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Democratic Debate Has Early Focus on Trump’s Conduct and Impeachment With Impeachment as Backdrop, Democrats Direct Fire at Trump in Debate
(about 1 hour later)
The Democratic presidential candidates expressed uniform support on Wednesday night for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine, but signaled significant reservations in the fifth primary debate about the possibility that the 2020 campaign could become submerged in a congressional investigation of Mr. Trump’s behavior. The Democratic presidential candidates yielded to the furor surrounding the impeachment inquiry in Washington in their primary debate on Wednesday, for the first time training their fire more steadily on President Trump than on one another and presenting a largely united front on vital issues like climate change and the American relationship with China.
The debate in Atlanta began with few sparks between the leading candidates, but with a barrage of fire directed at Mr. Trump and what the top Democrats described as a culture of corruption and self-dealing in his administration. That line of argument crossed ideological and cultural lines on the Democratic side, involving populist liberals like Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont and their more moderate competitors, including Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. One month after the party’s moderate wing led a ferocious attack against Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on a debate stage in Ohio, the leading Democrats mostly opted to mute their rivalries and restrain their language, mainly detailing their disagreements in gentle or at most passive-aggressive terms. There were moments of direct friction, especially in the final minutes of the debate over matters of national security, but in many cases the candidates’ criticism was couched within jocular one-liners or pragmatic arguments about electability.
“We cannot simply be consumed by Donald Trump, because if we are, you know what? We’re going to lose the election,” Mr. Sanders said, pointing to social problems like homelessness and climate change, which he termed “the great existential crisis of our time.” Most telling were a handful of sharper exchanges among the 10 candidates onstage in Atlanta related to matters of race and gender. Several expressed concerns about the prospect of nominating a white man, like former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. or Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California both warned that the party could not afford to select a candidate who was not capable of exciting African-American voters, and Ms. Harris repeatedly invoked “the Obama coalition” as the Democrats’ best hope for electoral success.
For at least the first hour, the debate proceeded as a relatively subdued affair, with the candidates seeming to retreat from the harshest and most personal rivalries that flared a month ago at a debate in Ohio. Then, a gang of moderates — former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobuchar — teamed up to savage Ms. Warren for her position on single-payer health care. “Black voters are pissed off and they’re worried,” Mr. Booker said, lamenting that too many African-American voters hear only from Democratic candidates during election season.
This time, candidates almost entirely refrained from clashing directly, framing their disagreements in polite or passive-aggressive terms, perhaps deliberately conceding that their intraparty competition could not compete for attention with sobering developments in the impeachment process. He also rebuked Mr. Biden for expressing resistance last weekend to legalizing marijuana, joking, “I thought you might have been high when you said it.”
The forum was less contentious in part because the moderators did not stoke the rivalries or highlight the ideological differences onstage as much as in past debates, instead asking more open-ended questions about an array of policy issues. Mr. Buttigieg and Mr. Biden both insisted that they were capable of marshaling support from minority voters, with Mr. Buttigieg acknowledging that he faced “the challenge of connecting with black voters” who do not know him yet and Mr. Biden arguing that his present strength with African-American primary voters speaks for itself. “I was part of that coalition,” he said, even adding: “I come out of the black community.”
But the seeds of a larger debate over policy and political strategy became evident even in their answers targeting Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren railed against corruption in Washington, while other candidates, including Mr. Buttigieg and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., emphasized the importance of forging political unity and electing Democratic senators from red states. As for the Obama coalition, Mr. Biden once again invoked his personal bond with the former president: “I was part of that coalition,” he said.
Mr. Biden, who has staked his campaign on the perception that he is a strong general election candidate, used his leadoff answer to urge voters to pick a nominee who can “go into states like Georgia and North Carolina and other places and get a Senate majority.” It was widely anticipated that Mr. Buttigieg would become a kind of political pin cushion onstage, as other Democrats sought to harry him as the emerging front-runner in Iowa. But it was only in the final moments of the debate that he drew sustained criticism, first from Ms. Klobuchar and then, more caustically, from Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
It was, atypically, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, normally a nonconfrontational voice on the debate stage, who opened a more contentious phase of the debate, critiquing Ms. Warren’s proposal for a tax on the nation’s largest fortunes. “It’s cumbersome,” Mr. Booker jabbed. “It’s been tried by other nations. It’s hard to evaluate.” But it is unclear whether anyone raised new doubts about the young mayor as a contender for the nation’s most powerful office. Ms. Klobuchar lamented that Mr. Buttigieg, 37, lacked a governing record on issues, like voting rights, that he talks about on the campaign trail, asserting, “I think experience should matter.” But Mr. Buttigieg, deploying a recurring tactic of deflection, dismissed the value of experience in Washington and invoked his service in the military.
