Here’s another live-blog of the live-streaming of day 2 of the Democratic presidential primary debate. You know how it works: most recent additions are on top and the lower you go, the longer ago. Remember, Ye Olde Blogge is coming at you live from Paris, France — not Texas — tonight and that’s why our times are all six hours ahead of EST.

POST DEBATE: Who had the most to gain in the debate? That would be Harris and Buttigieg. They are stuck in that second or third tier. Everyone else is too low in the polls to make a difference. Honestly. Everyone should drop out except for Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, and Harris. Maybe Gillibrand. Everyone else should be out. It’s just too much of a reach.

The absolute best moment was Harris confronting Biden over the failure of the states to integrate and needing the feds. Calif did it, but Southern states didn’t do it. She kicked ass.

Buttigieg was steady and clear and policy wonky. But, Harris won.

5:00 AM The debate is over let the spin begin. There were good lines and bad. There were good points and not so good. And suddenly everyone has a plan… except for Williamson because plans are shallow but slogans are deep. Okay. Let’s see what people thought.

• Wrap up
• Swalwell: I was first to go to college and led the effort to elect a new generation. We will resolve climate, student debt, and
• Williamson: Talk more about beating Trump. Not by insider or plans but by knowing what he has done and harnassed fear for political purpose. I’m going to harnass love for poligtical purposes
• Bennett: My mom and her parents came to rebuild shattered lives but others came 300 years before. I’ve had two tough races by bringing people together. End corruption but bring us together and build prosperaty
• Hickenlooper: Small business exapanded reporductive health to reduce teen pregnancy near univerals healthcare coverage attacked climate change. You don’t need big gov’t to make big change. Socialism will re-elect Trump
• Gillibrand: /Women’s rights are under attacked. I went to the frontlines to fight. I will fight fight no one else does. Stood up to Trump, overturned DADT
• Yang: Thank you. I am proof that our democracy still work. Who can beat Trump? The person who can trickle up economy. Not left or right but forward
• Harris: (1) Nominee who can prosecute the case against Trump — that’s me. (2) About you, my 3:00 AM agenda because that’s when worry starts. I will lead with dignity honesty truth to help families getting to the end of the month.
• Buttigieg: Politics is not theoretical. War. Marriage. Guiding community with per capita income was less than 20,000. My generation will deliver climate and end to endless war.
• Sanders: Good people with great ideas, but nothing has changed. Nothing will change unless we take on Wall Street, pharma, fossil fuels, military-industrial complex.
• Biden: Restore the soul of the nation. White supremacy and dictators. Restore the backbone of America give them dignity. Unite America. We can do anything if we are together. God bless you all and may god bless our troops.

4:45 AM Last break? The last round on foreign policy was much calmer. Biden came back a bit. His experience helped him there. He can rightly claim foreign policy experience and diplomacy that most others can’t.

Williamson is still nuts.

Bennett did well again.

4:40 AM From the audience: how can you reverse the damage to us on the world stage. Bennett: Must fix our democracy and end corruption. We have to restore our relationship with our allies. In Japan, he attacks Germany, Japan, and one other. Can we trust our admin? That’s a problem.

Lightening round: What is the first relationship to reset:

• Williamson: Europe
• Hickenlooper: China
• Yang: China
• Buttigieg: We don’t know who will be pissed off, so model
• Biden: NATO
• Sanders: UN
• Harris: NATO
• Gillibrand: Iran
• Bennett: European allies and Latin America
• Swalwell: breaking up with Russia and making up with NATO — good line.

Maddow to Sanders: You regret Iraq War, why should we trust you? Obama asked him to get our combat troops out of Iraq. I did it. Get us out of Afghanistan. i dealt with other countries on terrorism. We need a new authorization. We need to restore our alliances.

Sanders: Difference, Joe voted for it, I opposed it. I lead the effort out to get us out of Yemen. I will prevent war with Iran.

