The Second Democratic Presidential Debate, Night 1: Who Won?

Democratic Debate Poll

The Democratic presidential race kicked off Round 2 on Tuesday night, as half of the 20 candidates currently in the mix debated live on CNN, for nearly three hours.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Don Lemon cracked the whip loudly and often during the proceedings, earning some admonishment on social media for continually cutting off respondents just as they were getting to the meat of their answer.

Among the night’s notable moments:

* Ohio representative Tim Ryan raised eyebrows by failing to put his hand over heart during the National Anthem.

* Elizabeth Warren earned claps for responding to a toothless POV from John Delaney by saying, “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running to be the president of the United States to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”

* When Ryan argued that Bernie Sanders didn’t know whether “Medicare For All” would provide union members with better health coverage, Sanders shot back, “I do know that — I wrote the damn bill!”

* Pete Buttigieg urged contenders to not worry about what Republicans say about their policies, noting, “If we embrace a far-left agenda, they are gonna say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda… they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. So let’s just stand up for the right policy, go out there and defend it.”

* Multiple candidates referred to President Donald Trump’s pattern of “racism” and “xenophobia” (as Sanders for one put it).

Night 2 of Round 2, airing Wednesday at 8/7c, brings us Colorado senator Michael Bennet, former VP Joe Biden, New Jersey senator Cory Booker, for HUD secretary Julian Castro, New York mayor Bill de Blasio, Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard, New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, California senator Kamala Harris, Washington governor Jay Inslee and tech exec Andrew Yang.

Choose up to two Night 1 candidates that impressed you the most, and then hit the comments to discuss your choices.