By JORDAN EVANS
Columnist
After two different Republican debates of weeks past, last Tuesday, Oct. 13, the Democrats finally took to the stage. Unlike the Republican debate, which had nine candidates debating, the Democratic debate was comprised of just five: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.
The debate was a fairly accurate display of the race so far. The debate was dominated by Clinton and Sanders, with O’Malley, Chafee, and Webb merely providing background noise. From the start, it was clear Clinton would take charge. While the other four candidates struggled to articulate their intros (Webb struggling to remember his daughters names), Clinton was poised and well-spoken. Her experience in this arena gave her a clear advantage over her competitors, who could barely get a word in between her and Sanders. Clinton appealed to her voting base by bringing up Planned Parenthood and criticizing the Republicans for their plan to get rid of it. She also won the crowd’s praise through her rejection to comment on Chafee’s statement about her credibility.
Senator Bernie Sanders was a few steps behind Clinton in this debate, but still took charge of the stage from time to time. His big moment of the night was his comment, “Let me say something that may not be great politics, but I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” This statement showed the overarching support the candidates have for each other. Even though they disagree on some of the methods of implementing their plans, they agree on the majority of the issues. Sanders took the rest of his time discussing income inequality and the influence Wall Street has on Washington.
Chafee, O’Malley and Webb did not make the noise needed to boost their campaigns. In the time that Webb could have been influencing voters, he spent complaining about the little amount time he was able to speak. Chafee was able to get a decent amount of airtime through attacking Clinton and pointing out her recent scandals, but was halted when he was confronted about his vote on Glass-Steagall. His excuse of having just entered the legislature and loss of his father showed that he didn’t take the care to research his vote. O’Malley would be a clear third best of the night, but his inability to really grab the audience prevented him from shining.
In all, the debate was an example of why we have two front-runners in the Democratic race. Unless Vice-President Biden enters the race, Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a true competitor for the Democratic nomination.