Dem debate

I didn't watch.  Some people did, though.

It was the first debate for Mike Bloomberg, and the former New York mayor’s rivals in the Democratic race for president immediately took aim – attacking him for his legacy on racist policing and reports of sexist comments and discrimination at his companies.

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Bernie Sanders argued that Bloomberg’s legacy of stop-and-frisk made it impossible for him to broaden the Democratic party’s coalition and defeat Donald Trump.

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Elizabeth Warren compared Bloomberg to Trump in her opening remarks: “Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.”

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Bloomberg gave ineffective responses to a series of stop-and-frisk questions, saying he was “embarrassed” by the tactic deployed in New York while he was mayor: “I’ve apologized. I’ve asked for forgiveness. We stopped too many people.”

He also claimed he “discovered” the city was conducting too many stops and that he reduced use of the policy. In reality, a court ordered the city to stop the practice, deeming it unconstitutional.

“You need a different apology,” Warren interjected.

Warren also targeted Bloomberg over non-disclosure agreements several women at his company have signed while settling lawsuits. She repeatedly urged him to disclose how many NDAs women had signed and to let the women speak freely about their experiences. Bloomberg demurred and ultimately refused to answer her direct questions, leading to boos from the crowd.

“In my company, lots and lots of women have big responsibilities,” Bloomberg responded.

“I hope you heard what his defense was: ‘I’ve been nice to some women,’” Warren shot back.

  Guardian

Works for Trump.

Bloomberg is not competing in Nevada, but he had been climbing in polls after spending more on ads than any candidate in US political history. He also sat out the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries and had mostly been making his case to voters through TV ads and scripted public events up until Wednesday’s debate.

He probably should have avoided this one, too.

Buttigieg went after Sanders and Bloomberg, claiming that they were “the two most polarizing figures on this stage” and that he had broader appeal.

But he clashed most fiercely with Klobuchar.

Because they're competing for the same lane of voters.

“You memorized a bunch of talking points,” Klobuchar said, telling the former mayor he has not been “in the arena”.

Buttigieg responded: “I’m used to senators telling mayors that senators are more important. You don’t have to be in Washington to matter.”

Cat fight.

Earlier in the evening, Buttigieg had criticized Klobuchar, for forgetting the name of the president of Mexico, she responded: “Are you trying to say that I’m dumb? Are you mocking me here, Pete?”

He's just using what he's got, Amy. You should have known the answer to that. It's Mexico, ffs, not Mauritania.

Following the debate, Warren’s surrogates brushed off questions as to why she had held her fire on Sanders. “It’s about showing who can bring together that coalition,” said Allison Stevens, a Democratic National Committee member from Nevada.

Using a smarter tack than Buttigieg and Klobuchar, knowing that when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, if she's to get to the top, she's going to need Bernie's supporters.

Biden’s campaign had deployed additional staff to Nevada, hoping the caucus will deliver some sort of comeback after his poor performance in the first two states led to a significant drop in his national poll numbers. In the debate, the former vice-president went after Bloomberg with some energetic remarks but faced renewed questions about his record from Warren and other candidates and generally failed to break through.

Goodbye, Joe.

And why did Joe get a center spot last night?  As of the last count, he's behind both Pete and Amy.

Apparently, even Bloomberg's campaign manager wasn't impressed with his performance.

"Mike's got to get his legs under him" as the nominating contest wears on.

"Certainly he had a better second half of the debate than the first, I will admit that," Kevin Sheekey told MSNBC, noting that Wednesday night's forum in Las Vegas marked Bloomberg's first debate performance since he sought a third term as mayor in 2009.

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"He's competing against career politicians who have spent the entirety of the last year and, quite frankly, most of their lives doing exactly what they saw last night."

  Politico

Nobody's forcing him to.

"I think he's got his legs underneath him. And, like, you know, listen, I welcome them for the Bronx cheer they gave us last night," Sheekey said. "But I think that, you know, Mike will be back. And then I think this is a campaign that right now is just getting interesting."

He got a Bronx cheer?! Damn. That's not an encouraging sign, dude.

“I'd like to talk about who we're running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians. And, no, I'm not talking about Donald Trump. I'm talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” Warren said to start the debate, with everyone else piling on throughout the night.

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“He was rusty. He was testy. He was out of touch. And, for a candidate often shielded by the scripted one-liners of killer campaign advisers, he was on his own — unable to hide his peevish demeanor and unable to portray himself, as his campaign has tried to do, as the clear choice to stop Bernie Sanders and beat Donald Trump,” POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg and Chris Cadelago wrote.

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The Massachusetts senator had perhaps the standout performance of the night. Besides her numerous broadsides against Bloomberg, she took shots at everyone else on stage. POLITICO’s Dan Diamond clipped a notable moment, with Warren hitting Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Sanders over health care. Warren’s supporters responded, with her campaign saying she raised $2.8 million as of early Thursday morning.

  Politico

Bloomberg bonus:

She's going for him.

UPDATE 2/22: