Welcome to Opinion’s commentary for the first night of the second Democratic presidential candidate debate. In this special feature, Times Opinion writers rank the candidates on a scale of 1 to 10: 1 means the candidate probably didn't belong on the stage and should probably drop out; 10 means It’s on, President Trump. Here's what our columnists and contributors thought about the debate.

Elizabeth Warren

Charles M. Blow (8/10) — In the first hour it looked like she might be overshadowed, but she emerged as the strongest, surest candidate on the stage on a variety of issues.

Jamelle Bouie (8/10) — Much like Sanders in that first debate, Warren got a little overtaken by the field. But she landed a punishing blow on John Delaney, and stood out, again, for her willingness to go big.

Gail Collins (8/10) — Can't beat Elizabeth Warren on capitalism and the wealth tax.

Ross Douthat (7/10) — Effective, good lines against the moderates. But her early riffs were cut off and not as central to the action as Sanders.

Maureen Dowd (8/10) — Warren has had two very good debates. Tonight she had some dexterous moves, offering some jazz hands about green technology and rubbing her hands gleefully when Don Lemon pointed out that John Delaney, whose net worth is more than $65 million, would be subject to her wealth tax.

Michelle Goldberg — 9/10

Nicholas Kristof (8/10) — Wow, she is fast on her feet. I disagreed with some of what she said on health care and immigration, but she is masterful on policy and very effective at signaling that she will pursue far-reaching change. From her opening statement, she pressed the argument that she will fight to deliver “big, structural change.”

David Leonhardt (8/10) — She rose to national prominence during the financial crisis because she could explain complicated policy issues clearly and passionately. This talent was on display again last night. I just hope she eventually finds a way to back away from abolishing private health insurance.

Liz Mair (6/10) — She got lots of face time, which is what she wants, but unfortunately she did it not by dominating and just hitting her message hard without drawing other candidates in but rather by engaging 1 and 2 percenters in fights. This tends to make strong candidates look weak and like champion swimmers worrying about the kid in a life vest dog-paddling around the pool. It’s a tell of weakness and insecurity, and if I were her team I wouldn’t be happy about it. She got fairly pinned on banning private health insurance stuff, and her trade answer will sit well with union types but not all rank and file Democratic voters.

Gracy Olmstead (8/10) — Warren represented her viewpoints eloquently and debated well with the more centrist candidates. The question is if she will able to differentiate herself from Sanders and show how and why she is the better candidate.

Bret Stephens (8/10) — She was also an effective debater, though I was put off by her repeated attempts to speak past her time. Also, based on her policy proposals, she would lose to Trump.

Sarah Vowell (4/10) — The Daily Cougar, the student paper of the University of Houston, her alma mater, has asked her to stop dismissing it, per her closing statement, as a “commuter college.” It is a large university with more than 45,000 students whose alumni include Tom Landry, Dennis Quaid, Jim Parsons and Alice Sebold.

Peter Wehner (7/10) — She’s skilled and her performance will energize the left. But Democrats beware: Like Sanders, she’s planting her flag in dangerous, unpopular territory. Being a fighter for bad and unpopular ideas isn’t a virtue. Also, answering legitimate criticisms by dismissing them as “Republican talking points” isn’t really an answer.

Will Wilkinson (8/10) — Senator Warren came out firmly on top in the non-guru category. She knows what's broke. She knows how to fix it. She's going to put an end to the corruption and corporate plunder and make the system work for the little guy. It's a good message, and she delivers it with hectoring panache. She struggled with Delaney's aggressive, stick-and-move wonkishness on Medicare for All, but gutted him on the self-neutering pusillanimity of centrism.

Bernie Sanders

Charles M. Blow (7/10) — He and Warren align on many of the issues, but unlike her presentation, his came across as lecturing and scream-y. Debates are a performance. They test how well you present and defend your policies.

Jamelle Bouie (9/10) — After a quiet debut in the first debate, he hit all of his marks, landing a few good hits and standing out with his unapologetic boldness.

Gail Collins (7/10) — He won the health care match with Warren, which was probably the most important argument of the night. But then he trailed off and by the second half he was just making his basic one-minute speech over and over.

