My ranking after watching (and I haven't digested much from the talking heads):
Quote:
1. Buttigieg
2. Biden
3. Warren
4. Klobuchar
5. Sanders
(dead last) Bloomberg
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Bloomberg was awful. I agree with the notion that he is surrounded by a bunch of "Yes" men - all telling him how great he would be (with no one really challenging/preparing him). There's a lot of Trump in that setup. As the debates keep going, I just really like Mayor Pete. He doesn't have nearly the experience, but he is great in these debates. The line that of the two front runners, one wants to "buy the presidency" and the other wants to "burn it down" was great. If he were the governor of Indiana, I think he could have a chance - but not as the Mayor of South Bend.
I thought Warren did really well, but she went a little too much into the Bernie sob stories on policy responses. Still, I like her more than I did going in.
I thought Biden, Klobuchar and Pete made some really good points when they said that just because they aren't willing to go full M4A doesn't mean they are the status quo. Increasing the coverage umbrella, providing options for pre-existing conditions and looking at ways to reduce cost is better than what we have now. Bernie acts like there two doors: a public option or the worst system in the history of mankind. Bernie has to understand there is zero chance of M4A (not even a majority of democrats want it), but there is a good chance of expanding the current system we have and moving the "median point" left for the debate in 3-4 years. Of course, you can't burn everything down to make that happen, you have to make gains in the senate and sell a plan that doesn't negatively impact union workers who have negotiated great health care plans and people with above average employer subsidized care (again, not that hard to do if you are willing to compromise up front).
My hope is we get one of Biden/Amy/Pete, but I'm not sure they can beat the Bernie head start. I think it's still a joke that two caucuses and one of the smallest (and whitest) states in the union will provide 70% of the momentum for the dem primaries - but it is what it is. As I said earlier, Warren is someone I think I could consider given she isn't a "my way or the highway" zealot Bernie is on this stuff. I think she would take a 20-30% win on many of these issues while I think Bernie would stand on his principles and get nothing done.
The best Bernie parallel I can think of is the story of the business owner who goes into an inner city school. He walks into the 8th grade class of 40 kids and tells the teacher he will provide 25 full-ride scholarships to the students. The teacher thinks about it and then says "Thank you, but I don't think that would be fair to the 15 who didn't get one". That's Bernie to a tee. Come up with a plan that could help 40% of the people struggling? Not good enough, let's stay at 0 until it gets so bad (in his mind) that we finally do 100%!