Tulsi Gabbard is a letdown, Elizabeth Warren is impossible to wound — and Bernie Sanders is back

'I don't need lessons from you about courage, political or personal' was the most brutal putdown of the night

This debate’s “one to watch” was supposed to be Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who returned to the (side of the) stage after being left out in September altogether. She didn’t quite deliver.

There are a couple of stand-out moments: one was when she spoke of her position on Donald Trump’s impeachment, saying that she now cautiously backs an inquiry but only if it’s delivered in a way which “isn’t partisan” and doesn’t “deepen divides in the country”. Depending on where you stand on the issue, that’s either a smart and brave move or a weird and disappointing one. Another was when she put forward an isolationist stance on Syria and Russia, while simultaneously suggesting that her time in the military made her qualified to do so. The last was when she oddly pivoted to criticizing the New York Times, calling a story which referred to her as an “asset of Russia” “completely despicable”. She may strongly disagree with that characterization of her politics, but a Democratic debate stage sponsored by the Times and CNN in a week when a doctored video emerged of Trump seemingly shooting those media rivals to death felt like the wrong place and the wrong time.

In the end, even fellow outsider Tom Steyer — the California-based billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist who’s been accused of buying his way onto the debate stage — came out looking more coherent than Gabbard. He repeated that there “is something terribly wrong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” twice, sure, but then this was an overcrowded debate where everyone had a soundbite they had to keep hammering home — and he didn’t shy away from talking about strategies to combat income inequality when addressed by moderators as “the only billionaire on this stage”.

The “ones to watch” — Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — had obviously changed tactics. Post-heart attack and after a September debate where he was accused of “putting his head down and shouting” too much, Bernie took a concertedly more measured tone (though his characteristic pointing and gesticulating stayed, and who would he be without them, really?) He seemed quicker on his feet, made a knowing reference about how he “wrote the damn bill” on Medicare-for-All — something he’s managed to reclaim as a self-effacing joke after being mocked for passionately repeating a number of times in earlier debates — and made sure to push environmental policies, the Green New Deal, and the concerns of “working class people working pay-check to pay-check” rather than leaning on anti-Trumpisms and “healthcare as a human right”. He thanked his Democratic colleagues for their love and support in a genuine-seeming speech that drew applause from across the hall. Despite slightly gleeful “concerns for his health” from Dems hoping he might drop out the race in the past fortnight, he came out looking stronger than he has for a while.

Biden took the opposite tack: he stayed on message, having been caught out stumbling while ad-libbing answers in previous debates, he injected a little more energy to his routine (“For God’s sake, get up — this is the United States of America!” he belted out in his closing statement) and he looked stronger for it. His few moments of unguardedness were harmless, like when he jokingly hugged Bernie Sanders or told Elizabeth Warren that she “did a good job” in the Obama administration (some saw that as a deliberately patronizing moment akin to when he referred to Kamala Harris as “kid” a few weeks ago, but I’m feeling charitable tonight.) He was well-prepared for challenges about his son Hunter and the Ukraine controversy, and said the only thing he could have said — “I did nothing wrong”, “I’m proud of my son”, “We were rooting out corruption in Ukraine”, “Hunter’s statement speaks for itself”, “Let’s focus on Trump”, and so on, and so on — but it wasn’t exactly inspiring. He wheeled out a phrase he’s said a few times during TV appearances of late, about Trump being scared of his candidacy because he knows “I’ll beat him like a drum”, but it didn’t have the power it used to before his family’s nepotistic tendencies started making headline news.

Elizabeth Warren was the one everyone wanted to tear chunks out of tonight, and it’s clear why: she’s the new Joe Biden, the frontrunner to beat. At one point, Pete Buttigieg accused her of being a part of “everything that’s wrong with Washington right now” because she didn’t offer a breakdown of which taxes would deliver Medicare-for-All. Warren offered a calm riposte, but Buttigieg continued by suggesting that Warren’s healthcare plans would deepen divides in the country made by Donald Trump (a line which felt a little off-piste and contrived, as though he’d been briefed in the spin room to go for Warren as much as he could for publicity’s sake.) It was Bernie Sanders who leapt to her defense, repeating Warren’s line that Medicare-for-All means “raised taxes, but only for the very wealthy”. It wasn’t the first time Sanders and Warren, previous rivals, backed each other up onstage during the three hours of sparring.

Warren is a candidate with incredible stamina (“70,000 selfies and counting”) and knowledge, and she’s difficult to wound. Amy Klobuchar — who got cheers for saying that pharmaceutical companies should have to pay for the damage done by the opioid crisis — tried a couple of times, but her claim that “just because [people] disagree with Elizabeth doesn’t mean they’re not bold” sounded petulant rather than powerful. Warren responded to the criticism by refusing to go hard on her opponents, relying instead on well-rehearsed numbers and policies which she often marked off on her fingers as she went. She looked like the adult in the room.

Others put in solid but forgettable performances. Julian Castro repeated policy proposals but spoke little. Kamala Harris started off strong but repeated her claim about attending autopsies and police officers’ funerals word-for-word from an earlier debate and sank into the background. Beto O’Rourke’s only memorable moment was when he was on the receiving end of a particularly pointed barb from Mayor Pete: “I don’t need lessons from you about courage, political or personal.” He offered nothing in return.

Cory Booker used almost all of his airtime to call for Democrats to come together, and to make a plea for civility (“I’ve seen this script in 2016”), which came across as clear-eyed and passionate but ultimately offered little in terms of specifics. He looked like a capable and optimistic VP, rather than a serious contender for president. At the relatively young age of 50, he could still fit in a career which features both positions. After all, his colleague Elizabeth Warren is 71 and when she promises — as she did tonight — to outwork everyone, including “Trump or Pence or whoever the Republicans get stuck with”, it’s hard not to believe her.