Ranking
1. Biden
2. Warren
3. Buttigieg
4. Sanders
5. Klobuchar
6. Yang
7. Steyer
8. Harris
9. Booker
10. O'Rourke
11. Gabbard
12. Castro
1. Biden
While I do think Bidden was the overall winner of the night, I don't think it was from anything additionally he brought to the table. While He and Warren are very much neck and neck in the race, the other candidates seemed to find warren to be the larger threat and spent the time targeting her rather than Biden. He did manage to bring up some valid concerns in other candidates plans like the medicare for all plan that Warren and Bernie are pushing. But he also floundered when asked about his son's remarks to the news. He had to know that question would come up, but had no good response for it. It was also clear that he stumbled across his words quite often and would get flustered, but due to him being able to maintain his current support by flying under the radar, I feel he was the top winner of the night.
2. Warren
Speaking the most of any candidate of the night,6.5 minutes, more than the next closest candidate, she was primarily on defense mode. All the candidates identified her as the top dog to beat and she was forced to bat off attacks for the night. While she handled most of the attacks rather well, she was reluctant and unable to provide in depth context for if her tax plan would raise taxes for the middle class. Biden was trying to yank it out of her and eventually managed to get an answer of who would have taxes raised. While I don't think she lost too much support from the debate, I do think that she suffered worse than Biden did.
3. Buttigieg
No matter what the topic, Buttigieg seemed to find a way to get involved and attack the other candidates on the issues. While he has been one of the higher polling mid ranng candidates, I think this debate likely elevated him to be a stronger contender in the race. He called out other candidates, poking holes in their ideas, calling for a more moderate approach to the liberal democratic ideas, but often did not provide solutions of his own. I think he certainly will have the largest surge in popularity of any candidate after this debate, but he will need to formulate more substantive ideas if he plans to continue for the long haul.
4. Sanders
Sanders has energy and passion, and made it perfectly clear that his medical issues are not affecting it in any way. While he did possibly hold back a little bit more than he might typically have, I think his spirit and devotion to country still came across strong.There were times when he could have chimed in to defend Warren on policy they both supported, but I think he may have been trying to distance himself from her a little bit. Being the two most liberal democrats running, and being the lower polling of the two, it's growing more important for him to highlight his differences so he can continue to be seen on his own, rather than an extension of Warren's campaign.
5. Klobuchar
This debate was a make or break moment for Klobuchar. She knew it and so did everyone else. It was clear she brought her A game to the table. Personally, I think it may have been a little too late, but she certainly brought up some strong arguments, called out her rivals stating that their are alternative solutions to tackling the democratic issues facing us, and providing a more moderate voice within the democratic party.
6. Yang
Yang was one of the candidate whom spoke least at the debate, no longer able to riding the high from his eccentric idea of $1,000 a month for everyone.Though it still came up during the debate, his primary stand out moment was his attack on system automation and Microsoft's Bing. I place him here because despite the fact that he didn't speak near as much as some of the other candidates, when he did, it was well planned and he chose his words carefully to create maximum impact.
7. Steyer
Like Yang, Steyer didn't speak much during the debate; the least in fact speaking only for a total of 7:12 minutes. Like Yang, Steyer spoke with purpose, choosing his words carefully. Since it was his first debate, unlike the other candidates, he was forced not only to find a way to stand out, but demonstrate his qualifications also. He heavily highlighted his financial successes, making sure to demonstrate how he has been far more successful in business dealings than Trump. But he had no major stand out moments to garner additional media attention.
8. Harris
Harris had a largely underwhelming performance in the debate. Many of her comments came off flat any she seemed to have more difficulty resonating with the audience than many of the other candidates. I don't specifically think her debate performance will negatively affect her campaign, I don't see a surge in her support based on the performance.
9. Booker
Much like Harris, Booker's performance was underwhelming. I was half tempted to rank him above her for the debate, because I think he stood out more than she did. But because of his strong presence in previous debates, he had built himself up to be a powerful candidate. But when the most common response in the debate is, "Hey guys, let's not fight. We can't be taking each other down if we want to have any home of defeating Trump". And while that may be true, it's a debate, not a slumber party. The point is to beat your competition. Seeing him act in such a passive way, I did not feel he performed better than Harris.
10. O'Rourke
O'Rourke actually spoke more during the debate than Sanders or Buttigieg, but if you saw the debate, you likely wouldn't believe it. He didn't really stand out. He did piggyback off some democratic talking points, but in general, was very underwhelming and failed to standout from the crowd.
11. Gabbard
Gabbard had a chance to shine here. She had destroyed Harris in an earlier debate, but had failed to qualify for the September debate. This was likely the last debate she'd qualify for. She failed to bring the flame. She spoke regarding global conflict, but Buttigieg had brought the fire and quickly shut her down. She had a second moment when asked about being the youngest on the stage, and while she could have used the opportunity to highlight an issue or rebuttal against another candidate for additional talking time, she wasted the opportunity.
12. Castro
I initially forgot Castro was on the debate stage. He seemed to bring very little to the table. After his attacks against Biden at the last debate, I expected Castro to be in attack mode once more, perhaps against Warren but any remarks he did make failed to provide a sufficient impact.
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