Who Won Sunday's Democratic Presidential Debate? Top 5 Moments

Democrats Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley got together Sunday night for one last debate before the first vote for the party’s presidential nomination, the Iowa caucuses, scheduled for Feb. 1. With polls showing races tightening in Iowa and New Hampshire, predictions painted a vivid picture of a debate that would resemble an MMA cage fight.

It did not.

While Sanders and Clinton clashed in Sunday’s Democratic debate, no blood was spilled, and none of the candidates qualified to wear a dunce cap, which cannot be said for questioner Andrea Mitchell of NBC News.

As national debates go, rarely is a winner crowned the night of, but rather in the days following, after the pundits weigh in and somehow a consensus, however flawed, is reached.

Here are the Top 5 Moments From The Last Debate Before The First Vote:

The ‘Anti-Establishment’ Moment (And Another Moment, And Another Moment, And ... )

Bernie Sanders could have been asked his pick for the Super Bowl and likely would have answered something or other about Wall Street, corrupt campaign finance laws and Goldman Sachs. That is Sanders, though, and he wasn’t about to let the questions from moderators get in the way of one last national appeal to reformers, which was actually one last national appeal to reformers in Iowa. And why not? They’re legitimate topics for debate. Just ask Larry David.

The ‘Bernie Sanders As Donald Trump’ Moment

Bernie Sanders went all Donald Trump v. Megyn Kelly on NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Big differences: Sanders was a gentleman about it and Mitchell deserved what he gave her. The question that got Sanders riled: Whether he regretted saying years ago that Bill Clinton’s zipper problem was deplorable. ”That question annoys me,” Sanders replied before explaining to Mitchell that he was on stage to debate issues and not take vicious personal attacks against Hillary Clinton or Gov. Martin O’Malley, who also shared the stage. Big applause on that one.

The ‘I’ve Got To Spice This Debate Up With A Ludicrous Question’ Moment

See above, Andrea Mitchell. Pop Quiz: Has there ever been a more senselessly baiting and irrelevant question ever asked during a presidential debate? (Answer: We can’t come up with one, though we’ll leave open the possibility a question during an elementary school student council race foots the bill. A slim possibility.)

The Moment Hillary Let Loose A Hay-Maker

Gun control. What an opening — and made even wider by a question about Sanders changing his stance on lawsuits against gunmakers. He’d now make them easier. Hillary: “I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders’ own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, ’was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years.’ He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives.”

Boom goes the dynamite.

The ‘Martin O’Malley Has A Voice’ Moment

With nothing to lose except, say, the nomination to become the most powerful person on Earth, O’Malley had probably his best debate. Barely scraping together the 5 percent of support needed to even be on stage with Clinton and Sanders, O’Malley was at times forceful and more often self-deprecating over the little time he was actually given to speak. His strongest moment may have come when he used humor the way he did as a successful Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor. “I’ve listened to Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders go back and forth on which of them has the most inconsistent record on gun safety legislation and I would have to agree with both of them.” O’Malley said. “They’ve both been inconsistent when it comes to this issue.“

BONUS ITEM: The ‘Ted Cruz Is A Booger’ Moment

This has nothing to do with the debate, but it’s too rich not to include because there really were no playground-like moments in Sunday’s debate. And Donald Trump didn’t actually call Ted Cruz a booger, but his tone sure did. “Look, the truth is, he’s a nasty guy,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. He’s a very –- he’s got an edge that’s not good. You can’t make deals with people like that and it’s not a good thing. It’s not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy.”