Like others, we watched the first Democratic presidential debate. It was a rough act — Saturday Night Live will have a field day with an entertaining skit of the political free-for-all. I half look forward to watching that.
The six Democratic hopefuls targeted each other — often with personal attacks. Oddly enough, Donald Trump seemed to be the one that escaped unscathed.
The headlines summed up the night. CNN: “Mike Bloomberg gets badly roughed up in debate that tests his unconventional campaign.” The Washington Post: “The Democratic debate was noisy and full of attacks, a sign of the urgency many candidates and the party feel.” The New York Times: “Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. claimed undue credit for being the ‘first’ candidate to introduce a public (health care) option.”
Bloomberg took his licks, but he made a cogent remark in passing: “I can’t think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation.”
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“Well, I saw the person who won the debate last night whose name is Donald Trump. That’s the first thing I’d say,” the billionaire stated after being asked what he saw throughout the debate.
“Because I saw so much bickering between Democratic candidates, tearing each other down and going after each other and forgetting the fact that what really counts is beating Donald Trump in November of 2020,” he went on. “I saw people going after each other’s personality and records instead of remembering that, in fact, the Democratic Party needs to win in November.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tom-steyer-president-trump-won-the-democratic-debate
“Bernie Sanders supporters switched their allegiance to Donald Trump in large enough numbers last November to sway the election for the real estate billionaire, according to an analysis of voter data released Tuesday by the blog Political Wire. Since Trump’s shock victory over Hillary Clinton, much discussion has focused on the degree to which passionate Sanders supporters’ refusal to embrace Clinton led to the Republican winding up in the White House.”
https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-trump-2016-election-654320?fbclid=IwAR1iYQc4l4-6bEPDe1sGrPmBa_ganlN_4ufglqZvW4AetAaWzVXcsdYWfco
In a close election, several factors could each be singled out as decisive. For instance GOP disenfranchisement tactics in four swing states removed more voters from the rolls than Trump’s margin of victory in those states. Had it not been for those underhanded tactics, Hillary (whom Sanders vigorously campaigned for after she became the nominee) would have won handily.
” … if the Sanders-Trump voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania had voted for Clinton, or even stayed home on Election Day, those states would have swung to Clinton, and she would have won 46 more electoral votes, putting her at 278 — enough to win, in other words.
“But then, it’s not as simple as that. First off, this counterfactual world in which these voters didn’t vote for Trump rests on a few ifs. If the Sanders-Trump voters in these three states had defected and if nothing else had happened to somehow take electoral votes from Clinton elsewhere and if this survey is correct … then yes, Clinton would have won. (Some would also argue that if Clinton had campaigned more in the so-called “blue wall” states, she also could have picked up more votes.)”
From “Here’s How Many Bernie Sanders Supporters Ultimately Voted For Trump“