My thoughts on last night:
1. There was a decided lack of electricity in the air. Part of that was due to the impeachment hearings, and part due to the tactics of the moderators, who made little effort to stir up conflict for the sake of entertaining the crowd. The last was wise, I think.
2. Most of the anticipated attacks on Mayor Pete were pretty muted. He successfully fought off the rest. On the whole, he had a fairly good night, but he can’t change the fact that he looks and sounds like a white bread technocrat, which creates a relatively low electoral ceiling for him.
3. It was painfully obvious, as it usually is, that Biden was the least acute speaker on the stage. He lost his train of thought on occasion, and, of course, committed a gaffe. The real question is, how much does that matter? After all, if he gets the nomination, he will be standing on stage next to Donald Trump, not Elizabeth Warren. Trump is so ignorant of policy that he won’t be able to expose Biden’s weaknesses the way his Democratic rivals can.
I’m still struggling with this question. I think many of us are.
4. I don’t think the needle will move much. Biden’s gaffes have long since been priced into his standing in the polls.