Ross Douthat (8/10) — Rhetorically dominant, especially in the early going. But did he appeal beyond the true believers?

Maureen Dowd (8/10) — Sanders was determined to prove that, if democratic socialism is chic, he’s the primogenitor of the movement and the granddaddy of Medicare for All. With his usual bark, he owned his “Get off my lawn!” persona with “I wrote the damn bill!”

Michelle Goldberg — 8/10

Nicholas Kristof (6/10) — Sanders came across as passionate, caring and forceful — but also as perpetually angry, in a way that I found offputting. I’m glad to see Sanders emphasize inequality. But his call for “political revolution” is not grounded in the policy details that Warren offers.

David Leonhardt (9/10) — He was both fiery and funny. ("I wrote the damn bill.") I agree with his critics that some of his positions are out of step with swing voters, but he made his case well. And I liked this line, about climate change: "We've got to be super-aggressive if we love our children."

Liz Mair (5/10) — Sanders made the same mistake Warren did: punching down. But he’s also far less policy fluent than she is, and he gets a lower mark as a result. Like Warren, Sanders got fairly pinned on banning private health insurance and no one other than unions will like his trade answer. I’m also convinced the “yelling grandpa” act is beginning to wear thin, and it was very much on display tonight.

Gracy Olmstead (8/10) — Sanders offered clear, detailed and energetic answers throughout the evening — and had some of the best moments of the debate, with the exception of Warren and Williamson.

Bret Stephens (8/10) — He’s a powerful and effective debater, even if he'd be a disastrous standard-bearer.

Sarah Vowell (3/10) — When Senators Warren and Sanders dismissed legitimate critiques of their similar health plans, particularly the radical proposal of abolishing private health insurance, as “Republican talking points,” I was enraged to a degree that I cannot adequately describe in a family newspaper. An apology would be nice.

Peter Wehner (6/10) — He didn’t move the needle one way or the other. He was certainly feisty. But he’s like an aging singer who keeps singing the same song — it gets tiresome. So does his scolding, hectoring tone. Oh, and he’s genuinely radical, and he isn’t afraid to hide it.

Will Wilkinson (7/10) — Bernie Bernied. He yells about corporations, and you like it or you don't. But the man doesn't have a fake bone in his body, and he's so amiable, earnest and wry that you don't so much mind the socialism, or the yelling. He should have gone harder at Delaney for profiteering off the sick. That's the brand.

Pete Buttigieg

Charles M. Blow (7/10) — He demonstrated why his supporters are so excited about him and donors are attracted to him. His comportment is calm, deliberate and informed, and he seeks to elevate the discourse to a philosophical level.

Jamelle Bouie (6/10) — He did all right! Buttigieg did a nice job reminding everyone that he's younger than 40. I don't think this debate will lift him, but it won't hurt him, either.

Gail Collins (7/10) — He was almost always reasonable and gave the best answer on student debt. But he could use a little more passion. (Lost count of how many times he mentioned he was in the military.)

Ross Douthat (6/10) — Polished but maybe too much polish — and didn’t know which way to fire in the moderate-lefty civil war.

Maureen Dowd (5/10) — His intellect showed, as usual, and he was careful to work in his distinguishing record as a vet in Afghanistan, but he lacked a commanding presence tonight.

Michelle Goldberg — 7/10

Nicholas Kristof (8/10) — Mayor Pete has a rare ability to deliver nuance in sound bites. He pursues moderate positions that he wraps in a profound call for change. He is also fluent in both foreign policy and religion, always deft at using scripture to point out G.O.P. hypocrisy.

David Leonhardt (7/10) — He's the best at making the progressive case — yes, the progressive case — against both mandatory Medicare and free college. He's also right about the importance of structural change to the way our democracy works.

Liz Mair (5/10) — He made a nominal mark in a couple of places but was totally eclipsed by fighting among the Warren-Sanders “leftists” and the Delaney-Hickenlooper-Bullock “centrists.”