4:35 AM Going to Lester and the audience in a minute. Now Maddow to Salwell on guns: Keep your pistols, keep your weapons, keep your shotguns we’ll ban and buy back assault weapons. The only thing that would’ve prevented Parkland. Now he’s all emotional about gun violence and the constant threat. Love our children more than our guns.

Maddow to Sanders, you said guns should make the decisions. That’s not my position. It was a quote. I ran on banning assault weapons and lost. Sanders are talking over Salwell. We ban the sale and distribution.

Harris: Swalwell has great ideas. Will give Congress 100 days to get it together before executive action to clean it up. Ban importation of assault weapons. Prosecutors see too much gun violence.

Buttigieg’s turn as only military vet. Does that make a difference? Yes we trained on these weapons. Mayor has prepared me because so many people dying from gun violence. If guns made us safer, we would be the safest — good line.

Biden: I’m the only person who beat NRA. Passed Brady bill, banned assault weapons. We will buy back weapons. Smart guns.

4:30 AM Another break. Man o man, Williamson is nuts! I can’t spell Salwell’s name and he seems somewhat lost. Bennett has gotten back on track. His last couple of answers have been pretty good. Everybody else seems unchanged in their delivery.

Biden is not having a good time. He must be questioning his life choices about now. He must be wondering why the fuck did I think I wanted to do this? It’s been rough on him. Harris came after him on race and Salwell on generational change. Both of them were personal.

Hickenlooper went after Buttigieg on policing issues. Buttigieg sounded pretty good here in front of mostly white latte liberals as Rev. Al calls them, but I don’t think it goes so well when rubber truncheons hit the back of the head.

4:20 PM Todd to Harris on climate change:Visited smoldering fires with firefighters fighting fires with their home burning. Now, the greatest national security threat? Trump because climate denyer, embraces Putin and NK. Todd is ineffective at cutting her off.

Buttigieg on climate: We begin adapting. Carbon-tax rebated out in a progressive fashion so that Americans are made whole. In South Bend had to exercise emergencies for 1,000 year and 500 year floods. Rural American can be part of the solution. Leadership local. Todd trying to cut him off.

Hickenlooper: Oil and gas companies must be part of the solution. He’s a scientist. Guaranteeing everyone a gov’t job or socialism won’t do it. What? Renewables and network for electric vehicles. Can’t demonize every business. Maddow is trying to cut him off.

Biden: How can you cut carbon emissions without Repubes? Yes Obama-Biden built renewable energy sources. 500,000 recharging stations for electric cars. Exporter of green economy. Join Paris. Must coral the rest of the world like we did before.

Sanders: The old ways are no longer relevant. Cannot deny. We shouldn’t be spending on weapons but on sustainability.

Salwell: Pass the torch. Sanders pushes back.

Williamson: Just because you have a younger body doesn’t mean you have old ideas — good line. JFK put a man on the moon with greatness. I’ve had a career of harnessing the excitement of people.

Lightening round: Obama wanted to do healthcare and climate. He did healthcare. you get one shot. What’s the first issue:

• Salwell ending gun violence
• Bennett climate change
• Gillibrand family bill of rights
• Harris middle class tax cut
• Sanders political revolution
• Biden underestimated Obama brought the world together to deal with climate change but I’ll defeat Trump
• Buttigieg fix democracy
• Yang $1,000.00
• Hickenlooper collaborated approach to climate change
• Williamson I’ll call PM of NZ — she’s nuts!

4:15 AM Maddow to Sanders: how will you defend Roe? My litmis test is that he will not nominate anyone who opposes Roe. Wants to rotate justices through SCOTUS. What if the court has already overturned Roe? Medicare-for-all guarantees every woman to have an abortion.

Gillibrand: Talk to America’s women and the men who love them. Mindboggling to be debating it again. Go on offense. Corruption and deal making. Compromises have been made on our backs brought us Hyde. ACA negotiations required a fight for controception and abortion were not sold. Who do you want negotiating with Smitch over women’s reproductive rights.

4:10 AM Todd asks Bennett about gridlock. It will not disappear with Smitch in office. Good answer. We need to take the Senate. Agrees with Gillibrand. Listing SCOTUS limiting democracy. Takes a swipe at Biden — all those things happened since Biden was in the Senate. He’s now coughing.

