Congressman Butterfield doesn’t believe Biden will run

Although I liked all 5 candidates, Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chafee who appeared on stage in that order, my first impressions were: grumpy faced military guy, old man, confident woman, pretty guy and goofy grinner.

Vice President Joe Biden’s family is “totally on board” with a presidential run, according to Jeff Zeleny of CNN, citing calls made to top-ranking Democratic strategists from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Much of the two-hour debate was taken up with discussion of many tough issues: gun control, immigration, Syria, Russia, Benghazi, corporate bailouts, college affordability, and racism, to name a few.

“I voted against it”, she said.

Clinton largely fended off criticism that she has flip-flopped, is too much of a Washington insider and is too close to Wall Street, though these still seem like her biggest vulnerabilities among Democratic voters.

Bernie Sanders showed solidarity with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action”, said Bernie Sanders.

On the issue that has dogged her for months, her exclusive use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, she acknowledged with a smile that it “wasn’t the best choice”.

But after two dozen debates in the 2008 campaign, Clinton was by far the most experienced figure on stage, giving no quarter against four rivals who were each making their first appearance in a national debate. The latter did not focus on tearing each other down, she said.

“The American people are sick and exhausted of hearing about your damn emails”, Sanders said, drawing the biggest applause of the night.

But again, Webb and Chafee had no effect on the larger race, and tonight really only served as a chance for voters to rule them out, and perhaps – perhaps – consider O’Malley.

Douglas County Republican Party Chairman Tom Hawksworth said he would like to have seen the debate, but he was refereeing a soccer game.

As the Democrats move on to the next five debates, it will be interesting to see if they can maintain the same levels of substance and civility and the same distribution of time. There’s always an unstated conversation going on between the candidates and the audience regarding whether they give off the demeanor of someone presidential.

Clinton went on to say she wants to be judged by her own record. Throughout the debate she referenced meetings with the president and conversations by the president.

She said the debate wasn’t as enlightening as the Republican debate either. But Hillary Clinton, the candidate with the most to lose, may have come away having gained the most.

Professor of communication Kirby Goidel, from Texas A&M University, said Mr Sanders was “consistent, forthright, genuine”, “unapologetic about who he is” and certainly delivered the sound bite of the night when commenting on Mrs Clinton’s e-mails.