MSNBC Democratic Debate: Live Coverage

Are we surprised that these two haven’t been going after the GOP candidates at all? Who would have bet that more than 90 minutes in, Trump would have just one mention, and Cruz and Rubio wouldn’t have been mentioned at all?

That’s something that probably deserves a whole post instead of a quick liveblog take! (And Harry has dived into this.) The short answer is that Sanders would probably cost the Democrats a couple of percentage points, other things held equal, but not necessarily produce a McGovern/Goldwater type disaster. The longer answer involves mentioning that McGovern and Goldwater weren’t just “extreme” ideologically but also very divisive nominees, so some of it would depend on how much Sanders was able to unite the Democratic Party behind him.

Nate, would Sanders really be a Goldwater/McGovern-esque general election candidate?