| | | | Why tonight's debate matters so much to Joe Biden |  | | THE ONE TO WATCH: Former Vice President Joe Biden has benefited, to borrow a phrase from a man who once held the office he is seeking, the "soft bigotry of low expectations" so far in the 2020 presidential debates.
Biden entered the race in the spring as the clear front-runner in the Democratic field. Since that time he has appeared in three debates with a varying cast of Democratic characters. His performances in those debates have ranged from "not bad" to "oh man." Biden's best debate was the last one in Houston, in which he started quite strong and authoritative but faded badly as the debate wore on -- culminating with an answer on reparations for slavery that was cringingly bad.
Despite mediocre-ish performances, Biden has, generally speaking, not suffered greatly in the media after-action reports. (I, myself, named Biden a "winner" in the last debate, noting that he did just enough to keep the wolves from his door and benefited greatly from the widely panned attack on his age/competence from Julián Castro.)
But even between the last debate and the one tonight -- 8 p.m. on CNN! -- things have changed for Biden -- and make a so-so debate performance harder to write off.
First, this is the FOURTH Democratic debate. If the first one or two were Biden getting his sea legs after years of not being a candidate for national office, then he has to have moved beyond that feeling-out period by now. If he hasn't, it's evidence that something bigger is wrong.
Second, Biden is no longer the clear front-runner. You can argue whether he or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is more likely to get the nomination at this point, but it's definitely an argument. What's beyond argument is that Biden has lost any sort of wiggle room in the race. He can't just give away a few points after a weak debate performance now, because if he did, he'd be clearly behind Warren.
Biden then can't just be "good for Biden" tonight. He has to be good. Period. | | Beto O'Rourke is one of four candidates on stage tonight who has yet to qualify for the November debates -- if O'Rourke doesn't turn things around, this could be his last appearance on the national debate stage.
O'Rourke has already stuck out from the Democratic pack on two key issues: Mandatory gun buybacks (which has caused a skirmish between O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg) and initially saying religious institutions like churches and universities should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage.
O'Rourke has since tried to clarify his stance, saying, "When you are providing services in the public sphere, say, higher education, or health care, or adoption services, and you discriminate or deny equal treatment under the law based on someone's skin color or ethnicity or gender or sexual orientation, then we have a problem."
That threat to tax religious institutions has also earned criticism from Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg didn't hold back on Sunday, saying of O'Rourke, "I'm not sure he understood the implications of what he was saying."
O'Rourke will likely have to defend himself on both fronts -- all while seeking a breakout moment -- if he wants to return to the stage in November.
-- Lauren | | | Check out this full video time lapse of the debate stage's ground-up construction at Otterbein University. Shoutout to The Point's YouTube editing whiz Steven Sevilla for the GIF! | |
WHAT'S EVERYONE ELSE UP TO? | | There are seven other Democratic candidates for president not on stage tonight. Here's what some of them are up to: - Marianne Williamson speaks to supporters at the Seaside Center for Spiritual Living in Encinitas, California.
- Joe Sestak makes multiple campaign stops in New Hampshire, including a town hall in Peterborough and meeting with local Democrats in Goffstown.
On Wednesday, Michael Bennet heads to New Hampshire for a meet and greet in Dover, and on Thursday, John Delaney makes his 37th trip to Iowa. | |
ONE HISTORICALLY BIG THING | | | 12
This debate -- with a dozen candidates on one stage -- is the largest in history. | | | | | | |
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