Debate moments

Wine caves, health care clashes and age attacks: Biggest debate moments

The Democratic candidates used the smaller debate stage to try to draw blood from their rivals.

By MARC CAPUTO and NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

The sixth and final Democratic presidential debate of 2019 began with near-unanimity about the impeachment vote in the House a day earlier — and within an hour careened into a spirited battle over transparency and money in politics.

The long-awaited confrontation between Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg materialized in the debate’s second hour, when the Massachusetts senator slammed her 37-year-old opponent for holding a pricey campaign fundraiser in a cave at a tony California winery. That cascaded into a stagewide battle, with Sen. Bernie Sanders joining the billionaire-trashing brigade.

The debate also featured a dustup between Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who stood up for the candidates with national experience and pointed out the mayor's lack of it. And, once again, the candidates sparred over health care and the Sanders-championed "Medicare for All" proposal.

There were fewer candidates than ever onstage here at Loyola Marymount University: seven. None was African American or Latino. And just the day before, Donald Trump became the third U.S. president ever to be impeached, in a case revolving around one of the candidates onstage: former Vice President Joe Biden.

Here are the key moments of the debate:

Impeachment leads off

All the candidates agreed on the impeachment of Trump, but businessman Andrew Yang was the only one to express reservations about it — all while criticizing the news media.

“What we have to do is we have to stop being obsessed over impeachment, which unfortunately strikes many Americans like a ballgame where you know what the score is going to be,” he said, “and start actually digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place. ... The more we act like Donald Trump is the cause of all our problems, the more Americans lose trust that we can actually see what's going on in our communities and solve those problems.”

Biden, whose son’s business dealings in Ukraine is central to Trump’s impeachment, didn’t mention his family ties. Biden said Trump is “dumbing down the presidency” and coddling up to dictators.

“Is it any wonder that if you look at the international polling that's been done, that the Chinese leader is rated above the American president? Or that Vladimir Putin congratulated him, saying stand fast and that in fact it was a mistake to impeach him,” Biden said. “My job is to go out and make the case why he doesn't deserve to be president of the United States for another four years.”

Pete Buttigieg used Trump’s impeachment as a call to rekindle hope in America, an echoing of former President Barack Obama’s first hope- and change-themed campaign.

“A lot of us are watching this process, watching Washington go through the motions and not expecting much but a foregone conclusion when it gets to the Senate,” he said. “We cannot give into that sense of helplessness because that's what they want. They want us to be taken in by that cynicism to where we give up on the process altogether. Meanwhile, their allies are laughing all the way to the bank, as we see policies that let giant corporations, some of which made billions in profits, pay not just zero but, as we've recently learned, negative taxes, all while they block policies that would actually boost wages for working Americans.”

Sanders, Klobuchar split on USMCA

Bernie Sanders credited President Donald Trump and House Democrats’ new trade deal with Canada and Mexico for being a “modest improvement” over the North American Free Trade Agreement. But the progressive Vermont senator, who touted his disapproval of NAFTA and permanent normal trade relations with China, said he will not support the new bill in the Senate.

“At the end of the day, in my view, it is not going to stop outsourcing. It is not going to stop corporations from moving to Mexico, where manufacturing workers make less than $2 an hour,” Sanders said. “What we need is a trade policy that stands up for workers, stands up for farmers — and, by the way, the word ‘climate change,’ to the best of my knowledge, is not discussed in this new NAFTA agreement at all, which is an outrage. So I will not be voting for this agreement.”

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar immediately highlighted her differences with Sanders, noting that she sides with her friend and fellow senator, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who has voted against trade agreements throughout his time in the Senate but has said he’ll vote for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“I would not have voted for the agreement that President Trump put forward” initially, she said. “But we’ve got better labor standards, better environmental standards and a better deal when it comes to the pharmaceutical provision, which I also opposed.”

