The first word out of the gate at the Democratic debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Thursday was the one both campaigns have been using a lot lately — “judgment.”

Bernie Sanders began by questioning whether his opponent had it. “Does Secretary Clinton have the experience and the intelligence to be our president? Of course she does,” he said, attempting to separate résumé from philosophy.

“But I do question her judgment. I question the judgment that voted for the war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country, voted for virtually every disastrous trade agreement, which cost us millions of decent-paying jobs, and I question her judgment about super-PACs, which are collecting tens of millions of dollars from special interests… I don’t believe that is the kind of judgment we need to be the kind of president we need.”

Hillary came storming back, defending her judgment. “Sen. Sanders did call me unqualified,” she said. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first,” she continued, to laughter. “Well, the people of New York voted for me twice to be their senator … and President Obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of state for the United States.”

She then pivoted to the issue that everyone was anticipating, the awkward interview Sanders gave to the New York Daily News last week. “Talk about judgment,” she said, “and talk about the kinds of problems he had answering questions about even his core issue: breaking up the banks… He could not explain how that would be done. … I think you need to have the judgment on Day 1 to be both president and commander in chief.”

Cover thumbnail photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images