Biden: I have seen what’s happened. I got us the three votes for the Great Recession. Got Smitch to raise taxes. Biden sometimes cannot work bi-partisanship sometimes has to beat them. Now Bennett is pushing back on the sequester. Biden looks upset.

Gillibrand: Trump taxcuts had to pass to pay back donors.

Sanders looks frustrated. Gillibrand wants the Parkland kids to have the voice of NRA and Koch. And she’ll give it to them? What?

4:00 AM It’s the illustrious Rachel Maddow and bothsideism Chuck Todd. Looking forward to it.

First question for Buttigieg by Maddow about the officer involved shooting why do you have 6% black officers and 26% black population. Why isn’t it better in your years as mayor? Buttigieg: I didn’t get it done. Systemic racism. Can’t bring it back. Wall of mistrust put up one racist act a time. Wants black people to feel as safe as white people when around police.

Hickenlooper jumps in with his experience as mayor 10 years before Fegueson. and they fixed it and they were

Williamson jumps in to everyone’s surprise. Wants reparations for this reason.

Harris as the only black person I want to speak about race. Todd looked like his and had been slapped. She’s gotten 30 sec. Profiling discrimination neighbors couldn’t play because they were black. On to Biden, he’s not a racist. It was hurtful to hear him talk about sensationalist senators. You opposed busing with them. I was in the second class to integrate schools and was bused to school every day. Of course, it was her. Now we have body cameras? Lots of cheers.

Biden gets his chance. Mischaracterized I didn’t praise racists. A public defender after the assassination of MLK. Busing is a local decision, not me. I ran because of civil rights. I continue to champion civil rights.

Harris: Were you wrong to oppose busing? Biden: I opposed the DoE to order busing. Harris: Her is your ass on my silver platter — states fail to enforce civil rights that’s why the feds step in.

Biden rants. Harris looks striken and is mastering her emotions. Biden cuts himself off, too.

Sanders on diversity now. We believe in diversity, but in addition, we must do something else: how come today the worker in the middle of our economy is not making any more money but the top is making so much more? What? What?

Gillibrand gets 30 seconds. Go to the root of the corruption: money in politics and DC run by corporations. Plan to get money out of politics. If we do that, we can all live in nirvanna.

3:55 AM It’s been a lively debate. More spirited than last night. Many of the candidates are aquitting themselves well. Let’s do a quick assessment.

• Buttigieg has maybe done the best. This is his forum. He can give calm focused answers unlike when he’s at a townhall with people screaming their racial outrage. That makes him too nervous and upset.
• Harris has done well, but is getting less time. It’s okay. She’s using her contributions well. She’s making clear forceful points and sounds competent and likeable.
• Gillibrand has done fairly well. Getting in, especially early. Making clear points and definite points. Good policy knowledge.
• Salwell is having some trouble getting in and doing anything beyond dropping tropes and cliches.
• Hickenlooper still seems like your grandpa trying to convince us that it was better back in the day when straight white men rand the world.
• Williamson seems insane.
• Bennett seems lost.

We’re back.

3:50 AM How would you stand up to China? Bennett goes first. Bennett says he wants to use countries to confront China. Now he’s on the border and angry but somewhat incoherent. Now they are trying to cut him off, but he’s ranting. The Statue of Liberty line gets applause.

Yang: Russia is the biggest geopolitical threat because election hacking. But, China is bad. Tariffs are worse. We need to crack down on Chinese malfesance.

Buttigieg: It is serious we can’t wave it away — swipe at Biden? China is using tech for dictators. He’s right. They can AI control of their billion people. Now he’s over time and Joe wants in.

Another break.

3:40 AM First question is for Harris about 8:00 day one to handle the border. She starts with DACA and veterans. She will make a workable review of asylum application. And reflect our values. Think about the issue about real people. Again, she’s attacking Trump. Man, she’s good. Handing

Williamson is having a moment of confusion. Barely making enough noise to be intelligible but enough to be distracting. The question is Hickenlooper but he seems to not be aware of any of it happening. Now he’s talking about federal gov’t kidnapping. Good line. Reform ICE and its humanitarian.

