The smaller group of seven made everything much easier for those on the stage. Everyone was not fighting for every ounce of oxygen in the room. There were several good lines and that is not easy in a debate format. Important only because a line is easier for the audience to remember than a whole primer on diplomacy.
My winners and losers are from a communication perspective not a political perspective. Always evaluating from the 3 V criteria: verbal, vocal and visual.
While I still don’t like Yang’s open shirt, and I don’t like that it is not even a white open shirt, gotta love the guy’s clarity. He sounds less like a “politician’ because he appears to speak from his head and his heart rather than the latest polls. Favorite line of the night has to be, “The fact is … if you get too many men alone and leave us alone for a while, we kind of become morons.”
Yang and his MATH pin, WINNER.
Those that know me know for men I prefer a bright, solid tie. The reason is that the job of the tie is to bring attention to close to the face, but not be a distraction as a repetitive design can be to the eye. Steyer’s tie was very distracting. Perhaps it was homage to the holidays, but I found the plaid and the coloring to be distracting. The audience pays less attention to the spoken word when focused on a tie gone bad. STEYER LOSER
Amy Klobuchar always finds a sense of humor. Think of Reagan, that is a great quality especially in a debate format. Warren found her sense of humor once, with the line about being the youngest woman president. Buttigieg never found a sense of humor. Really, like there isn’t anything at all funny about wine caves? KLOBUCHAR WINNER
Sanders wears thin in a two hour format. Some people call it passion, I call it anger. The man can yell for two hours. A woman would be called strident or emotional. Regardless of the question he is going to give his same talking points. One of the moderators had to school him on “answering the question”. Lesson to be learned is to listen to the question asked not the question you want to get. You have to answer it first, before you pivot to your talking points. SANDERS LOSER
One thing Biden did differently in this debate, when he was finished answering he just stopped. He didn’t say, time’s up, he just stopped. Much more effective. On the other end of the time constraints, Warren especially talked through her given signals to stop talking. So did Mayor Pete. Not an attractive look. BIDEN WINNER
The low point was the mud feast between Warren and Buttigieg. It’s like going to dinner with a couple who is fighting. You don’t know where to look, whether to try to interject. It is just uncomfortable. Not a good look. If someone has to choose between food and their diabetes medication, do they really want to hear about wine caves? WARREN AND BUTTIGIEG LOSERS
