Five candidates for the Democratic bid for president met at the Wynn Las Vegas resort and casino on Tuesday, Oct. 13 for the first Democratic Party presidential debate.
Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb all took the opportunity to declare their platforms and attempt to separate themselves from the other candidates at the event broadcast by CNN and moderated by Anderson Cooper.
Former Secretary of State Clinton and Sanders, the junior Senator from Vermont, entered the race as the clear frontrunners for the ticket in early polls. In his opening statement, Sanders opened immediately with a platform for climate change reform before switching to judicial reform and calling for a change to the privatized prison industry.
Lincoln Chafee, former governor of Rhode Island, launched the first attack of the night on Clinton and her recent improprieties in his opening speech, reminding the room, “in my 30 years of public service, I’m proud to say I have no scandals.”
Chafee’s most memorable moment of the night, however, came on a gaffe when he admitted to voting on a bill to repeal a banking regulatory law that he had little to no knowledge of. His response elicited an audible gasp from the audience.
Gun control became a heated topic of the night, as the candidates on stage began to press Sen. Sanders’ voting record on the issue. Martin O’Malley came out strongly in support of gun control, pointing to his record on the issue as governor of Maryland, and accused Sanders of “pandering to the NRA.” Clinton echoed the statement, saying, “it is time we stand up to the NRA.”
Sanders stood by his record on the topic and drew from his experience as a legislative representative from Vermont and as the mayor of Burlington, telling the other candidates, “Views on guns in rural states are different, whether we like it or not.” Sanders also reinforced the idea that mental health care access should be made a priority. If Sanders had an ally on the stage on the issue of moderate gun control, it was Jim Webb, who told the audience, “We have to respect the tradition in this country for the people who want to defend themselves.”
Webb, along with Chafee, drew the least amount of air time during the debate. Even when he did find time to speak, though, Webb consistently complained to Cooper about his lack of speaking time during the forum and accused the moderator of pandering to the leading candidates in the polls.
Point Park University students had mixed reactions to the candidates and the content of the debate. Alexandra Mosesso, a freshman psychology major, admitted to being a Sanders supported going into the debate.
“I still believe he is a great candidate and [he] focuses on the important issues,” Mosesso said.
Others were not so easy on Sanders. A representative from Point Park’s College Republicans club, who wished to remain anonymous due to the nature of his job, was one of them
“[Sanders] fails to grasp a lot of what governing is. He may be consistent in what he voted for, but how much of his record was even passed,” said the representative in an email interview.
Mosesso was pleased that the issues of gun control, climate change, and income inequality were issues that were debated during the event, but would like to see other topics touched upon in the next debate.
“I hope issues like Planned Parenthood and women’s rights get talked about, and to go deeper into the issue of climate change,” Mosesso said.
The College Republicans representative said in future debates he wants to see the Democrats talk on the issues of the debt and deficit, China, ISIS and overhauling the tax code.
National security was an overlooked topic on the night, with only little discussion of the Syrian conflict creeping into the debate. Sanders called the situation “a quagmire in a quagmire” before adding, “I do not support the United States to use unilateral power.” When asked what the greatest threat to national security was, Sanders and O’Malley both responded with climate change.
Most media outlets have determined that Sanders and Clinton were the strongest winners of the debate, and it came as no surprise when the biggest cheer from the audience came as the two candidates shook hands after Sanders yelled to the crowd, “The American people are tired of hearing about your damn emails,” a response to Clinton’s current involvement in an investigation into her use of a private email account while Secretary of State.
The winner was clear to the College Republicans representative.
“Clinton won, hands down. No denying it,” said the representative.
Mosesso didn’t see it as clearly.
“The candidates who seemed to get the [win] were Sanders and Clinton,” Mosesso said
The next scheduled Democratic debate will be Nov. 14 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