A mercy invitation to Williamson… It’s not just in Colorado. Now it’s child abuse and these are state sponsored crimes. We open our heart to the stranger. Great respect but no one is talking about plans for Latin America.

Gillibrand’s turn. She’s attacking Trump and now her plan: DACA community based treatment system fund border security. Trump is transferring money from public services to private for-profit prisons.

Now who is for criminalizing crossing the border. Everyone but Bennett. Buttigieg jumps on this one. He is talking about his religion and how wrong the Repubes are for not using Christian.

Hands it to Biden. I’m the guy who got a bi-partisan agreement at the end of the Obama admin and handled it. We all talk about it, I did it. The law requires reuniting families.

Buttigieg is doing well in terms of quality focused cogent answers.

Jose: Obama-Biden deported millions. Biden: to compare Obama to Trump is close to immoral. Should the undocumented be deported — NO!

Sanders: Executive order undoing everything. We have to address the failed state of Honduras.

Jose: Salwell what do you do? Salwell: Day one? Jose: No! Deport undocumented. Williamson keeps answering with “exactly” or “no” or other small words. Salwell tropes and cliches for a while.

Harris: One of the few issues she disagreed with Obama as AG because they were deporting non-criminals. She allowed sheriffs to not cooperate. I was tracking it everyday. I saw. They’re trying to cut her off, but it is quiet and gentle.

3:30 AM Harris just shouted down Salwell to make a point about deductible. Savannah reasserts but Salwell still gets in.

Will your plans cover immigrants? Everyone raises their hands. Everyone cheers. Savannah asks Buttigieg to explain. We benefit when everyone is healthy. They pay taxes. And we need a pathway to citizenship. It is a leadership issue, not a political issue. People want it.

Some confusion about whether Biden raised his hand complicated by Biden’s failing hearing. How would you expand Obamacare? He points out that immigrants are paying taxes into SS and not receiving the benefits. If we insure them, its cheaper than providing care through ER’s. It’s a good answer, but then he asks Is my time up? Of course, it is.

Thank god there is a break. No streaming during the break, though.

3:20 AM Gillibrand just cut someone off, No, it’s my turn. Now she’s talking about single payer and eliminating health insurance. She has a good thought on transitioning to Medicare-for-all. She’s good. And, she’s competent. She has it down.

Buttigieg is now mansplaining how everyone has to explain how to get there as if Gillibrand hadn’t done this. Now it is the terminal illness of his father and Medicare kept them from being bankrupted.

Biden is the architect of Obamacare now he’s reviewing the loss of his wife an daughter were killed in a car accident and injured his sons and Beau’s death. Now, he wants to build on Obamacare. Urgency is now. Oppose the dismantling Obamacare.

Sanders wants to replace it with single payer. It doesn’t work in states how could it work in the country. Sanders is now saying everybody else does it and does it cheaper. (Marianne Williamson has not said anything. I think she’s gthe only one.) Sanders is now claiming that our healthcare system is to make profit for private companies. How can you do it? Again, it is a stupid question. He just answered it. Sanders is saying that it has to be national and people need to demand it.

3:20 AM Now there are arguing about who should respond another young guy or another old guy. Lots of shouting. But, Sanders gets in.

They ask Harris, and she laughs at them and delivers a LINE: America doesn’t want a food fight, they want to know how we can put food on the table. Now she’s attacking Trump’s great economy. That’s fine if you have stocks! No one should have to work more than one job to live! Again, she hit a home run. She’s looking cool calm collected.

3:15 AM Jose asks Buttigieg a question about eliminating student debt. He asks with a bit of Spanish, and Buttigieg answers with some Spanish. He wants to pay down the poor’s tuition. Salwell jumps in because it isn’t fair that Buttigieg gets to be cool with six figure student debt and being young.

Yang is droning on about how he can give everyone $1,000.00 a month in universal income if we can get taxes out of Amazon. Jose asks if it would $1,000.00 is funded by a value-added tax paid out of the universal income. Yang didn’t even look like he wanted to call him an idiot. He probably gets it all the time.

Jose asks Salwell about losing jobs to tech. Now Salwell is now telling an anecdote about a politician telling him as a six year-old to pass the torch. The joke is that the politician was Biden. Now, there are torch jokes. Biden says he’s holding onto the torch because he has young ideas like universal pre-K. Now, he’s listing all the policy that Warren has had months ago. At least he kept his dentures.

3:10 AM Hickenlooper looks old and stiff. You can’t eliminate insurance I’m a scientist climate change. I’ve done it all. And he’s right about reproductive healthcare by making birthcontrol free and easy to get to.

Savannah now softballs Sanders — who’s combed his hair — how can you answer those who say that socialists cannot be elected. We’re up by 10% and we need to focus on people and Trump is a fraud.

Gillibrand just broke in and contrasting greed and capitalism. Savannah is cutting her off.

Bennett is asked about calling policy candy. Bennett impressed by asking, Was that directed at me? Sorry, I fell asleep. Oh, he agrees with Sanders, until he disagrees. Because of the taxes, Vermont rejected Medicare-for-all. It all just about descended into chaos as Gillibrand fought to get into it because she wrote the financing the Medicare-for-all.

3:10 AM Harris just kicked Savannah’s ass. Her’s your platter. When was Trump asked about how they would pay for their tax cut? Subtext, No you didn’t! You did not just ask me about paying for our programs. Look out folks. She is lose and running free with her laser-like focus.

3:05 AM A soft ball to Biden. Biden has said Donald Trump about a dozen times and eliminating his tax cuts and the dignity of work. Talking points and tropes.

3:05 AM First question to Sanders, an idiotic question about raising taxes on the middle class. Sanders doesn’t answer it. He pivots to healthcare as a human right and free university and eliminate student debt. He pays for it all with a tax on Wall Street. Savannah follows up, are you going to raise taxes on the middle class. He just said that he would tax Wall Street. Fuck. Is this going to continue tonight, too?

3:00 AM Thank god, they’re starting on time. I love the way it is opening like a sporting event with an introduction of each candidate like they introduce the starting line ups. And the big sweeping blimp shots of the venue both inside and out.

Already we’re getting the rules of the road. I like the way they are limiting times and how many people get to address the issues and questions.

2:55 AM Oh good the candidates are on the stage. But, the students are not outraged enough about the Ol’ Pussy Grabber and the GOP. The “panelists” are not outraged enough. Zerlina Maxwell is, but Shermichael and Morgan are not. Zerlina is a smartie. I feel stupider for just having listened to them.

Looking at the candidates, they are much shorter than yesterdays. Biden maybe the tallest. But, Zerlina says that when you meet a candidate in person, they are smaller than they look on the TV. I guess that’s right. I wouldn’t know.

2:45 AM Can we start the debate so the idiots that they have on NBC yammering away about just crap. Medicare-for-all is just not going to work. The country is so big how can it work here? Who the fuck? When it comes to paying for it, you get vague stammering. Fuck no! Warren — finally one of them mentions — has a very clear plan.

Now their talking about middle of the road position on abortion. With this quality of “discussion,” it’s no wonder we have become the United Fucking States of Fucking Stupid.

At least we are back to the student panel who some of them have some smarts. They are split between Sanders and Buttigieg are the most authentic.

2:30 AM Just had a visit from Ma Femme who doesn’t understand why I’m staying up. Now, I’m watching the pre-debate discussion on NBC. They are discussing impeachment and crimes and Russian election threats yadda yadda yadda. The point in impeaching the Ol’ Pussy Grabber is holding him accountable, not removing him from office. It is about educating the public about collusion and obstruction because even if you successfully remove the Ol’ Pussy Grabber from office, you still got all the rest of the cesspool he floated to the top of. You still got Smitch and the GOP trying to create a single-party pseudo-democratic authoritarian regime kinda like they have in Russia — that’s one of my lines for pimping any number of blog posts on the fascification of the US by the GOP, BTW. Perhaps you’ve seen it. It’s pretty good. Feel free to use it, too.

