CNN Las Vegas, NV Democratic debate @9pm ET **live commentary thread**

[Higgs]

Time for the grades

Hillary, she did what she needed to do. Of course the people who hate her are going to say she did bad, but to those undecideds and soft supporters she proved herself

Sanders: He was a crazy old man. His supporters like that, but it came off as off-putting to say the least

O'Malley: If Sanders falls, he will be the recipient of his support. Did very well, no bad gaffes. Obvious that he is running to be a cabinet appointment under Clinton with his attack on Sanders and guns.

Other two: One was racist and the other a babbling buffoonery. Nothing more.



On Sanders, that's coming from an undecided who was leaning to him until tonight.

Can you give a specific example where Webb said something racist?

I'll admit that saying he was racist is a poor choice of words, but I doing this as a democrat sitting at home, not as an objective viewer of the show.  Was what he said racist to me, no.  However to the typical democrat at home, yes.  In my personal option, I dont' find it so bad, but this a democratic debate.  At least try to know the people you are speaking too.   

Dude I have no idea what you just said.

Do I think he was racist, no.  Does a typical democratic supporter, yes.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up

[Higgs]

Hillary Clinton: A-

Bernie Sanders: B-

Martin O'Malley: B+

Jim Webb: D

Lincoln Chafee: D

[Crumpets]

My grades:

Clinton: A- some weird answers on pot and why she'd be different than Obama, but other than that a solid performance that made me proud to support her.

Sanders: B+ said exactly what his supporters wanted him to say, but I'm not sure how much he spread his appeal to undecideds, particularly on the issue of gun violence.

O'Malley: B- actually talked about policy, which was more than I was expecting from him. Not sure his polling will change any.

Webb: C- didn't look like he belonged or wanted to be on that stage, but didn't completely collapse.

Chafee: D- it couldn't have been much worse, but I suppose he got his name out there.

[Maxwell]

Hillary Clinton: A - Presidential, strong, smart, challenged at the right points, backed off on the right points. Gave a graceful performance. Republicans have to be shaking in their boots after tonight.

Bernie Sanders: B - Started off weak, guns was a real bad point for him, but he had a lot of good moments and started building up momentum toward the end. The problem is he just didn't extend beyond his few anchor points too much.

Jim Webb: C- - looked like his shirt was a button too high, felt uncomfortable, was awkward, but I thought he was one of the more substantive candidates on that stage (to a certain extent surpassing Sanders), and I got the feel that he would be an extremely capable commander in chief.

Martin O'Malley: D - Desperate, vicious, didn't seem Presidential, and got burned completely. Not an F because he's not Lincoln Chafee. Completely unlikable. Only good moment was his "sick burn" of Republicans, which a lot of Democrats (not me, I thought it was extremely lame) loved.

Lincoln Chafee: F - I love you Lincoln, but he seemed like he was running for City Council President rather than United States President. Time to go home, buddy, pack it in.

[Lyin' Steve]

As Ron Paul changed a generation of young Republicans, so has Sanders changed a generation of young Democrats.

It's the same damn people.  Redditors, teenagers, college slacktivists, folks who want to feel special but have a poor understanding about how the world works, who want to feel like they're smarter than everybody else because they read a pseudointellectual blog about how stupid everybody is.
The appeal of the candidates is the exact same.  A revolution you can re-tweet.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

CNN wasting five minutes showing poll results from Facebook. What a goddamn waste of time. It's this type of useless survey that helps them build a narrative and change the landscape.

They'll end up spinning it for Sanders. Or it will be enough of a draw that nothing will change. That's my prediction.

[Reginald]

CNN wasting five minutes showing poll results from Facebook. What a goddamn waste of time. It's this type of useless survey that helps them build a narrative and change the landscape.

They'll end up spinning it for Sanders. Or it will be enough of a draw that nothing will change. That's my prediction.

Don't worry dude, they've got their narrative:

[Pyro]

Thoughts:

Hillary Clinton: B

Feels so much like Obama 2.0. Weak promises and so obviously lying through her teeth to get Bernie supporters to her side. Dull and expected responses about foreign policy, paid maternity leave, and the infamous #emailgate. So much just screamed out-of-touch, especially her answer to student debt. Her statement of, "I'm a woman" as an answer to how she differs from Obama is extremely telling of her candidacy. Still, she kept her composure, hardly stuttered, masterfully spun questions she didn't want to answer, and all around did okay on stage. Whether she won over any new supporters is hard to tell. [Also she does not know what "a capitalist" is.]

Bernie Sanders: B

He stammered, he slouched, and gave very weak answers on topics that separate him from Obama-Democrats like guns and foreign policy. Some have been saying that his "shut up about the e-mails" line was brilliant, and it was entertaining, but I cannot image his cordial defense of Clinton helping in any regard. Sanders did do an excellent job at conveying economic points and it was clear that he knew his stuff. Perfect response to the BlackLivesMatter question and the one about the NSA. He did okay, but this should have been an easy debate with Clinton lagging in recent months.

Martin O'Malley: B-

I think out of all of the candidates, O'Malley probably looked the most presidential. He does not have the baggage of Clinton nor the die-hards of Sanders, which will certainly help if his performance does give him a poll boost. His answer to the race-related question was also not bad. Otherwise, I was not so impressed. Lackluster and cookie-cutter liberal responses to his questions made him seem almost as robotic as Hillary.

Jim Webb: C-

Oh, Jim Webb. What even is Jim Webb. He does not belong in this field and no matter how hard he tries, he will not latch on to some "silent majority" of Blue Dogs. He seemed remarkably out-of-touch, kept asking for more time when it was not his turn, and the war/kill answer near the end was just creepy. Also, "all lives matter". Just stop.

Lincoln Chafee: D

Such a shame about Chafee. He seems like a friendly person and his anti-war and anti-NSA/pro-Snowden points were spectacular. He really seems to like Facebook and was concise about his policies with the (thankfully) little time he had. However, he seemed unprepared and un-presidential, and of course the obvious gaffe about his vote. Something tells me this is the last we'll see of Lincoln.

[Mr. Morden]

Webb really enjoyed killing that guy:

[publicunofficial]

Don't know why Republicans are watching this when they know they're not going to like anything that any of the candidates say.

[Sasquatch]

Just finished watching it. Please get O'Malley, Webb, and Chafee off the stage. I want a Clinton/Sanders showdown.

[Senator Cris]

There were questions about Biden?

[The Other Castro]

There were questions about Biden?

I don't recall him being mentioned once.