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have made Roger Ailes
proud.
After years on the defen-
sive from GOP attacks, the
Democrats spent both eve-
nings fighting their better
instincts in order to fight
with each other. The spats
were a far cry from the more
organic sparks that flew
during the first pair of de-
batesand did little to differ-
entiate the candidates from
one another. But the melee
did manage to cast a pall of
uncertainty over a future
election and leave voters
wondering if any of the can-
didates are focused enough
to win back the White
House.
CNN was happy to ex-
ploit, if not foster, those un-
certainties, even when it
meant bending its own rules
of engagement — 60-second
answers, 30-second rebut-
tals, no interrupting — for
more drama. As observers
pointed out after each
night’s festivities, modera-
tors Jake Tapper, Dana
Bash and Don Lemon pitted
the crowded field of candi-
dates against one another,
manipulating the pack for
maximum fireworks and
minimum content.
Even before the candi-
dates were split into two
groups of 10 for Tuesday and
Wednesday’s debates, “the
most trusted name in news”
ginned up a contentious,
competitive smack-down of
Kardashian proportions:
The network advertised the
event as a “match-up be-
tween Massachusetts Sen.
Elizabeth Warrenand Ver-
mont Sen. Bernie Sanders,
the two top progressives in
the Democratic primary”
and a “rematch of former
Vice President Joe Biden
and California Sen. Kamala
Harris.”
Tapper, Bash and Lem-
on stuck with the program,
introducing each candidate
against music and staging
more akin to “Battle of the
Network Stars” — or per-
haps “Celebrity Death
Match” — than a presi-
dential primary debate.
But while the candidates
didn’t wrestle in luchador
masks or unitards in De-
troit’s Fox Theatre, they did
continually take the bait
when moderators asked
about their prior criticisms
of one another’s policies, or
elicited heightened respons-
es by framing questions in
red-state speak. (When
Tapper asked Sen. Bernie
Sanders about “Medicare
forAll,” a plan that means
the middle class would pay
more in taxes, Sanders ac-

cused the moderator of us- ing a “Republican talking point.”) It was a ploy, but the ploy worked. Despite having broadly similar positions on everything from climate change to immigration, candidates used the threat of rising oceans and the horror of migrant children locked in cages against one another as if they were debating “Mos- cow Mitch” McConnell or the white nationalist president rather than folks in their own party. “We have to stop separat- ing children from their par- ents,” said an emphatic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, as if counter- ing an invisible opponent who was arguing otherwise. Former Rep. John De- laney, a moderate, continually attacked Sanders and Warren on night one for their “unrealistic” progressive

agendas. Exasperated, War- ren finally broke from de- fending her ideas and asked why anyone would run for president “just to talk about what we can’t do.” Similarly, on night two, front-runner and former Vice President Joe Biden faced nonstop confronta- tion from his not-so-stiff, yet still vexing, competition. Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand mined his voting record and op-eds all the way back to the 1970s to show he was out of touch with people of color, women and essentially anyone under 70. Biden defended himself, of course, including from one such accusation by Sen. Corey Booker. But when the elder statesman turned the tables on Booker, blaming the New Jersey politician for the racist practices of the

Newark police department, the gloves came off: “There’s a saying in my community,” said Booker. “You’re dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don’t even know the flavor.” What did social media take away from all the pos- turing? It reacted as it often does — by focusing on the sideshow, then running with it down a rabbit hole. Self-help author Mari- anne Williamson was the top trender Tuesday night. Her lament of entrenched political corruption — “Yada, yada, yada” — and warning of “dark psychic forces” went viral. Gillibrand’s joke about needing to “Clorox the Oval Office” if she won was also a Twitter sensa- tion, which tells you a lot about the big takeaways from the debate. (There were none.) Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, an ancillary contest- ant who was given little air time on CNN’s game show, captured the mood best Wednesday in his closing statement, when he decried that focus of the debate had moved away from the great- er good of the American people. “Instead of [talking about] automation in the future, including the fact we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs ... we’re up here with makeup on our faces and our rehearsed attack lines. Playing roles in this reality TV show. It’s one reason why we elected a reality TV star as our president.”

FORMERVice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris sparred in what CNN billed as a “rematch” at its Democratic presidential candidate debates.

Jim WatsonAFP/Getty Images

Candidates take the bait

[D ebates,from E1]

SEN.Elizabeth Warren isn’t running on ideas about “what we can’t do.”

AFP/Getty Images ANDREW YANGsaid to focus on what’s good for the American people.

Jim WatsonAFP/Getty Images

A night of feisty ex-
changes with former Vice
President Joe Biden helped
lift the ratings of the second
round of CNN’s Democratic
primary debate Wednesday.
The two-hour event from
Fox Theatre in Detroit aver-
aged 10.7 million viewers on
CNN and its sister channel
CNN International, up 24%
from round one on Tuesday,
according to Nielsen.
The total was far below
the 18.7 million viewers who
watched the second round of

the first Democratic debate on June 27, which aired on two broadcast networks — NBC and Telemundo — and cable channel MSNBC. CNN did not disclose the average number of people watching the debate on its vi- deo stream but said online viewing peaked at 9:35 p.m. Eastern with 796,000 viewers. While the audience number on Wednesday is slightly below CNN’s expectations, it’s still well above that of most primary debate events held in presidential cycles before the 2016 campaign. The only Democratic primary debate to perform better on CNN was on Oct. 13, 2015, when 15.5 million viewers watched Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Ver- mont, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former

Sen. James Webb. Public interest in the 2020 presidential campaign and who will challenge President Trump remains high, according to many surveys. Still, the format of the two-night debate, which fea- tured 10 candidates on the stage for each round, was less than ideal for TV viewers. Several candidates were likely to be unfamiliar to the portion of the audience that doesn’t watch political shows on cable every night. Biden, who has a com- manding lead in the polls, was the main target of the nine other candidates on- stage, who picked at his record on immigration, crim- inal justice reform and climate change. Sen. Kamala Harris of California came under attack as well for her

record as the state’s attorney general. Their rivals on stage in- cluded Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sen. Michael Ben- net of Colorado, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. The next Democratic primary debates are scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13 in Houston and will be carried on ABC and Spanish-language network Univision. The Democratic National Committee’s requirements for that event, based on fund- raising and standings in the polls, are likely to winnow the field.

More viewers watch round two

But even with feisty

exchanges, debates

don’t draw audience

that June event did.

By Stephen Battaglio

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