And, you still have Russia trying to 2016 the 2020 election. If they don’t work to elect the Ol’ Pussy Grabber, they’ll be working to elect someone else. The Ol’ Pussy Grabber is the symptom not the cause. Christ, he’s such a narcissistic air head that he couldn’t cause anything more than a bad fart. He can accidentally cause lots of harm like blundering into a war and torture asylum seekers through neglect, incompetence, and allowing someone like Stephen Miller to have a free hand.

Anyway, my point is, removing the Ol’ Pussy Grabber from office doesn’t resolve any of our serious problems. That said, he still needs to be held accountable. I think Pelosi has two factors she’s ciphering in her big political brain: first, how much backing does impeachment have among the general population and specific congressional districts. And second, how will impeachment hearings and investigations will relate to the 2020 election time-wise. If it is well-timed with a series of big bombshell revelations dripping out in the run up to the elections. Don’t sell Pelosi short.

1:40 AM I’ve been re-watching the day one debate. I’m staying up until the debate begins. I’m not missing the beginning of this one. That said, I’ve been struck by how desperate various candidates were to get their prepared memorable line in as the debate progressed. It was clear that few of them would be throwing punches, jabs, or needling. They were prepared and knew that they had to deliver their lines.

Klobuchar had a curious sequence of lines spill out of her mouth speeding up as Lester Holt tried to get her to stop. And this president is literally every single day 10 minutes away from going to war, one tweet away from going to war. And I don’t think we should conduct foreign policy in our bathrobe at 5:00 in the morning, which is what he does. Look at each phrase and line. They were all written by someone before the debate and she had to get them in. Believe me that I understand. I pimp this blog on Twitter and have to find threads and comments that I can relate a post to. So, look at the first phrase, …he is ten minutes away from war every day? Really? One tweet away from going to war, okay. That one I’ll buy. She had such trouble getting them in that she had to put ’em both in together even though it was awkward. And then the 5:00 AM bathrobe foreign policy. Great snarky sarcasticky lines, but poorly delivered.

Delaney saying, If we become the party of getting things done for the American people, with real solutions and not impossible promises, we’ll be able to get all these things done, over the ineffective objections of Chuck Todd. Earlier, Maddow cut him off flat, Congressman, I’ll give you some time in a moment. But, the point is that he had no opportunity to use his cute well crafted line and he had to rush to get it in there. Like most of everything else Delaney did, it was ineffective, clumsy, and not presidential.

12:15 AM Much of the punditry is making a lot of how no one on day one didn’t take a swing at the Ol’ Pussy Grabber, Biden, or Warren. They seem to think that some how that was a mistake. I don’t think so. Most of those folks were unknown. They needed to introduce themselves, attract some attention. Attacking others could’ve done it, but it has big risk. De Blasio came out swinging because he had nothing to lose, but he more than likely helped someone a little further up on the food chain like Castro or Booker.

Tonight will be different. There will be more combativeness. They will be attacking the Ol’ Pussy Grabber and each other. Let’s go through the players: Sanders will be the most combative. He’s a combative person. It’s part and parcel of who he is. He has three targets: the Ol’ Pussy Grabber because ultimate target, Biden because front runner, and Warren because she’s passing him.

Biden would be smart to only attack the Ol’ Pussy Grabber and, basically, dismiss all of the other challengers. He would be smart to encourage them and then co-opt their message and policy.

Harris is an ex-prosecutor, and she was good. See below. But, she’s the angry black woman unless the audience perceives that she has a clear and “legitimate” reason to be aggressive, not even angry, just pushing back and taking it to her opponents. Worse, no one else on the stage will be so constrained. No one.Other than Yang, she’s the only person of color.

