Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

For months, the 2020 Democratic campaign seemed mostly placid, even cordial. But tensions over race, gender, age and ideology simmered beneath the surface.

At Thursday’s presidential debate, those frictions came to the fore – and Joe Biden bore the brunt.

The former vice president, 76, entered the debate as the front-runner, having led the pack of more than 20 Democratic candidates since he joined the race in April. But he has faced questions about whether he is too old, too white and too wedded to a bygone political age to be the nominee in the 2020 election for a party that increasingly prizes progressivism and diversity.

Biden’s opponents hammered away at those potential vulnerabilities, raising the prospect that the candidate who looked so formidable just weeks could be brought down to earth.

In the evening’s most memorable exchange, Kamala Harris, a black U.S. senator from California, blasted Biden for comments he had made about working with segregationists in the Senate and for opposing forced school busing almost 50 years ago.

Harris, 54, referenced herself as a little girl who was bused to school, highlighting in stark relief that she was a child when Biden was already a U.S. senator.

Biden tried to fight back, talking up his long record of supporting civil rights legislation. But he seemed defensive, rattled and wounded. Read more

Read also: Smiling Trump tells Putin: ‘Don’t meddle in the election’

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate

Biden wounded as Democratic tensions boil over at debate