Twelve Democratic candidates took to the stage in Ohio Tuesday for the fourth debate for the 2020 presidential election.
Channel 9 political reporter Christopher Heath breaks down nine things we learned during the debate:
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1. Ohio – Ohio, still a battleground state, voted for Clinton twice, Bush twice, Obama twice, and Trump in 2016. Its 18 electoral votes are as much a prize as the chance to win back what had been the "blue wall," a blue wall that crumbled in 2016 when Democrats lost Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Winning back this state will require Democrats to over-perform in suburbs wile also winning back the blue collar voters the party lost in 2016.
2. Warren, OH - Is Elizabeth Warren the front runner? A new Quinnipiac poll shows the Massachusetts senator leading Joe Biden. However, at the debate in Ohio, she got the Biden treatment of being the target of several attacks and counterattacks. For the eight candidates on the stage polling at less than 7%, the only way to gain traction is to go after the frontrunner. In debates 1-3, that was Biden. On Tuesday, it was Warren. Of all the candidates that went after Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar had the most shots, taking on Warren for the cost of her Medicare for All plan.
.@amyklobuchar going after @ewarren in just about every answer#DemocraticDebate
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
3. Impeachment in Passing – It's the talk of DC as the House builds its case, but hours before the start of the debate, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the House would hold off on holding a full vote on an impeachment inquiry, with Politico reporting leadership was still working to get input from vulnerable members. Despite this, all 12 candidates agreed the impeachment needs to move forward, with Democrats calling Trump "corrupt," saying he had violated the public trust by asking a foreign country to dig up dirt on a political opponent with Sen. Kamala Harris saying, "Our framers imagined this moment, a moment where we would have a corrupt president. And our framers then rightly designed our system of democracy to say there will be checks and balances. This is one of those moments."
So far each of the first five candidates have called President Trump "corrupt"
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
Booker now pushing back on GOP complaints of process.#DemDebate
4. Hey Brother, Can You Spare a Billion? – Environmentalist and billionaire Tom Steyer made his debut on the debate stage in Ohio. Steyer had the least amount of talking time for the night, getting just slightly more than seven minutes of time in the three-hour debate. The silver lining? He's already qualified for the November debate.
"Every candidate here is more decent and more honest than the criminal in the White House” @TomSteyer #DemDebate
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
5. Running on Empty – For many of the candidates on the stage, time may be running out. Only eight candidates have qualified for the next debate. The same Quinnipiac poll that showed Warren in the lead, also gave Andrew Yang enough qualifying polls to make the next stage. He will join Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren. This means, for now, that Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O'Rourke are on the outside looking in for the next debate. The next debate is scheduled for Nov. 20 in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Reminder: Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O'Rourke have not yet qualified for the November DEM Debate.
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
Klobuchar has talked the second most, yet as of now has not qualified for next month's debate in Atlanta https://t.co/ws0HnzfV02
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
6. Bernie Bounce Back – Following a series of lackluster polls and recovering from a heart attack, Sen. Bernie Sanders took the stage with a mix of his usual energy and a few toned-down moments. Sanders even joked about his health as well as his support of medical marijuana, adding that he wasn't on it tonight.
7. Serious Syrian Situation – With Russian forces now occupying an abandoned U.S. base in Syria and Turkish forces killing Kurdish fighters and civilians, the situation in the Middle East took shape on the stage with Biden and Buttigieg calling the U.S. pull out "shameful" and a betrayal of U.S. allies and values. However, that was pushed back by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, saying the U.S. needs to get out of "regime change wars."
.@JoeBiden calls out @TulsiGabbard's straw man argument about "regime change wars." Half a million people have died in Syria, including 50,000 children. Wanting to prevent more genocide isn't a "regime change war." #DemDebate
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) October 16, 2019
On pull out of US forces in Syria, and the movement of Russia into the region, @amyklobuchar says, “that doesn’t make America great again, that makes Russia great again”
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
8. Buttigieg Break-Out – "I don't need a lesson from you on courage, personal or political," fired back Mayor Pete to Beto in the second half of the debate on a question of gun violence. It will be worth watching Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden's numbers in post-poll debates. Buttigieg has a chance to eat into Biden's base as a centrist Democrat. Will he? That's another question.
.@PeteButtigieg going after the costs (lack of details) in Warren plan. He is on point tonight.#DemDebate
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
"I don't need lesson from you on courage, personal or political"@PeteButtigieg going right at Beto
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
9. Polls Man, Polls – Leading up to Tuesday in Ohio a few things had happened: Biden and Sanders had slipped, Warren had gained, Harris had almost collapsed, and the rest of the candidates were polling around 2%. In the coming days and weeks we'll get some post-debate polling, and see if Tuesday changed anything nationally or in any of the early states like Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina.
The four people currently polling above 7% (Q Poll)
— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) October 16, 2019
There are 8 others on the stage.#DemDebate pic.twitter.com/T2plQ2YvIo
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