Rather then use some sort of letter grade or number grade system, Im just going to classify the candidates into four labels based on how they performed in the debates (in my opinion)
FORGETTABLE:
= De Blasio
= Tim Ryan
= Jay Inslee
= John Delaney
= Eric Swalwell
= Michael Bennet
= Pete Buttigieg
= John Hickenlooper
= Marianne Williamson
= Beto O'Rourke
While each of these candidates may have had some bright spots or shown that they did their homework on big issues, none of these guys stood out in any particular way from the other candidates who either drift more towards the center of the political spectrum, or are bastions of the far left. I'll be surprised if any of these guys following the debates will be polling higher than 6% in the coming weeks.... With the next debates not coming until the end of July, its possible that one of these guys pulls out of the race because they have the foresight to see they wont win and try to invest their time racing for a different office, but its likely they will all wait until August since the July debates are also being split into two nights to accommodate everyone who is running. These guys started at close to 0-1%, they will continue to be in that range in the coming months.
LOST GROUND / DISSAPPOINTMENT
= Biden
= Sanders
= Gillibrand
= Yang
Biden and Sanders took shots from a lot of different sides, Biden in particular getting blasted by Kamala Harris while Sanders just repeated the same points he used back in 2016, but the two of them still did decent enough where they will be able to hold onto a good chunk of the electorate in coming polls. Biden and Sanders will still be frontrunners, but they conceded a few percentage points to other candidates which they can afford to do at this stage of the race.... Gillibrand, who I view as a second tier candidate, didnt stand out as much as i thought she would and I wouldnt be surprised if her numbers dont budge an inch following this debate, while Yang who I kept a curious eye on despite him being way down in the field, didnt do anything besides stick to his guns about the one issue I already knew about him: Universal Basic Income..... Gillibrand and Yang missed a solid opportunity to make bigger names for themselves, while Biden and Sanders's names were so big others took swipes at them trying to knock them down a bit, and those people succeeded to a minor degree.
HELD THEIR GROUND / ABOVE AVERAGE
= Amy Klobuchar
= Julian Castro
= Corey Booker
= Elizabeth Warren
Castro has clearly done his work regarding immigration issues, as exemplified by how he lit Beto O'Rourke on fire regarding the migrant crisis, while Booker seemed to be laser focused on delivering his responses, regardless of how pre-practiced they may have been. Amy Klobuchar I may be investing a little too heavily in, but her calm and collected posture when she was answering questions made her look like a real adult in the room.... Not someone trying to incite emotion or act like a general leading troops into a battle, but like an actual legislator.... Warren meanwhile benefitted from getting easy softball questions in day 1 of the debates without being challenged by other candidates, but some of her answers to more difficult questions missed their mark in my opinion, so her numbers should stay about the same from where they first were since she held her gound.
BIG WINNERS
= Tulsi Gabbard
= Kamala Harris
Tulsi Gabbard combined Amy Klobuchar's calm demeanor with an absolute shitting all over Tim Ryan by opposing the ongoing war in Afghanistan. She rose up to cement herself almost as the 'Anti-War' candidate in the Democratic field, which in an era when the US almost cant go a year without bombing a different mid east country is an incredibly powerful label to have given the war-weariness in the country as Trump fucks around with North Korea and Iran on a regular basis..... She was clearly the big winner in the first debate, while Kamala Harris's ruthless broadside against Biden in the second debate in addition to her other moments of shining over others earned her a massive amount of attention and applause from those watching this night. If any candidates have positioned themselves to break into the upper tier of the primary (Currently limited to Biden, Warren, and Sanders) it would be Tulsi and Harris.... If they pull off similar performances in later debates and do strong in the first batch of primary states, they have the best odds of breaking into 'frontrunner' status and lighting the rest of the field on fire.
