Live Coverage Of The First Democratic Debate

Yeah, Jody. Controversy over Hillary Clinton’s private email server has been one of the main talking points about her presidential run, but it’s much more of a sticking point among Republicans than it is among Democrats. A Rasmussen poll from August found that 46 percent of overall voters believed that Clinton should suspend her campaign until all of the legal questions on the issue are resolved, while 44 percent disagreed. But when the polling was isolated to Democratic voters, only 24 percent believed she should suspend her campaign.

Count me surprised that we reached the first commercial break without a round on Hillary Clinton’s email server (they just got to it!). Is there any polling on whether Democratic voters care about the issue?

It’s usually pretty hard to judge the “winners” of the debates immediately after the event is over — much less partway through. But we’re roughly a third of the way through the Democratic debate, and my editors are asking me what I think. My answer: So far, I think the debate has mostly preserved the status quo. Clinton is not dominant, exactly, and she’s playing a lot of defense. But she’s easily the most polished candidate on stage — she’s pretty good at this — and has the message that’s likely to resonate most broadly with Democratic voters. Sanders is rough around the edges — take that answer on guns, for instance — but still has plenty of appeal to the liberalmost half of the room. The other three candidates are flatlining; if this was Martin O’Malley’s one chance to break out, he hasn’t taken it so far. But we’ll see; I’m prepared for the second and third periods to be more decisive.