Analysis: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the big Democratic debate

Luke Skywalker · Oct 14, 2015

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[h=4]Analysis: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the big Democratic debate[/h]Las Vegas showdown the first of three October gambles that will shape Clinton's campaign.

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USA TODAY's Paul Singer and Ray Locker discuss who performed well and who was a bust during the first Democratic debate hosted by CNN. VPC

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton participate in the Democratic debate in Las Vegas on Oct. 13, 2015.(Photo: Josh Haner, The New York Times/Pool/European Pressphoto Agency)

LAS VEGAS — Hillary Clinton has done this before. And it showed.
After a damaging summer, the Democratic front-runner moved to regain her footing Tuesday night at the first Democratic debate, putting challenger Bernie Sanders on the defensive over his positions on gun control and his ability to get things done. She aggressively turned back criticism over*her vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq by noting it had been a*chief attack by rival Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign*— and that he then asked her to serve as his secretary of State.
Her critics did their best to revive the issue, and others.*Sanders called the Iraq*invasion as "the worst foreign policy blunder in our nation's history," and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley said the 2002*vote to approve it worried Americans even now because "people feel like a lot of our legislators got railroaded."
Clinton had a parry ready.*"I was very pleased when Gov. O'Malley endorsed me in 2008," she replied to laughter.
Listen to analysis from USA TODAY political reporters in the audio player below:
There was no*sassy undercard debate before the main event. No crowd of contenders jockeying on*stage. And the only sign of Donald Trump was at the top of the 64-story*hotel branded with his name just down the Strip.
That said, the first Democratic presidential debate resembled the first two Republican ones in this: It was a roiling clash of views, and there was clearly a prime target standing in the middle of the stage.
USA TODAY
Clinton punches back at first Democratic debate

Clinton lost her status as the party's inevitable nominee through a difficult summer, but she remains the front-runner by double digits and the party's most likely standard-bearer in 2016. That put her in the spotlight and in the cross hairs*from a combative Sanders and a trio of long-shot candidates — former Virginia senator Jim Webb, former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee and O'Malley — struggling for traction at their first face-to-face encounter.
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. She cited the breakthrough that her election as the first female president would represent.*And she repeatedly sought to contrast her positions not with her Democratic competitors but against the Republicans, as though she already had made it to*the general election.
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 determined smile that it "wasn't the best choice." Then she called the special House panel investigating it "an arm of the Republican National Committee" — citing bragging by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy that the inquiry had succeeded in bringing down her poll ratings — and said she preferred to talk about the kitchen-table issues that concern*most Americans.
Even Sanders joined her on that. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails," the Vermont senator said to laughter. "Let's talk about the real issues facing Americans." Clinton reached out to shake his hand, and the*largely partisan audience stood and applauded.
Chafee disagreed, saying the email controversy had cost Clinton credibility a world leader would need.
ONPOLITICS
Hillary Clinton gets huge cheer for one word: 'No'

Sanders faced a barrage of questions as well. He was*forced to explain*how he would be able to serve as commander in chief despite having applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War. He denied that his*affiliation as a democratic socialist, and the fact that he says he's not a capitalist, would make*him unelectable, noting he had demonstrated an ability to enlist the enthusiastic support of young people.
For all the fireworks at the debate, sponsored by CNN and moderated by Anderson Cooper, two other events that follow in short order*are likely to be equally consequential for Clinton.*Next week, she is slated*to testify before a House committee initially*established to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attack and now pursuing the email controversy.
And Vice President Biden is expected to announce whether he'll jump in the race, a decision he initially promised by the end of the summer but has delayed as he weighs the impact on his family and his prospects to prevail. Advisers acknowledge that the approach of filing deadlines for primary ballots in several states — including in first-in-the-nation*New Hampshire —*presumably will force him to make a call soon, one way or the other.
Biden wasn't the only person who loomed large on the debate stage even though he wasn't there.
President Obama was another. While he remains popular among his party's*most loyal voters, especially African Americans, his party has moved to the left since he ran for election in 2008 and re-election in 2012.
In a bit of political irony, that fact reflects the coalition Obama helped shape, which is younger, more racially diverse and more dominated by the East and West coasts than it was before his tenure. It also reflects the continuing impact of the Great Recession and the failure of the recovery that has followed to raise wages and hopes for many Americans. As a result, the*political landscape is*friendly*to Sanders' populist message for expansive government social programs, higher taxes on the wealthy and tougher regulations on Wall Street.
That's been great for the Vermont senator, who has espoused leftist policies*since he was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981. But at times it has been awkward for Clinton, who only in recent weeks announced she would oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. When she was in Obama's Cabinet, she had praised the*trade deal as the "gold standard."
USA TODAY
2016 Candidate Match Game

The field is more liberal and more ideologically consistent than some Democratic contests in the past, including in 1992, when centrist Bill Clinton portrayed himself as a "new kind of Democrat" challenging some of the party's liberal traditions. This time, Hillary Clinton has found herself distancing herself from her husband on criminal justice and other issues.
That's another parallel with the Republican Party, illustrated by this year's debates. If the Las Vegas debate made it clear that*the Democrats have moved left, the GOP debates have demonstrated how the GOP has moved to the right from the days of the presidents Bush. Like Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush has found himself distancing himself from some of the*policies taken by his father and brother.
Now, the GOP is more conservative on issues from education to immigration. Voters in both parties are more willing to defy the established order.
Just ask Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
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Analysis: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the big Democratic debate

Luke Skywalker

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