Scott Jennings

Opinion contributor

As Night One of the second Democratic debate was unfolding in Detroit, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was moving ahead on approving 11 more Donald Trump-appointed judges to the federal judiciary.

Here’s how the rest of the night went for Democrats: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, activist Marianne Williamson, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren stood out. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke is done. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg didn’t have it for most of the night but has the money to fight on. Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney gets far too much time for a candidacy with such non-existent chances; he impressively butted in to nearly every exchange. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper were largely non-factors.

To me, the people who stand out in debates are the ones who appear most committed to their ideas. From this perspective, Sanders won the health care section hands down. He fought off several gnats and showed outrage when challenged on his “Medicare for All” plan. “I wrote the damn bill!” he snapped at one point.

Trashing Obama's health care system

His best talking point is on deductibles, which have skyrocketed in the last several years, making people feel like they don’t have insurance at all. It is interesting to watch Democrats like Sanders simply hammer the current health care system, which is named after Barack Obama! “Nobody can defend the dysfunctionality of the current system!" Sanders shouted. Too bad former Vice President Joe Biden wasn’t there to challenge him, although Bullock made a game effort.

Bullock, making his first debate appearance, made the most sense on immigration He is right that decriminalizing border crossings and offering free health care to illegal immigrants would exacerbate the border crisis. But the question for Bullock is: are there any Democratic primary voters who want to hear this reasonable view? If Democrats were smart, they’d listen to him instead of those candidates would drag them too far left on the issue that is now tops in America, according to the Gallup poll.

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Warren finally scored some points when the talk turned to electability. She effectively fought off Delaney and clearly has a better handle on what Democratic primary voters want to hear than he does. Delaney got more space in this debate than he has earned.

All I could think about during the climate section was that Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, was a pre-debate speaker. And he and the rest of the big labor union leaders have slammed the Green New Deal, which has been endorsed in some form or fashion by nearly every Democrat running.

To win in 2020, Democrats need to win back union members who switched from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. And union leaders are telling the Democratic presidential candidates loud and clear that the Green New Deal is not “not achievable or realistic.”

Warren's smart pivot to education

Williamson had her best moment during a discussion of the Flint water crisis. She showed the same passion and authenticity on this issue that Sanders had on health care when she pointed out that people who live in rich areas wouldn’t suffer the same problems.

When it came to race, Warren made a smart pivot to building "a better education system for all our kids." Anyone can stand up there and call Trump racist, but Warren showed off her podium confidence by focusing on an issue that every parent cares about.

Some Democrats have begun explicitly saying that anyone who votes for Trump is racist, most notably former Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. Klobuchar wisely said that not all Trump voters are racist. If Democrats follow Lockhart’s plan (“Don’t hide it like a coward. Wear that racist badge proudly and see how it feels,” he tweeted), they are going to have a devil of a time recovering white working-class voters in the upper Midwest who abandoned the Democratic Party in 2016.

Warren probably won on the economy, but honestly nobody stood out to me. “St. Pete” Buttigieg showed up at this point to remind us again that no other person in America is as Christian as him. I’m sure this tired routine elicits eye rolls from his fellow contenders.

A Williamson love boomlet?

There was some legitimate debate about whether it is a good idea to forgive all student loan debt currently on the books. What sells in the primary (loan forgiveness and free college) may not find a happy home in the general election, where people who already paid for their college will wonder: What about me?

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There were no standouts on foreign policy aside from a decent moment from Buttigieg on his time as a soldier in Afghanistan. It is unwise for Warren and others to take preemptive nuclear strikes off the table; that position seriously weakens America’s hand. You don’t know what the world may throw at you and tying your own hands will sound weak to general election voters. Bullock got the best of Warren on this one.

No joke, Williamson will pop up a couple of points following this debate, giving us a boomlet of love, perhaps. If Democrats are serious about rural outreach, they will pay attention to Bullock, but I suspect there’s little appetite for what he had to say. Sanders and Warren pleased their supporters, but as long as they both stay in the race it makes it likely Biden is the nominee. Most people, I am sure, are waiting to see how Biden handles himself on Night Two.

Scott Jennings is a Republican strategist and partner at RunSwitch Public Relations. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottJenningsKY