Washington (CNN) Sen. Elizabeth Warren drew considerable applause during Thursday's Democratic presidential debate when she redirected a comment about her age and the fact that, if elected, she'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated.

"I'd also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated," she said.

Warren, 70, was responding to a moderator's question regarding former President Barack Obama's comments earlier this week that if women were in charge there would be "significant improvement" on "just about everything." Her pointed retort underscored the heated discussions over diversity that dominated the least diverse and most male-dominated debate of the entire Democratic primary campaign.

"I believe that President Obama was talking about who has power in America. Whose voices get heard. I believe he's talking about women and people of color and trans people and people whose voices just so often get shoved out. And for me the best way to understand that is look at how people are running their campaigns in 2020," Warren said.

"You know, I made the decision when I decided to run not to do business as usual and now I'm crowding in on 100,000 selfies. That's 100,000 hugs and handshakes and stories," she added. "Stories from people that are struggling with student loan debt. Stories from people who can't pay their medical bills. Stories from people who can't find child care."

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