On October 15 the fourth Democratic debate took place in Ohio. The record number of participants-12 candidates took part in the debate. Before that, the debate with the most number of participants was the 2015 Republican debate with 11 candidates. To be eligible for the debate the candidates should have raised donations from 130,000 people and earned at least 2 percent support in four polls approved by the Democratic National Convention between June 28 and October 1. The 10 candidates from previous debate took part in this one as well as two candidates joined them- congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and a billionaire Tom Steyer. The latter was participating in the debate for the first time.
Before the debate Congresswoman Gabbard had criticised the criteria set out to participate in the debate claiming that ‘’The Democratic National Convention and corporate media are trying to hijack the entire election process’’. Congresswoman had threatened to boycott the debate as a sign of protest, but on Monday morning she announced her participation in the debate.
This debate differed from the previous one firstly for being the first debate after the start of Trump’s impeachment procedure. This was the reason why Trump’s name was mentioned almost twice as often as in the previous debate. Kamala Harris mentioned his name more than the other candidates (11 times), and those candidates who barely mentioned Trump’s name during the previous debate (Klobuchar- 0, Buttigieg-1, Yang-2), this time dropped Trump more often (Klobuchar-7, Buttigieg-8, Yang-9).
The first question of the debate was the impeachment, which was approved by all present candidates. One of the high-ranking candidates- Elizabeth Warren mentioned that after reading the 442 pages of Muller report it became clear to her that Trump ‘’obstructed justice repeatedly’’. In his turn, Bernies Sanders characterized Trump as ‘’the most corrupt president in the history of this country’’. Biden agreed with such characterization. Among other democratic candidates Tulsi Gabbard was distinguished by her viewpoints, for which she was in the centre of the criticism. Though she is now a proponent of Trump’s impeachment, Gabbard justly mentioned that ‘’calls for impeachment really began shortly after Trump won his election. And as unhappy as that may make us as Democrats, he won that election in 2016.’’
During the discussion on impeachment former Vice-president Biden could not remain silent, as he has a central role in this issue. He claimed that in case of becoming the President he won’t allow any member of his family to be involved in a foreign business. And answering to the question why it is problematic in case of being a President but it was not when he was a Vice-president, he gave a short answer that he and his son didn’t do anything wrong. Avoiding to give a direct answer to the question he started accusing Trump of being the reason of foreign interference in their elections.
The next political issue was connected with foreign policy, particularly Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria and the massacre of Kurds. Vice-President Biden characterized Trump’s decision to withdraw as ‘’the most shameful thing any president has done’’. There was a clash of viewpoints concerning this issue between Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg. The latter blamed Gabbard for supporting Donald Trump’s policy. Meanwhile, Senator Klobuchar stated that Trump’s act doesn’t make America great again, ‘’It makes Russia great again’’.
The issue of the candidates’ fitness for presidency in terms of their health and age was discussed as the third important question. The issue was raised because Bernie Sanders recently had a heart attack and there was a necessity to discuss that circumstance, especially when the 3 highly rated candidates are in their 70s (Joe Biden- 76, Bernie Sanders- 78, Elizabeth Warren-70). Not to concentrate mainly on Bernie Sanders, all other candidates were also asked the same question. Tulsi Gabbard as the youngest candidate was not an exception. Gabbard pointed out that the important question is whether the candidate is fit for the position of the commander-in-chief and stressed that she herself has relevant experience and then asked Senator Warren about her experience in that sphere, but the TV host cut her off and helped Elizabeth Warren to avoid answering that question. The peak of the obviously negative attitude towards Tulsi Gabbard after the debate was Hillary Clinton’s remark that the Russians were going to make her third party candidate, which was followed by Gabbard’s strict response. Moreover, an article was published in the New York Times, where Tulsi Gabbard was again blamed for connections with the Russians
During the debate Kamala Harris could ask her question to Elizabeth Warren calling her to join her in demanding the suspension of Trump’s Twitter account but Warren abstained from joining this initiative.
Generally, Elizabeth Warren was the leading candidate in speaking time-23 minutes. Vice-president Biden was the 2nd with 16 minutes speaking time. As a result of the debate Elizabeth Warren is the leading candidate according to some polls. Specifically, in the poll where the candidates were given at most 4 points Elizabeth Warren received the highest points- 3.2, followed by Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg-3.1 points and Joe Biden, who got 3 points. If according to one poll 56.5% of the respondents were ready to vote for Joe Biden and 52.1%- for Elizabeth Warren then according to CNN Elizabeth Warren is already ahead and she would become the Democratic Presidential candidate for 2020.
The 5th Democratic Presidential Debate will take place on November 20 and there are some criteria for taking part in that debate. Particularly, it is necessary to secure 165,000 individual donors, including 600 from 20 states.
Second, the candidates should receive at least 3 percent in 4 surveys approved by the DNC, or 5 percent in two DNC approved polls from the four earliest primary and caucus states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. The candidates who have already met the polling and donor thresholds are: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, Amy Klobuchar.