This past Tuesday, CNN and Facebook hosted the first Democratic debate of the 2016 election with presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee in Las Vegas, NV.
Prior to the debate, CNN released the podium order, with frontrunner Hillary Clinton front and center. Bernie Sanders followed, along with Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee. If O’Malley, Webb, and Chafee sound unfamiliar to you, it’s probably because they’ve had the least amount of media coverage. Clinton and Sanders have garnered the most.
Hillary Clinton is well-known for her political background including her marriage to former president Bill Clinton, her run as Secretary of State, and her email controversy. Republicans launched highly publicized investigations into her email and the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi. Sanders has received his attention for being “the people’s politician.” The Sanders campaign has been completely funded by American donors and he has been drawing massive crowds. In terms of polling, Sanders is catching up to Clinton. This debate would be the first time they would face-off.
Most of the attention focused on the two poll leaders—Clinton and Sanders. This is something candidate Jim Webb seemingly complained about the whole night.
The CNN debate, moderated by Anderson Cooper, kicked off just after 8:30 p.m. with all five candidates summarizing why they should be president. Questions were fielded from a specialized panel and Facebook comments.
This debate, as expected, was very different from the earlier Republican debate. While the economy and foreign policy were big issues, so were social issues: Black Lives Matter, guns, marijuana, and student debt.
Black Lives Matter
Sanders and O’Malley both reiterated what the movement is about: bringing attention to the devaluation and criminalization of African-American lives. Instead of discussing the movement, Clinton spoke about criminal justice reformation and body cameras.
Gun control
With candidates from various states and backgrounds, the responses were mixed. Clinton called out Sanders for not being tough enough on gun laws with the other candidates in agreeance. Sanders, from Vermont, defended his previous position with the rurality of his state. Both Sanders and Webb mentioned guns getting into the “wrong hands.” To summarize, they all believed in imposing stricter background checks.
Marijuana legalization
Senator Sanders, an advocate of decreasing criminal rates, is all for the legalization. Why? It would keep marijuana offenders out of jail. Clinton isn’t yet on board with complete legalization, but she is for legalizing medically prescribed marijuana.
Student Debt
With the looming student debt crisis, democratic politicians were all in agreeance with lowering tuition, but FREE tuition? Possibly! Senator Sanders wants public colleges to offer free tuition. Clinton doesn’t want to make it “free,” but instead calls for “realistic” tuition prices.
A record 15.3 million viewers tuned in for the democratic debate. If you weren’t one of them and would like to hear more on where the democratic candidates stand on issues that matter to you, click here.