Hey, I’m Scott Detrow, this is Mara Liasson.
We are here in the spin room again talking about
the second night of this Democratic debate in Miami.
“Hey, guys, you know what? America does not want to witness a food fight.
They want to know how we’re going to put food on their table.”
So Mara, last night I feel like the big story was all about policy
and how the Democratic candidates were all tilting to the left on policy.
Tonight it’s more about politics, and I think the first thing that a lot of people are going to be talking about
is that exchange between former Vice President Joe Biden
and California Sen. Kamala Harris, where she confronted him on
not only those comments he made about working with segregationists,
but about his previous opposition to federal busing laws and policies.
“You know, there was a little girl in California
who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools,
and she was bused to school every day.
And that little girl was me.”
“Do you agree today
that you were wrong to oppose busing in America then? Do you agree?”
"I did not oppose busing in America.
What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.”
Right, Joe Biden is the front-runner in the race, and front-runners get challenged.
He got challenged tonight. She took him on.
She made a generational challenge to Biden with substance.
He tried to explain his position. He tried to defend his record on civil rights,
which is formidable. He has a record to talk about.
But that was the biggest contrast we’ve seen in these debates.
She came off, I think, very well. Her campaign is absolutely thrilled.
One of the things that she’s been trying to do is remind voters
that she’s that person they see in the Senate hearing rooms being really tough,
being a prosecutor, interrogating a witness. Until recently,
that hasn’t been the Kamala Harris we’ve seen on the campaign trail.
But tonight, that’s the Kamala Harris who came here to play.
So that was one thing. I think another thing that was really noteworthy
was that in the way that we thought that Elizabeth Warren would do last night,
Bernie Sanders did tonight, and that is his ideas, his proposals
really set the parameters for the conversation for a good half hour or so,
and that was a conversation about his approach of getting rid of private insurance and whether or not other candidates agreed with it.
And what was so interesting about that is Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All”
plan has become a foil. Yes, Kamala Harris raised her hand —
she was the only other candidate that raised her hand when the same question as last night was asked tonight,
which is: Would you eliminate private health plans —
but most of the other candidates said: No. We want a public option,
we want the opportunity for people to buy into Medicare, but no,
we don’t want to get rid of Obamacare.
Last moment that stood out to me — and I think a lot of families can relate to this moment —
was when Eric Swalwell, the California congressman, challenged Joe Biden,
talking about the need for generational change.
And then Biden and Bernie Sanders were saying,
well if they talked about my generation, I should respond.
And then Pete Buttigieg and other younger candidates were saying,
no, we’re the younger generation, we should respond, and they all talked over each other.
But what was really funny, Eric Swalwell had this prepared riff.
It was a bit of a schtick.
“I was 6 years old when a presidential candidate came to the
California Democratic Convention and said it's time to pass the torch
to a new generation of Americans. That candidate was then-Sen. Joe Biden.
Joe Biden was right when he said it was time to pass the torch
to a new generation of Americans 32 years ago. He’s still right today.”
Moderator: “Vice President, would you like to sing a torch song?”
"I would. I'm still holding onto that torch.”
So Mara, we have now seen four hours' worth of debating.
Twenty candidates spread out over two nights. What do you know now that you didn’t know going into this?
What do you know now that you didn’t know going into this?
I know now that Kamala Harris wants to be the nominee,
not just the vice presidential nominee.
We know that Joe Biden — doesn’t always bring his A-game. Let’s put it that way.
And I think the one thing that really was crystalized to me
was that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are setting the tone
for this conversation when it comes to the policies that candidates
are talking about and being asked about.
That does it for Miami. I’m Scott Detrow.
I’m Mara Liasson.
Thanks for watching.