigieg. Only Yang really struggled to get any airtime. That said, none of the exchanges were particularly pointed this evening, so it’s hard to know how this will change things as we head into the primary next Tuesday.
Sanders, who our model thinks has a 68 percent shot of winning the most votes in New Hampshire, had a strong evening, as did Buttigieg, who has a 1 in 4 shot. At this point, we’ll have to wait for some more polls to see how the picture changes, but in the meantime, scroll to relive this blog in all its chronological glory.
https://abcnews.go.com/video/68844056
And we’ll also be back tomorrow with our post-debate poll with Ipsos that measures how the debate changed voters’ views of the race.
The live blog team’s takes on tonight’s events in a newspaper-y headline:
Nate: In Feisty Debate, A Lack Of Clear Winners
Clare: Another Democratic Debate; Front-runner Disputed
Perry: Debate Shows Other Democrats Are Worried About Rising Buttigieg And Sanders
Geoffrey: The Main Target Tonight Was Buttigieg, But He Mostly Batted Away The Attacks
Nathaniel: No Candidate Able To Grab Momentum In Debate That Is Somehow Both Feistier Than Past Debates And Totally Derivative Of Them
Kaleigh: Iowa was THIS WEEK!
Meena: In New Hampshire, 6 White Candidates Awkwardly Talk About Race