Mr. Buttigieg soon followed suit, though, arguing that most Americans were on their side — but warning that Democrats must “galvanize not polarize that majority.” Ms. Gabbard was more persistent adversary, rebuking Mr. Buttigieg for saying in a recent interview that he might be willing to deploy American troops in Mexico to fight violence there. Mr. Buttigieg again held his ground, calling Ms. Gabbard’s characterization of his remarks “outlandish” and chiding her for having met with the “murderous dictator” Bashar al-Assad during a trip to Syria.
Mr. Sanders made the case for his Medicare for All Act and took an oblique shot at Ms. Warren, who has not prioritized the measure, noting that he would introduce his single-payer system “in the first week” of his presidency. But for the most part, the Democrats focused on denouncing Mr. Trump. That was in part because, unlike at earlier debates, the moderators avoided stoking rivalries and highlighting differences. Yet the lack of vitriol and intense focus on electability also owed to the nature of this campaign, which as the impeachment inquiry unfolds is becoming even more centered around finding the best candidate to take on the president.
But reflecting his de facto truce with Ms. Warren, Mr. Sanders reserved his sharpest words for the more moderate candidates who oppose Medicare for all, whom he did not name but whom he described as believing “that we should not take on the insurance industry, we should not take on the pharmaceutical industry.” They attacked Mr. Trump both for his actions toward Ukraine that have prompted impeachment proceedings, and for a longer litany of offenses, including his detention of children at the Mexican border, his warm relationships with dictatorial regimes in Saudi Arabia and North Korea and his appointment of political cronies to prominent jobs in government.
The exchanges grew notably less polite, though, when Senator Kamala Harris of California was offered a chance to respond on a foreign policy question that went to Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who targeted Ms. Harris at a debate over the summer. Ms. Warren used the impeachment inquiry, and the testimony on Wednesday by Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union and a Trump donor, to criticize the practice of installing wealthy political supporters in overseas embassies. Mr. Booker railed against Mr. Trump for what he described as his human rights violations at the border, such as “when children are thrown in cages.”
Ms. Harris jabbed that Mr. Trump “got punked” by Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, in nuclear negotiations. For Ms. Klobuchar, it was Mr. Trump’s forgiving treatment of Saudi Arabia after its agents kidnapped and killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“That sent a signal to dictators around the world that that’s O.K.,” Ms. Klobuchar said.
Still, if there were no heated moments likely to endure past the evening, as there had been in past debates, there were apparent fault lines within the field, separating the most progressive candidates, like Ms. Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, from comparatively moderate figures like Mr. Biden, Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobuchar.
Mr. Buttigieg, who eagerly assailed Ms. Warren’s health care policies a month ago, was far more veiled in his criticism this time, arguing that Democrats must “galvanize not polarize” a coalition representing a majority of voters. And Ms. Klobuchar suggested that there were candidates who were making big promises “because they sound good on a bumper sticker and then throw in a free car.” But neither of them named names or tried a direct attack as they had done in Ohio.
Mr. Biden may not have incurred new damage to his campaign, which has been durable despite some of his self-inflicted errors. Yet at a moment when a pair of new candidates are entering the race in part because of his perceived weakness, the former vice president appeared tongue-tied on more than one occasion.
He drew nervous laughter when, in discussing domestic violence, he said it was important to keep “punching at” the problem. And when he was boasting about receiving the support of the first African-American woman elected to the Senate, former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, he referred to her as the only black woman elected to the body rather than the first.
That prompted a bemused response from Ms. Harris.
“The other one is here,” she said.
