Democratic presidential candidates, from left, Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chafee take the stage during the CNN Democratic Presidential Debate at the Wynn Las Vegas Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015.
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015 | 11:40 a.m.
Tuesday night’s debate was only a warm-up for the real action: How the chattering class of journalists, analysts and bloggers are responding to the performance of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the rest of the field. Here’s a sampling of what the talking heads are saying today.
• “Hillary Clinton’s campaign spent most of the last year descending inexorably into depression and even panic. But the first Democratic presidential debate may have finally turned the tide, or at least stopped her fall. Clinton demonstrated that she was, by far, the best presidential candidate onstage.” — Jonathan Chait, New York magazine
• “(Although) Clinton won the overall debate, Sanders set its terms. From the beginning, Clinton sought to appeal to his supporters rather than vice versa.” — Michelle Goldberg, Slate
• “There was nothing especially new about anything (Clinton) said — time and again, she took a more cautious, more hawkish approach to the issues thrown at her — but she made no major errors and even landed a few surprising and effective blows, as when she took Sanders to task for his record on gun control.” — Jack Mirkinson, Salon
• “This was the best two hours of her candidacy to date. Clinton was confident, relaxed and good-natured.” — Chris Cillizza, Washington Post
• “Biden’s window for entering the race has seemed to be closing in recent days, as Clinton’s campaign appeared to stabilize after several bad weeks.” — David Lauter, LA Times
• “(The) candidates sounded like hard-Left, pie-in-the-sky, free-ice-cream-for-everyone, Socialist pander bears. But they do so because that is what the Democratic Party’s primary voters demand. Don’t blame them; blame the party rank-and-file that craves these promises, rhetoric, and worldview.” — Jim Geraghty, National Review
• “I thought Bernie Sanders said the most true and important things last night. But that is just one jerk’s opinion. And that opinion — like every focus group and extant poll — is not worth much.” — Hamilton Nolan, Gawker
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