The Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his nearest rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders had a heated discussion over healthcare during the party's third debate.
The 10 highest-polling Democrats were eligible to take part in the discussion in Houston, Texas. It was the first time that the three frontrunners appeared together.
Healthcare was a major issue on the night. Biden, who has pledged to build on the Obamacare policy, said Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want to destroy it.
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However, Warren countered that a bigger plan is required, explaining she wants top earners to pay more in taxes to fund a government-run health plan for everyone in the country. Sanders has a similar approach. As the debate heated up, Biden said: “This is about candour, honesty, big ideas.”
A memorable moment on the night came when former congressman Beto O'Rourke referred to the recent mass shooting in his home town of El Paso. The candidate repeated his call for a ban on assault weapons, stating: “Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” There was rapturous applause.
CNN says Biden “looked strong and presidential” and had, overall, “a good night”. It picks out Elizabeth Warren as one of the night’s losers, saying she “wasn't super involved” and that “for a chunk” of the debate she “sort of disappeared”. However, the New York Times says Warren emerged “unscathed” from the showdown.
The Guardian says that the other member of the top three, Bernie Sanders, “successfully inserted himself into many of the night’s most policy-driven discussions on healthcare and foreign policy”.
According to USA Today, the American voters were the winners, because in a “sprawling field of 20” Democrat hopefuls, viewers of Thurday night's debate only had to focus on the 10 highest-polling candidates.
A controversial aspect of the debate came with Julian Castro’s repeated questioning of Joe Biden’s memory. While discussing healthcare policies, Castro said to Biden: “Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago? Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?”
The Guardian says the remark “elicited gasps from the audience” and was widely interpreted as an attack on Biden’s age. The Independent points out that Biden did not help himself when he accidentally referred to Sanders as “the president”.
Several commentators say that a clear winner at the debate was not anyone seeking to enter the White House, but someone who has already resided there. Kamala Harris and Castro applauded the work done by Barack Obama. The former president had been criticised by some candidates in the July debate, but here there was plentiful praise, including when Joe Biden fully embraced Obama's eight years in high office.