The leading candidates of the left took much the same approach. Mr. Sanders, defending his support for single-payer health care, referred to skeptical competitors who he said believed “that we should not take on the insurance company, we should not take on the pharmaceutical industry.” But he did not say to whom he was referring.
Mr. Sanders took an oblique shot at Ms. Warren, who has not prioritized the measure, noting that he would introduce his single-payer system “in the first week” of his presidency.
Mr. Sanders also warned against too much of an obsession with the day-to-day actions of the president. “We cannot simply be consumed by Donald Trump, because if we are, you know what? We’re going to lose the election,” he said, pointing to social problems like homelessness and climate change, which he termed “the great existential crisis of our time.”
But the seeds of a larger debate over policy and political strategy became evident even in candidates’ answers targeting Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren railed against corruption in Washington, while others, including Mr. Buttigieg and Mr. Biden, emphasized the importance of forging political unity and electing Democrats from red states.
Mr. Biden, who has staked his campaign on the perception that he is a strong general election candidate, used his leadoff answer to urge voters to pick a nominee who could “go into states like Georgia and North Carolina and other places and get a Senate majority.”
It was, atypically, Mr. Booker, normally a nonconfrontational voice on the debate stage, who opened a more contentious phase of the debate, critiquing Ms. Warren’s proposal for a tax on the nation’s largest fortunes. “It’s cumbersome,” Mr. Booker jabbed. “It’s been tried by other nations. It’s hard to evaluate.”
The exchanges grew notably less polite, though, when Ms. Harris was offered a chance to respond on a foreign policy question that went to Ms. Gabbard, who had targeted Ms. Harris at a debate over the summer.
Ms. Harris, with payback in mind, ignored the policy element of the question and unloaded on Ms. Gabbard. She noted that her rival had been a frequent guest on Fox News, refused to call President Bashar al-Assad of Syria “a war criminal” and “buddied up to Steve Bannon” during Mr. Trump’s presidential transition.Ms. Harris, with payback in mind, ignored the policy element of the question and unloaded on Ms. Gabbard. She noted that her rival had been a frequent guest on Fox News, refused to call President Bashar al-Assad of Syria “a war criminal” and “buddied up to Steve Bannon” during Mr. Trump’s presidential transition.
Ms. Gabbard responded that Ms. Harris was merely offering “lies and smears and innuendo” and asserted that the senator would continue the “Bush-Clinton-Trump foreign policy of regime change wars.” Ms. Gabbard responded that Ms. Harris was merely offering “lies and smears and innuendo” and asserted that the senator would continue the “Bush-Clinton-Trump foreign policy of regime change wars.”
Mr. Buttigieg, who is rising rapidly in the polls in Iowa, found himself for the first time in the position of defending his qualifications for the presidency, as the mayor of a small city who has never held statewide office. He cast skepticism of those credentials as a view from “traditional establishment Washington,” and argued that from the vantage point of South Bend it was “the usual way of doing business in Washington is what looks small.” Mr. Buttigieg, who is rising rapidly in the polls in Iowa, found himself for the first time in the position of defending his qualifications for the presidency. Mr. Buttigieg, who has never held statewide office, argued that from the vantage point of South Bend it was “the usual way of doing business in Washington is what looks small.”
Two of Mr. Buttigieg’s rivals pushed back more or less gently, channeling in a tentative way the frustration across the Democratic field with the rise of a 37-year-old mayor with no experience in national government. Mr. Booker, a onetime wunderkind mayor of Newark, described himself as “the other Rhodes scholar mayor on this stage” — perhaps his most pointed expression of feeling overlooked in the race. Two of Mr. Buttigieg’s rivals pushed back more or less gently. Mr. Booker, a onetime wunderkind mayor of Newark, described himself as “the other Rhodes scholar mayor on this stage” — perhaps his most pointed expression of feeling overlooked in the race.
But it was Ms. Klobuchar who most effectively pivoted from her past criticism of Mr. Buttigieg, whom she has described as benefiting in the race from being male, into a forceful plea to the country to elect a female president.But it was Ms. Klobuchar who most effectively pivoted from her past criticism of Mr. Buttigieg, whom she has described as benefiting in the race from being male, into a forceful plea to the country to elect a female president.