Gracy Olmstead (6/10) — Buttigieg gave some interesting answers, particularly on the issues of endless war and structural reforms, but struggled to command the stage.

Bret Stephens (10/10) — He was far and away the most poised and confident speaker. Persuasive and pleasantly ingratiating even when I didn't agree.

Sarah Vowell (8/10) — If you read his memoir — and he had me at “gym class was not my scene” — he was educated by Oxford, the Navy and earthier mayoral nemeses like snowstorms and potholes. He is going to be president someday, but black voters may not have finished schooling him by 2020.

Peter Wehner (9/10) — He had some of the best lines, a commanding presence, showed he’s knowledgeable and avoided the radical trap Sanders and Warren are in. He humanized policies, quoted Scripture and sharpened his generational message. And the way he uses his war record against Trump is underrated. He’s quite a political talent.

Will Wilkinson (6/10) — Mayor Buttigieg transmits along a sedate, narrow range of emotional frequencies, yet somehow manages to bounce madly between salt-of-the-earth relatability and robotic, transparently workshopped falseness. The combination of bad judgment and wooden inauthenticity in his "the racial divide lives within me" bit made me squirm. And his smug "man of genuine Christian conviction" shtick? Gross.

Marianne Williamson

Jamelle Bouie (7/10) — It feels insane to say this, but Williamson out-debated virtually everyone else on the stage. She gave a compelling answer on reparations and returned again and again to the most important issue for Democratic voters, beating Trump.

Gail Collins (4/10) — She isn't a real candidate, but I had to give her some extra credit for that intense answer on slavery reparations.

Ross Douthat (8/10) — Marvelous again, not enough airtime, but if she doesn’t get to 5 percent in the polls, the Democratic Party should disband.

Maureen Dowd (10/10) — Sneer if you will, but a call for a little spiritual healing is in order in the unspiritual, racist, hate-filled era of Donald Trump. As Jaboukie Young-White, a “Daily Show” correspondent, tweeted, Williamson is about to be the first president to take the oath of office with her hand on a stack of Tarot cards. Debates are about the visceral, and Williamson has that down. Not since Admiral James Stockdale, a fan of the Stoic philosophers, opened the vice presidential debate in 1992 by asking “Who am I, why am I here?” has there been a line as arresting as this one by the philosopher of love: “If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days.”

Michelle Goldberg — 6/10

Nicholas Kristof (1/10) — She shouldn’t have been in the debate to begin with.

David Leonhardt (3/10) — I understand why she appeals to some voters, but it's a little odd to hear a presidential candidate suggest that government policy and "wonkiness" are overrated. Shouldn't she try to change the country another way?

Liz Mair (10/10) — I have no earthly idea what she was talking about half the time, but she got in a good line and had a breakout moment. She’ll probably raise a lot online this week and maybe get to 5 percent if she’s lucky. She speaks in zero policy detail and a lot of voters like that. It’s hard to attack. No one knows what to do with her, which plays to her advantage. Also people vote personality not policy, and she’s a celebrity.

Gracy Olmstead (8/10) — Williamson somehow managed to give interesting, eloquent answers to every question she received, despite their rarity. She was, one might say, a “force” onstage. The debate’s results seems unlikely to result in actual, sustained voter interest going forward — but stranger things have happened.

Bret Stephens (2/10) — She is to this debate what Jimmy "The Rent Is Too Damn High" McMillan was to a past New York City mayoral debate, except McMillan was right.

Sarah Vowell (3/10) — She obviously means well, and her rhetoric was considerably less woo-woo than the last debate, but then she used the phrase “dark psychic force” regarding the city of Flint’s poisoned water. (Technically, the problem is unhealthy levels of lead.)

Peter Wehner (2/10) — She’s an amusing presence on the stage who found a way to inject “yada, yada, yada” and “dark psychic force” into a presidential debate. It was impressive in its own weird way.

Will Wilkinson (8/10) — There is a numinous sense in which Marianne Williamson "won" this debate. She was compelling on health care and education, and dazzling on "institutionalized hatred." As a wonk, I don't love Ms. Williamson's anti-wonk agenda. She's right, though: We're useless against the "dark psychic force." But I can feel it. Can't you?