Klobuchar acknowledged that “there are some issues” with the deal but argued that it’s “much better than the one originally proposed.”

“And for those farmers in the Midwest and for those people that have been hurt by the fact that we will not have a trade segment with Mexico and with Canada and the United States, I think that this is a much better deal,” she said.

Biden’s ‘no love’ moment

Joe Biden made it clear Thursday night that his message of working with the other side — even amid strong disagreement — even applies to the Republicans calling for an investigation of his son.

“If anyone has reason to be angry with the Republicans and not want to cooperate, it’s me. The way they've attacked me, my son, my family — I have no, no, no love,” Biden said. “The fact is we have to be able to get things done. And when we can't convince them, we go out and beat them like we did in the 2018 election in red states and in purple states.”

Biden disputed the idea that he’s calling for a return to normal by defeating President Donald Trump.

“Look, I didn't say return to normal. Normal’s not enough,” Biden said.

Yang, the lone candidate of color

Singled out as the only candidate of color onstage, Andrew Yang shouted out the two African American senators missing from the action: Kamala Harris of California, who ended her campaign, and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who missed the polling threshold to qualify.

“It’s both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage tonight,” he said.

Yang pivoted to his signature universal-basic-income proposal as a way to level the playing field for black and Latino candidates.

“The question is why am I the lone candidate of color on this stage. Fewer than 5 percent of Americans donate to political campaigns,” he said. “You know what you need to donate to political campaigns? Disposable income.”

No stage for old men?

Former President Barack Obama recently said female leaders would significantly improve the world and that “if you look at the world and look at the problems, it's usually old people, usually old men not getting out of the way.” So what did the oldest candidate onstage think?

When fielding the question from POLITICO’s Tim Alberta, Sen. Bernie Sanders joked about his race: “I'm white as well.”

Sanders went on to say that he has “respect” for Obama, but, “I think I disagree with him on this point. Maybe a little self-serving, but I do disagree. Here is the issue: The issue is where power resides in America, and it's not white or black or male or female. We are living in a nation increasingly becoming an oligarchy, where you have millionaires buying elections and politicians.”

When Alberta said he guessed Obama didn’t clear that remark with his former vice president, Biden quipped, “I'm going to guess he wasn't talking about me either.”

Asked about possibly becoming the oldest president in American history, Biden said, “Winston Churchill.” Alberta followed up by noting he was talking about U.S. history.

“I was joking. That was a joke,” Biden said. “POLITICO doesn't have much of a sense of humor.”

Asked if he would commit to serving just one term, Biden repeated the answer he gave after POLITICO’s Ryan Lizza reported earlier this month he was signaling to aides he would be four-years-and-out if elected. “No, I'm not willing to commit one way or another. Here's the deal. I'm not even elected one term yet and let's see where we are. Let's see what happens.” The crowd applauded. “It's a nice thought,” Biden closed.

Quick-witted Warren

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had a quick rejoinder when confronted by the fact that she would be the oldest president inaugurated if elected in 2020.

“I’d also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated,” she shot back, prompting huge applause in the debate hall.

Buttigieg, Warren clash over the 'wine cave'

Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren finally took the gloves off.

Buttigieg took exception to Warren saying that most candidates onstage were running traditional campaigns, raising money from coast to coast and receiving political donations from people who get special access to them. So he punched back.

“Can’t help but feel that might have been directed at me,” Buttigieg told Warren.

But Warren quickly landed a massive counterpunch, calling Buttigieg out for holding a recent fundraiser in a “wine cave full of crystals” where a $900 bottle of wine was served.

“Think about who comes to that,” she challenged. “We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States. Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.”

Buttigieg argued that he’s “literally” the only candidate onstage who isn’t a millionaire or billionaire and charged that Warren — who raised money at traditional fundraisers for her Senate campaign and transferred much of that cash to her presidential bid when she entered the race — couldn’t pass her own “purity” test.

Warren defended her presidential campaign’s arm's-length relationship with donors.

