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My takes from round one:
Warren is really, really good at her groove. I think she's a sitting duck in a general election, but she understands better than anyone else there by far how to make the most of your 45 seconds. That is a very important skill.
I've give the "gains" last night to Booker, Castro, and maybe even De Blasio (though I doubt that will matter). They all fit the format reasonably well, landed some points, showed some passion.
O'Rourke looked tired and pale, the latter a serious concern. I think he's done, have ever since the Vanity Fair cover, so maybe my pre-event bias is seeping in. He's a ton better in his element standing on things and flailing his arms around than behind a podium.
Klobuchar, I think, is done too. Two different times I wanted to play back her answer, re-write it for her, and tell her how to say it. And while I work in politics, I am not a messaging/comms expert -- I just have some intuition on how you go about saying shit. Either she has rotten handlers, or she isn't able/willing to take their direction. I think she's the biggest loser from last night - moving from the middle to totally out.
The body language of the leaders/followers made the rest fringe-y. Inslee is too intense, and I think his angle of climate first is still a novelty act. Ryan was not spectacularly bad, if pushed I'd add him to the good list. Gabbard actually sounded coherent on paper, I just can't listen without the baggage of knowing that she carries around a fair bit of political lunacy.
Ezra Klein wandered around on format, but eventually got to: do two nights, four 1-hr events, each with 5 candidates. That would have been better, I think.
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