Steve Bullock

Jamelle Bouie (3/10) — I don't understand why he’s still running.

Gail Collins (1/10) — He lost me when he defended first-strike nuclear weapon use.

Ross Douthat (5/10) — Moderately effective, eclipsed by Delaney.

Maureen Dowd (6/10) — The Montana governor made a good impression in his first appearance and grabbed the space of a moderate common-sense alternative in the heavily progressive field.

Michelle Goldberg — 6/10

Nicholas Kristof (5/10) — Surprised me by being very effective in going after moderate voters and emphasizing electability. But I suggest he run for the Montana senate seat.

David Leonhardt (8/10) — It was good to have him onstage, finally. He strikes me as potentially the strongest of the centrists. He's been the governor of a red state, and he embraces the label "populist" — which is the right way for Democrats to appeal to swing voters.

Liz Mair (7/10) — Same comments as for Delaney — got more oxygen than he deserved, and he's closer to the Democratic electorate than Sanders-Warren.

Gracy Olmstead — 1/10

Bret Stephens (3/10) — Meh.

Sarah Vowell (9/10) — While confirming his commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, Governor Bullock pointed out that “in the transition to this clean energy economy” it is unacceptable to demonize the “folks that have spent their whole life powering our country.” What’s the point in being a Democrat without a democratic spirit?

Peter Wehner (2/10) — It was his first presidential debate. It may be his last. But he scored some points against Sanders.

Will Wilkinson (7/10) — Governor Bullock gained some ground with his easy-going charismatic red state-blue governor crossover appeal. I can't remember anything he said, but I'm down to hang.

Amy Klobuchar

Charles M. Blow (3/10) — She is trying to position herself as a practical, centrist candidate. That is a hard sell on these stages because it comes across as "dream smaller." Also, her comment about people who voted for Trump not being racist didn't go down well with me.

Jamelle Bouie (5/10) — She was there! Reminded everyone that she is the moderate choice if you don't want to vote for Joe Biden. Not sure that will be enough to get ahead.

Gail Collins (6/10) — She gets maybe an extra point on her powerful gun control response.

Ross Douthat (3/10) — Maybe she’s really running for vice president, but she’s doing badly at that, too.

Maureen Dowd (5/10) — The “street fighter from the Iron Range,” as she has been called, was not much of a street fighter tonight. She started strong, saying “Let’s get real!” but mostly she played it safe and faded into the background.

Michelle Goldberg — 7/10

Nicholas Kristof (3/10) — I like Klobuchar, but she needs a clearer message to inspire voters. She also needs to show passion and the capacity to deliver change that voters seek.

David Leonhardt (5/10) — More than once, she mentioned her impressive electoral history. She's won even in red areas of Minnesota. Sometimes, she lapsed into a habit that's common among senators, getting too detailed about legislation.

Liz Mair (1/10) — She was a total nonfactor in this debate and made absolutely no mark whatsoever. She should have been throwing binders at Warren and Sanders.

Gracy Olmstead (4/10) — Klobuchar was unable to get the centrist airtime that others like Delaney received but when she was called upon seemed to struggle with answers.

Bret Stephens (4/10) — A nervous performance.

Sarah Vowell (8/10) — The Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked her as the No. 1 Senate Democrat. While she would make a fine president, in my daydreams of the greater good, she doesn’t usurp President Trump but instead replaces Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (assuming there’s still a difference).

Peter Wehner (5/10) — She was average, conversant on policy — her criticisms of forgiving all student debt was crisp and effective — but she’s not terribly appealing and not a great communicator. She needed to break out in this debate. She didn’t.

Will Wilkinson (7/10) — Senator Klobuchar is a stone-cold killer. You know it. I know it. But she's playing it cool. She's going slow-and-steady up the middle without being a jerk to the left, like Delaney. Her no-nonsense, practical, get-er-done Midwestern affect isn't thrilling, but it connects. I believe that she cares.

John Delaney

Jamelle Bouie (1/10) — As God is my witness, this man was snapped in half.

