So, Who Won The New Hampshire Debate? All Eyes Were On Bernie & Pete

The first debate after the puzzling and contentious Iowa caucuses and just a few days before the New Hampshire primary, Friday night at first promised to be a showdown between frontrunners Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, both of whom claimed victory in Iowa.

But for the duration of the night, they stayed away from directly attacking each other. Instead, divisions between progressive and moderate Democrats were highlighted during an impassioned discussion of healthcare policy, and, now that he has a win under his belt, pretty much everyone attacked Buttigieg's experience and electability.

As the field narrows down and primary season heats up, we tracked the candidates' performance in the debate, ahead.

Bernie Sanders was an easy target at the New Hampshire debate, given his performance in Iowa. He spent most of the first part of the debate defending his signature policy, Medicare for All, against Joe Biden and others who attacked it for being too expensive. But other questions surrounded Sanders' lead: "Is anyone concerned about the Democratic socialist on top?" one of the moderators asked. (No one took the bait on that one except Sen. Amy Klobuchar.) Asked about jabs from Hillary Clinton at Sanders (of all things), the candidates deflected. "I like Bernie okay!" quipped Klobuchar. Biden actually came over and hugged Sanders.

Sanders dominated the conversation about racial disparity in criminal justice by demanding that the U.S. end the war on drugs, end cash bail, and dismantle the private prison system. He had the longest speaking time of any of the candidates at just over 20 minutes, according to The New York Times.

Verdict: 👊

One of two self-declared winners of the Iowa caucuses, Pete Buttigieg came face-to-face with the question of his experience — yet again. “If you are looking for the person with the most years of Washington experience under your belt, you’ve got your candidate, and of course, it’s not me!” Buttigieg said, as the split-screen showed a grinning Biden. One of the overarching conflicts on stage — and in this race — seems to be between those with decades of political experience (Biden, who knows world leaders by name) and those with virtually none (Yang, Steyer). The former mayor was again asked about his record on criminal justice in South Bend, Indiana, for instance the wide racial disparity in marijuana arrests, to which he answered that drug arrests were on average lower than in the rest of the country. (The internet fact-checked him.)

Buttigieg had the third-most amount of speaking time, at 18 minutes 28 seconds.

Verdict: 🤓

Relatively quiet for the first part of the debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren made up for it with powerful statements on corruption, endless war, and gun violence. She had an applause-worthy line on abortion: "I've lived in an America where abortion was illegal, and rich women still got abortions. If we are going to protect our rights, it’s going to mean that we can’t simply rely on the courts. It is time to have a national law to protect the right of a woman’s choice." She also brought up her two-cent wealth tax when addressing racial disparities. She was in the middle when it came to speaking time, with 15 minutes 54 seconds.

Verdict: ♀️

Joe Biden's night kicked off with a few low blows to Buttigieg, who had unexpectedly outpaced the former VP in Iowa. (Later in the night, Buttigieg actually came to Biden's defense on the subject of Trump trying to investigate his son Hunter Biden.) He spent a lot of time touting his record and experience, asking, "What about the past was so bad?" referring to the achievements of the Obama administration. He had the second-highest speaking time with 19 minutes 38 seconds.

Verdict: 🇺🇸

Amy Klobuchar's first stand-out moment was calling BS on Sanders' Medicare for All: "I keep listening to the same debate on Medicare for All, but it’s not real. Two-thirds of Senate Democrats aren’t on the bill. It would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years. I will build on the Affordable Care Act — not blow it up."

In another heated call-out, Klobuchar critiqued Buttigieg when it came to the age-old (pun intended) experience debate. “59 is the new 38!” she told him. She echoed Biden when she said, "We have a newcomer in the White House and look where it got us." She was in the middle when it came to speaking time, with 16 minutes 32 seconds.

Verdict: 🔥

“It’s great to be back on the debate stage! I’m so excited, I want to give everyone $1,000 a month,” Andrew Yang started, citing his signature policy of universal basic income. He didn't talk a lot (lowest speaking time by far at 8 minutes 5 seconds), but he did go on several tangents, including suggesting that "buying power" and not policy is the answer to curing racism.

Verdict: 💸

“We gotta win — we are in deep trouble, and we keep not talking about the facts!” It looks like Tom Steyer definitely came out to play tonight. In one fell swoop, he called out every candidate on the stage and told them that everyone needs to be accountable for dividing the Democratic party. Steyer was also focused on the subject of race, the first to say that he was in favor of reparations. And, he made sure to tout himself as the climate change candidate, again. He had the second-lowest speaking time, at 13 minutes 53 seconds.

Verdict: 🙋🏼‍♂️

Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar had standout performances tonight. Klobuchar continued to take a clear, moderate path and has begun to shine as a presidential candidate, rather than just a senator, while Sanders was the clear frontrunner of the night with a few memorable moments. On the flip side, Yang was fairly quiet (and occasionally off-topic) and Buttigieg's response on criminal justice was lacking.