“Women are held to a higher standard, otherwise we could play a game called name your favorite woman president,” Ms. Klobuchar said, brandishing one of her favorite lines from the campaign trail: “If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”“Women are held to a higher standard, otherwise we could play a game called name your favorite woman president,” Ms. Klobuchar said, brandishing one of her favorite lines from the campaign trail: “If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”
The Democrats met just hours after the administration’s ambassador to the European Union, Gordon D. Sondland, offered perhaps the most damaging testimony against Mr. Trump yet in the House impeachment proceeding. The inquiry, centering on whether Mr. Trump linked American financial and political support for Ukraine to a promise to investigate Mr. Biden, has worried some Democrats about the former vice president’s viability in a general election.The Democrats met just hours after the administration’s ambassador to the European Union, Gordon D. Sondland, offered perhaps the most damaging testimony against Mr. Trump yet in the House impeachment proceeding. The inquiry, centering on whether Mr. Trump linked American financial and political support for Ukraine to a promise to investigate Mr. Biden, has worried some Democrats about the former vice president’s viability in a general election.
Yet that is only one factor that is making an already volatile race more fluid than ever. Since the debate last month, the race has become more fluid than ever, with former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has entered the primary contest, and former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York has taken steps to do the same. They have been lured into the campaign in part over their concerns about the leftward drift in the party, and also because there is still no clear front-runner with just over two months until the Iowa caucuses. It remains far from certain that they will be able to catch on so late in the race, but both have made clear that they are trying to win over more moderate voters.
Since the debate last month, former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has entered the primary contest, and former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York has taken steps to do the same. They have been lured into the campaign in part over their concerns about the leftward drift in the party, and also because there is still no clear front-runner with just over two months until the Iowa caucuses. It remains far from certain that they will be able to catch on so late in the race, but both have made clear that they are trying to win over more moderate voters.
If there is an opening for them, it is because Mr. Biden has not been able to consolidate support from center-left Democrats. Voters and donors from this wing of the party are uneasy with him mainly because of his lackluster fund-raising and campaign performances, and less because of Mr. Trump’s false claims that he acted improperly with Ukraine when his son Hunter was on the payroll of an energy company there.
More broadly, though, the race remains unsettled because Democratic voters are splintered across racial, ideological and generational lines. Mr. Buttigieg surged in Iowa and New Hampshire in recent weeks, taking the lead in a new Des Moines Register-CNN survey of Iowa caucusgoers. But he has not made similar gains beyond the two heavily white states that kick off the nominating process.
The two leading populists in the field, Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders, also are in the top tier in some early-state surveys thanks to strong support from self-identified liberals and many younger voters. But both have been unable to broaden their appeal to moderate Democrats. Together, these fractures have effectively created a four-way race, with none of the leading contenders yet proving they can break out of their demographic niche.
Ms. Warren had shown the most progress in expanding her coalition beyond white liberals, but she has endured a rocky stretch since coming under attack in the last debate over her failure to outline how she would pay for “Medicare for all.”
Last week she sought to tamp down criticism by unveiling a proposal for how to pay for her single-payer plan. But that seemed only to tie her more closely to an issue — replacing the private health insurance with a government-run system — that many Democrats fear will hurt their chances in the general election. Ms. Warren has seen her polling dip in the past month, most notably in Iowa, but she retains a committed bloc of supporters.
It is a coalition that could be even larger were it not for Mr. Sanders’s revival. Polls show that many supporters of the two candidates view the other as their preferred second choice.
Mr. Sanders, 78, has gained strength in many surveys since having a heart attack last month. He has won the endorsement of three women of color in Congress, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, with whom he recently campaigned across Iowa as he firmed up support with progressive voters.
However, no candidate may have gained more from Ms. Warren’s struggles than Mr. Buttigieg, who was one of her most aggressive critics in the last debate.
Already a favorite of many in the Democratic donor class, whose support has allowed him to finance a well-funded advertising campaign, Mr. Buttigieg, 37, has gained support with a sharp pivot toward the political center.
Mr. Biden has absorbed blow after blow from his rivals, and created a few challenges of his own, but it has yet to hurt him with his mostly older and nonwhite supporters.