Gail Collins (2/10) — There is no future for a bottom-rung candidate whose big spin is explaining why all his opponents aren't moderate enough.

Ross Douthat (6/10) — Lots of hate for him on Twitter, but he made the most of a shockingly substantial amount of airtime.

Maureen Dowd (3/10) — The obscure former Maryland congressman got more air time than anyone could have anticipated, but he still needs to get out of the way.

Michelle Goldberg — 1/10

Nicholas Kristof (2/10) — He had lots of debate time, in which he reinforced the idea that he should not be the Democratic nominee.

David Leonhardt (5/10) — He has to be happy that CNN made him the main foil to Warren and Sanders, and he had some good critiques of their policies. But I'm skeptical that his version of centrism — more corporate than populist — is an effective message in 2020.

Liz Mair (9/10) — A virtual no-namer who seemed to garner more attacks from Sanders-Warren — both of whom were unnecessarily and dangerously punching down — than Donald Trump. Got way more oxygen than he deserved, and that’s what he wants and needs to stay alive. Now everyone knows his name. That wasn’t true before tonight. On trade, he and Beto are far closer to the actual Democratic electorate than Sanders-Warren, and he forced them to spend a lot of air time showing how out of step they are with their own voters. Bottom line: He got the big dogs to elevate him, which should have been completely impossible, and even if he’s not where the base is on policy overall, he’ll probably do better as a result — he can’t really do worse.

Gracy Olmstead (4/10) — Delaney served as the primary centrist during the debate, in terms of air time. But while he occasionally offered interesting rebuttals to Sanders and Warren, he seemed unprepared for the task.

Bret Stephens (8/10) — Well, I agree with much of what he says. And Democrats desperately need to hear the voice of someone like him, who speaks for a lot of voters turned off by the constant demonization of the private sector coming from Warren and Sanders.

Sarah Vowell (3/10) — John Delaney’s one-armed immigrant grandfather was almost deported from Ellis Island because he was disabled. But the judge who heard his appeal allowed him to enter the country because the judge was also a one-armed man. For a family that lucky, producing a president is probably too much to ask.

Peter Wehner (8/10) — He helped himself the most. Known by almost no one before tonight, he was quite effective criticizing the health care plans of Warren and Sanders. He’s serious and made the essential point: Warren’s and Sanders’s agenda is essentially anti-private sector. He was the best embodiment of a moderate Democrat on the stage.

Will Wilkinson (7/10) — Warren rhetorically curb-stomped the very practical former congressman. But if we grade on merits, rather than optics, Delaney "won" on Medicare for All against Warren and Sanders. But this is all optics. That said, political optics don't always make sense. Delaney got viciously dunked on — and it leveled him up.

Tim Ryan

Jamelle Bouie (4/10) — This guy has an angle, I'll give him that.

Gail Collins (3/10) — Some of his answers were very smart, but when you're in the back of the pack, you really need to shine.

Ross Douthat (3/10) — Maybe effective once or twice, eclipsed by Hickenlooper.

Maureen Dowd (3/10) — Perfect candidate for the secretary of manufacturing for new enviro-friendly jobs.

Michelle Goldberg — 5/10

Nicholas Kristof (2/10) — He didn’t belong in the debate or add significantly to it.

David Leonhardt (4/10) — His blue-collar, Midwestern message is one Democrats need to hear, but I don't see how he generates enough excitement to rise to the top of the field. I hope he eventually runs statewide in Ohio.

Liz Mair (5/10) — He’s still not going anywhere significant, but he at least got some decent facetime. He risks having “chief manufacturing officer” become the “a noun, a verb and 9/11” (Joe Biden’s put-down of Rudy Giuliani in a previous presidential effort) of this campaign.

Gracy Olmstead (4/10) — Ryan had some coherent and interesting thoughts on climate change, but he was otherwise pretty forgettable.

Bret Stephens (7/10) — He gets kudos for speaking effectively and coherently for the Midwestern, working-class voters Democrats will need to win.

