What Went Down In The Fourth Democratic Debate

To be fair, there’s a reason they keep starting with healthcare. It’s a mess. And it matters to everyone.

Do folks think the first question will be about health care? That’s been the case in the last three debates, but do you think moderators might spice things up and start with impeachment?

I’ve also been assigned to cover Steyer. And to be honest, this is a bit of a problem, because I’m not really sure what his case is for being the nominee or how to really fit him and Warren under the same umbrella. So I’ve broken this out into a separate post — because while I might not be sure on his path to the nomination, I do have thoughts.

Oh sure, Steyer can talk about how he was the first candidate to call for impeachment, as he often does in his well-produced commercials. Maybe he feels like he deserves a gold star for that from Democratic voters. But is that the reason he should be the nominee, given that every other Democrat on stage supports impeachment now? He’ll need to do more. Plus, Warren was also relatively early to the impeachment party, which gives her some moral authority on the subject. And Biden has some, since the reason the president may be impeached is because of a scandal involving Trump asking for an investigation related to Biden and his son.

Steyer can talk about his business background, but that’s not necessarily going to be a huge plus with Democrats. He can also talk about being an outsider, but that message might work better if there weren’t so many other candidates who also style themselves as outsiders (Sanders, Buttigieg, Yang, to a large extent Warren, etc.). And he can try to raise the salience of climate change, on which he’s been one of the most outspoken candidates, but that didn’t exactly work for Inslee.

It also doesn’t mean Steyer’s running to the left on every issue. He opposes Medicare for All, for instance. And in some ways, he’s trying to strike a middle ground between the leftmost candidates and the moderates, sort of like Harris has been trying to do all along. But look at where Harris is in the polls!

In my view, Steyer’s relatively slim chances probably depend on Biden collapsing; that’s a more plausible scenario than Warren or Sanders supporters suddenly deciding to back a former hedge-fund manager. (Of course, other candidates, like Buttigieg and Harris, could also benefit from a Biden collapse.) So I wouldn’t hesitate to attack Biden — for being too much of an insider or even for being too old — if I were Steyer.

I’d also come prepared with good answers for questions that Steyer might face about his hedge fund background, his status as a billionaire or accusations that he effectively bought his way into the debate by spending a lot of money on early-state ads. But I wouldn’t be too defensive about those things; in the long run, he’s probably trying to peel off Biden, Harris or Buttigieg supporters more than he is backers of Warren or Sanders.