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

DURHAM, NH - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT, held a feisty debate at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2016, in Durham, in the last forum for Democrats before voters cast ballots in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Feb. 9.

It started out cordially but the tenor quickly began to unravel like grandparents arguing at the dinner table about something that happened decades ago. But instead of it being your relatives quarrelling, it was two world leaders, running neck-and-neck, for the most important job on the planet, while still disagreeing about things that happened decades ago.

Progress vs. Progressive

After opening statements, a good chunk of the first 30 minutes of the debate was spent arguing about who is more progressive with Clinton calling herself a progressive that gets thing done while Sanders suggested the country needed a political revolution.

Clinton attacked Sanders so-called grandiose plans for free public college and Medicare for All as too costly and impossible to achieve, especially with Republicans in Congress. She added that she didn’t want to promise the American people policies that couldn’t be accomplished.

“Your numbers don’t add up,” Clinton said, while adding that she wanted to build on the progress made by President Barack Obama.

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But Sanders countered that while he helped to write the Affordable Care Act, it had failed because there were 29 million Americans without health insurance. Millions were under-insured and prescription drug costs were “off the wall,” he added.

“All of the ideas I talk about are not radical ideas,” he stated.

Sanders added that every other industrialized nation in the country offered their citizens what he was proposing, as a right.

Clinton: Stop smearing me

In the waning days of the New Hampshire primary, there have always been classic moments. “Stop lying about my record,” then-U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, R-KS, barked on live television at then-Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988.

In 1980, former Gov. Ronald Reagan, R-CA, when being told by a moderator that his mic would be shut off at a debate, yelled, “I’m paying for this microphone, Mr. Green.”

And Clinton had one of those moments tonight: The candidate lashed out at Sanders for speaking in code and suggesting that she was in the pocket of Wall Street investors and added that she never changed a vote due to a campaign contribution.

“If you’ve got something to say, say it, directly,” she said, after Sanders danced around that the fact that Clinton has made speeches to Goldman Sachs and other large financial interests.

“It’s time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out,” she added, to boos in the hall.

Sanders again called for a political revolution to invigorate American politics and get the masses not involved in the process to tune-in in order to take power out of the hands of billionaires and their Super PACs.

If campaign money was an issue, Moderator Chuck Todd asked, why Sanders wasn’t participating in the public financing system in his run for president.

Sanders said he agreed with public financing but said the current system was antiquated and not feasible when wanting to run a modern political campaign. Clinton agreed.

Grimaces and smiles

At times, both Sanders and Clinton looked uncomfortable through a good portion of the debate. Not necessarily with the format – without former Gov. Martin O’Malley, D-MD, it was a duel – but with the varying comments between each of them, especially during the split-screen segments.

Sometimes, there were smiles. But more often than not, if eyes had daggers, Clinton’s were shooting them at Sanders; Sanders was seen rolling his eyes, and offering la-de-dah looks to Clinton’s lecturing.

Many of the looks came at pointed moments in the debate – when Sanders criticized Clinton for voting for the invasion of Iraq as a Senator to Sanders suggesting that relations with Iran should be normalized like the United States is trying to do with Cuba.

Electability

Issues of electability were also raised late in the debate concerning Sanders’ embrace of “democratic socialism” and Clinton’s email investigation and whether or not it would hinder her in a general election.

While Sanders has the political mojo and had attracted young voters to his campaign, Clinton has most of the establishment sewn up; including hundreds of Super Delegates that give her an automatic advantage regardless of what happens on Tuesday. But she added that she was impressed with his effort and hoped that his supporters would back her if she won the nomination.

Sanders countered that the only time Democrats win is when they have “large voter turnouts,” and his campaign was bringing thousands of new voters into the process. Republicans win, he added, when turnout is lower and depressed.

Clinton stated that she had been vetted by everyone and attacked by all kinds political interests.

“There’s hardly anything you don’t know about me,” she said to the audience.

Changed minds?

Tonight’s debate probably didn’t change any minds but that could change in the next few days.

During the last two months, the Real Clear Politics New average polling in New Hampshire has shown Clinton on a consistent slide, losing more than 15 percentage points. Sanders’ lead in the state has grown to nearly 20 percent. A poll released by CNN/WMUR-TV earlier today shows a 31-point lead by Sanders.

This cycle – not unlike 2008 – offers dynamic options for voters: Sanders supporters are looking for sweeping political change; Clinton supporters are looking to elect the first female president. It’s doubtful that any of them changed their minds – or will change their minds – before Feb. 9.