Sarah Vowell (8/10) — Ohio’s Congressman Ryan is underrated. He is especially astute and stirring about income inequality and workers “who shower at the end of the day.” He shares with Senator Klobuchar and Governor Bullock not just a sense of place, but an insistence that the people where he comes from matter.

Peter Wehner (3/10) — He was mostly forgettable, except for his line “You don’t have to yell, Bernie.”

Will Wilkinson (3/10) — I can't see the point of him.

Beto O’Rourke

Charles M. Blow (5/10) — He did better than the first debate, but he's still not shining in the way the other candidates are.

Jamelle Bouie (6/10) — He did all right! O'Rourke recaptured a little of that Texas Senate race magic. I don't think this debate will lift him, but it won't hurt him, either.

Gail Collins (5/10) — He gets points for being better than last time. And I believe he mentioned only twice that he visited all 254 counties in Texas when he ran for Senate.

Ross Douthat (1/10) — Alas, no.

Maureen Dowd (2/10) — He doesn’t seem to realize that he’s not a Kennedy and that he became a national craze in the Senate race only because he was running against Ted Cruz.

Michelle Goldberg — 4/10

Nicholas Kristof (3/10) — Smart and articulate, he made a great case that Texas is winnable for Democrats — so he should run for the Senate there.

David Leonhardt (6/10) — The debate was his strongest campaign moment yet. An example: his immigration answer. He spoke compassionately about Dreamers and separated families and promised to help them. But he didn't give in to the fad of calling for border decriminalization: "I expect that people who come here follow our laws."

Liz Mair (4/10) — When he’s talking about things that are highly germane to Texas, he sounds comfortable and pretty knowledgeable. Unfortunately, as Rick Perry learned in 2012, Texas isn’t the entirety of America and definitely isn’t very like Iowa or New Hampshire.

Gracy Olmstead — 2/10

Bret Stephens (1/10) — Wretched. His performance reminded me of a flailing audition for “American Idol.”

Sarah Vowell (7/10) — His answers were judicious, he has moral clarity and I wouldn’t mind voting for him, but the exuberance of his Senate campaign last year has been drummed out of him. What does he need to live up to his potential? Ten more years? Rick Rubin?

Peter Wehner (4/10) — He didn’t stumble as he did in the last debate, but he didn’t make much of an impression, either. And he needed to. He’s an odd combination of overly earnest and inauthentic.

Will Wilkinson (5/10) — I got in it my head that Representative O'Rourke has "youth pastor energy," and now that's all that I can see. He's intelligent, decent, graceful, sincere — definitely crushing the Best Camp Counselor primary. But he didn't get anywhere here.

John Hickenlooper

Jamelle Bouie (3/10) — I don't understand why he’s still running.

Gail Collins (3/10) — He's likable and his answers were fine, but when you're back in the pack, you really need to shine.

Ross Douthat (4/10) — Intermittently effective, eclipsed by Bullock.

Maureen Dowd (4/10) — Credit for laying out his record of successfully challenging the N.R.A., but Steve Bullock did a better job of being a Western governor running for president who could lure Trump voters.

Michelle Goldberg — 4/10

Nicholas Kristof (2/10) — Time for a good man to leave this race and run instead for the Senate from Colorado.

David Leonhardt (2/10) — He was a better mayor and governor than he is a presidential candidate. He should be running for the Senate seat in Colorado against Cory Gardner, the Republican incumbent. Hickenlooper could win it.

Liz Mair (8/10) — Same comments as for Delaney — got more oxygen than he deserved, and he's closer to the Democratic electorate than Sanders-Warren.

Gracy Olmstead — 2/10

Bret Stephens (2/10) — I wish it were otherwise, but he just can't perform onstage.

Sarah Vowell (4/10) — If it makes the prudent former mayor of Denver feel any better about his humdrum presence, my family and I are big fans of his city’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

Peter Wehner (5/10) — He’s not a compelling figure, and he didn’t particularly help himself. But he did make some effective criticisms of the radicalism of Warren and (especially) Sanders. His line about FedExing the election to Trump was a good one.

Will Wilkinson (3/10) — A good governor and lovely man entirely liberated from the burden of captivating personal qualities.