With the crowded Democratic field poised to dramatically shrink in the coming weeks, Tuesday’s debate may have been the last chance for several struggling candidates to make an impression. Unfortunately for them, the candidates who most needed a good night didn’t have one. In a debate that quickly became a donnybrook between the party’s progressives and moderates, John Delaney, Steve Bullock, and John Hickenlooper got their shots in at the so-called “fairytale” policies proposed by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders—particularly with respect to healthcare. But none of those low-polling moderates stood out, and in brushing off their “small ideas and spinelessness,” Warren and Sanders simply used the group as a stand-in for Joe Biden, their true centrist competition.

Of the three, Delaney and Bullock commanded the most speaking time, which they used to hammer progressives’ proposals as unrealistic. “I think Democrats win when we run on real solutions, not impossible promises,” Delaney said, rebuking Warren and Sanders on economic policy. “This is an example of wish list economics,” Bullock said, sounding off on Medicare for All. Both were salient points for the party to weigh as it works to defeat Donald Trump. But they did little to differentiate the two moderates, let alone set them on a path to the top tier of candidates occupied by Biden, Warren, Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Pete Buttigieg, whose performance was solid if not particularly memorable.

In taking a combative stance, the low-polling moderates appeared to be attempting to take a page out of Harris’s playbook; knifing Biden in the first debate temporarily lowered his stock and boosted hers. But neither Warren nor Sanders seemed perturbed by the onslaught. Indeed, one of the highlights of the night came when Warren hit back at Delaney for his continued appeals to pragmatism. “I genuinely do not understand why anyone would go to all the trouble of running for president just to get up on this stage and talk about what’s not possible,” she said, to loud cheers.

Then there was Beto O’Rourke, whose performance was certainly an improvement on his semi-awkward Spanish and utter obliteration on immigration by Julian Castro in June. But O’Rourke failed to create a moment for himself, blending into the background even compared to Delaney, Hickenlooper, and other moderates. With his campaign on the ropes, his failure to stand out could be a death knell.

Debates don’t necessarily serve as a great gauge of how strong a candidate’s ideas are or of how well a candidate would ultimately govern. But they can lay bare the utter sameness of their platforms. Tim Ryan opened by promising “realistic” solutions. Moments later, Hickenlooper made a similar vow to deliver solutions that were “pragmatic.” Amy Klobuchar teased the Detroit audience with “bold ideas,” but assured them that those ideas are “grounded in reality.” Such boilerplate appeals to centrism might serve to accentuate the moony performance artist that is Marianne Williamson, but won’t give these candidates the boost at the polls they so desperately need, even to remain on stage in September.

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