Hickenlooper is in the De Blasio mold but without the NYC moxy and mixed race family. But, he’s got the white male anger as he sees his boomer lifestyle slipping away. He actually said at the California Democratic Convention that you weren’t going to win the presidency with socialism… what the fuck, is he a Republican agent? What does he have to lose? Is he going to run for office again?

Will yang or Williamson even speak? I guess if they ask ’em a question. On day one, it was difficult to be heard because they were either asked questions or needing to break in on someone else. Maybe I’m being sexist, but I don’t see Williamson doing that. Gillibrand and Harris, sure. Swalwell, Bennett, and Buttigieg will on occasion at least.

11:10 PM Last night and yesterday Ye Olde Blogge focused on the drivers of perceptions of competence, which drives voting. We’ll do some of that with tonight’s debate and analysis, too, but it will probably be too repetitious. Also, the candidates are very different since the aggregation of their polling is significantly higher than those candidates from last night. Luck of the draw, amirite?

We’ll list them here, but I want to focus more on what they need to do because in many ways there’s a lot more at stake for these folks. Let’s face it, after last night’s performance, everyone except Warren, Booker, Castro, and maybe Klobuchar should just drop out today.

• Joe Biden: Like Warren, as the front runner, it is his debate to lose. And, like Warren last night, his job is not to fuck up. He may as well give up on that plan right now. It’s Fightin’ Joe who mostly fights himself. God love him, but why the fuck is he running?
• Bernie Sanders: Sanders has already lost just like he did in 2016; he just don’t know it yet. He’s like a car out of gas rolling downhill. He’s still moving, but as soon as he’s gotta climb back up the hill, he’s going to peter out. He’s just too damn bitter and whiny and entitled. He believes that he wuz robbed and he coulda been a contender.
• Pete Buttigieg: Mayor Pete has some possibility, but now it is the moment of truth. People are doubting him after his disaster trying to deal with a police murder of a South Bend person. He has trouble relating to people, especially people who aren’t white. That’s significant. And, he’s suspect because he’s clearly benefited from white male privilege assumption that he is qualified and competent. With the Dem electorate that may bite him in the ass.
• Kamala Harris: Kamala Harris has the biggest upside on this stage. In Senate hearings, she’s been phenomenal. Expect her to have a few cans of whipass to spare tonight, too. I love her style, too. It ain’t over the top, it is just, unhunh, you don’t know? She handed the attorneys general Bill Barr and Jefferson Sessions their asses. As the other candidates, you don’t want her handing you your ass. The caveat there is that she’s like Liz Warren, she does her homework, brings receipts, and already has the silver platter for your ass.
• Andrew Yang: Yang has to connect and demonstrate that he has some warmth and humanity. He’s got a fan base. Now, he has to expand that. It’s nearly impossible. His only hope is for other candidates to adopt his ideas. Maybe he’s running for a cabinet position.
• Kristen Gillibrand: What is Gillibrand’s hook? Why should anyone pay attention to her? If you’re middle of the lane, why pick Gillibrand over Biden, Klobuchar, Inslee, Castro. If it’s only about choosing a woman why her over Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, Gabbard? I don’t know what she has to offer. She has a lot to offer, but what does she have that’s substantially different? Her stuff on sexual assault? With the E. Jean Carroll accusations, she may be able to use that.
• John Hickenlooper: Why on god’s green earth is John Hickenlooper running. He’s Gillibrand’s problem but with white male privilege stuffy condescension and entitlement to boot.
• Michael Bennett: Michael Bennett same same. Hell, they’re even from the same state. I don’t get it. It don’t make no sense no way no how.
• Marianne Williamson: She’s got books to sell?
• Eric Swalwell: He’s building for 2024, VP, 2028? Senate? Governor?

11:00 PM Well here we are again 24 hours later waiting for day two of the Democratic presidential primary debate to begin. We’re still in France on vacation, so we had our bottle of wine for our late two-hour dinner and are wishing for scotch and coffee and a nap. Last night, I over slept and missed the first hour. We’ll try and avoid that fate tonight. Here’s keeping our fingers-crossed.