On November 20, the 5th Democratic Presidential Debate took place in Atlanta. Ten candidates qualified to be on stage by bringing in donations of 165,000 individual donors and earning either 3% in four Democratic National Committee-approved national polls or 5% in two approved state polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Nevada.
Those candidates were:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Senator Cory Booker (New Jersey)
- Mayor of South Bend, Ind. Pete Buttigieg
- Member of Congress (Hawaii) and a veteran of the Iraq War Tulsi Gabbard
- Senator Kamala Harris (California)
- Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
- Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)
- Billionaire and Environmental activist Tom Steyer
- Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts)
- Entrepreneur and tech industry veteran Andrew Yang
While Joe Biden is the leading candidate according to most national polls and has the support of black and Latino voters, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg create serious competition for him in such states as Iowa and New Hampshire.
As for the speaking time of the candidates during the 5th debate, as it was predicted, Elizabeth Warren again spoke most, with Joe Biden following, though the margin was trifle as compared to the previous debate. Interestingly, Pete Buttigieg got the third place with almost the same speaking time as Joe Biden.
Clashes of the Debate
- Tulsi Gabbard’s controversial claim that ‘’democratic party is not the party that is of, by, and for the people. It is a party that has been and continues to be influenced by the foreign policy establishment in Washington, represented by Hillary Clinton and others’ foreign policy by the military industrial complex and other greedy corporate interests’’ resulted in a clash between her and Senator Harris. The latter noted that It’s unfortunate that there is ‘’someone on the stage who is attempting to be the democratic nominee for president of the United States, who during the Obama administration spent four years full time on Fox News criticizing President Obama…”
- Tom Steyer stands out among other candidates by the proposal on the term limits of the members of Congress, to which as for him Joe Biden and other candidates won’t agree. This was not the only issue of conflict between Joe Biden and Tom Steyer. Later on Steyer asserted that he is ”the only person who will say that climate is the number one priority for him.” This was followed by Joe Biden’s harsh response, who said that he “doesn’t need that kind of lecture…”
- Tulsi Gabbard was also involved in other clash this time it was between her and Mayor Buttigieg. She claimed that mayor Buttigieg doesn’t have enough experience for being a commander-in-chief because of his remarks to send troops to Mexico to fight cartels. Pete Buttigieg opposed by saying her remarks were out of context and brought a counter-argument for her experience as a commander-in-chief who has met with ‘’such a dictator” as Bashar al Assad.
- Another clash involved three candidates-Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Cory Booker. Biden talked about the support of the only African-American woman, that’s ever been elected to the US Senate. The problem is that the woman he mentioned is not the only one, the other is Kamala Harris. And she together with Cory Booker immediately responded to that wrongful remark. Biden in his turn claimed to have said ”the first, not the only”.
Remarkable quotes of the Debate
Amy Klobuchar- “If you think a woman can’t beat Trump, ‘Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”
Andrew Yang- “We talk as if Donald Trump is a cause of all of our problems. He is not. He is a symptom and we need to cure the disease.”
Bernie Sanders- “We have a president who is not only a pathological liar, he is likely the most corrupt president in the modern history of America.”
Cory Booker- “I have a lot of respect for the Vice President. He has sworn me into my office as a hero. This week I hear him literally say that I don’t think we should legalize marijuana. I thought you might’ve been high when you said it.”
Joe Biden- “I learned something about these impeachment trials. I learned number one, that Donald Trump doesn’t want me to be the nominee…Secondly, I found out that Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be president.”
Tulsi Gabbard- “Democratic party is not the party that is of, by, and for the people. It is a party that has been and continues to be influenced by the foreign policy establishment in Washington, represented by Hillary Clinton and others’ forign policy by the military industrial complex and other greedy corporate interests.”
Tom Steyer- ‘’If you want bold change in the United States, you’re going to have to have new and different people in charge.’’
Bernie Sanders- “It is no longer good enough for us simply to be pro-Israel. I am pro-Israel. But we must treat the Palestinians people as well with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”
