Live Coverage Of The First Democratic Debate

The Democrats are now talking about race, and Bernie Sanders just said “black lives matter.” Unfortunately for Sanders, African-Americans have not rallied to his candidacy. The good news for Sanders is that the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary electorate have very few minorities. It’s possible that Sanders can win both without addressing his current weakness among black voters.

The critique of Clinton’s actions regarding Benghazi sounds very different coming from Democrats than from Republicans. Where Republicans have accused her of a criminal coverup leading to the deaths of Americans, Jim Webb said the problem was the Obama administration’s attack on Libya, and O’Malley said the dead diplomats in Benghazi didn’t have the tools they needed. As a result, Clinton was able to respond to the question on the subject with a drawn-out history lesson, rather than the kind of angry defense she has used in Republican-led hearings on Capitol Hill. Similarly, she quickly won some welcome support from Sanders when he said the country was sick and tired of hearing about her emails, and O’Malley was happy to change the subject to wages and affordable college. Only Chaffee raised a mild criticism of her email decisions, which Clinton parried to the applause of the crowd.