“If you can’t stand up and take the steps that are relatively easy, can’t stand up to the wealthy and well-connected when it’s relatively easy when you are a candidate, then how can the American people believe you’re going to stand up to the wealthy and well-connected when you’re president and it’s really hard?” she asked.

“If you can’t say 'No' to a donor, then you have no business running in the first place,” Buttigieg said, highlighting Warren’s Senate fundraising. “Did it corrupt you, Senator? Of course not. So to denounce the same kind of fundraising guidelines that President Obama went by, that [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi goes by, that you yourself went by until not long ago, in order to build the Democratic Party and build a campaign ready for the fight of our lives, these purity tests shrink the stakes of the most important election.”

Klobuchar clobbers Buttigieg

The question was about supporting reparations for the descendants of slaves, but the answers veered quickly into immigration. And then it was time to settle some scores for Klobuchar, who laid into Buttigieg for once looking down on the senators onstage.

“When we were in the last debate, Mayor, you basically mocked the hundred years of experience on the stage,” Klobuchar said, pointing out Warren’s establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Biden’s work funding cancer research, Sanders’ efforts to help veterans and her own work for farmers.

“So while you can dismiss committee hearings, I think this experience works,” the senator told the Indiana mayor. “And I have not denigrated your experience as a local official. I have been one. I think you should respect our experience when you look at how you evaluate someone who can get things done.”

After the cheers died down, Buttigieg said that she “did denigrate my experience.” But he was going to let it go because “we have bigger fish to fry.”

Klobuchar cut him off with another applause line: “I don't think we have bigger fish to fry than picking a president of the United States.”

Buttigieg then transitioned to his service as a soldier, prompting Klobuchar to say that she respected his service but was concerned about his lack of political experience, having recently lost his bid to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“We should have someone heading up this ticket that has actually won and has been able to show they can gather the support that you talk about — moderate Republicans and independents — as well as a fired up Democratic base and not just done it once. I have done it three times. I think winning matters,” she said.

Buttigieg said his reelection as mayor showed how he earned the continued support of the citizens of his small city.

“If you want to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring you back to office with 80 percent of the vote as a gay dude in Mike Pence's Indiana,” he said to applause.

Klobuchar then referenced Buttigieg's failed 2010 bid for state treasurer, when he lost to Republican Richard Mourdock.

“If you had won in Indiana, that would be one thing,” she said. “You tried, and you lost by 20 points.”

What did he know, and when did he know it?

The Washington Post’s recent reporting outlining how the Bush and Obama administrations misled the American people about the effectiveness of U.S. policy in Afghanistan put Biden in a tough spot. What did he know, and when did he know it?

Biden didn’t quite say. But he distance himself from the troop surge in Afghanistan, he opposed in 2009. News reports suggested it at the time, but Biden said he was not allowed to speak publicly until now.

“I got in a big fight for a long time with the Pentagon because I strongly opposed the nation-building notion we set about. Rebuilding that country as a whole nation is beyond our capacity,” Biden said. “I argued from the very beginning that we should have a policy that was based on an antiterrorism policy with a very small footprint that in fact only had special forces to deal with potential threats from that territory to the United States of America.”

But the White House was pressuring the military to show the troop surge was working, Biden was asked.

“In 2009, I was on the opposite side of that with the Pentagon. The only reason I can speak to that is because it's been published. It's been published thoroughly,” Biden said. “I'm the guy who from the beginning argued it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan. Period. We should not have done it. And I argued against it constantly.”

Most debates have started with a fight over health care; Thursday’s ended with one. And again, Biden and Sanders were in the middle of it.

An observant Biden scolded Sanders for raising his hand while the former vice president was talking about his health care plan.

“I’ve added to the Obamacare plan the Biden initiative, which is a public option, Medicare if you want to have Medicare, reducing significantly the price of drugs, deductibles, et cetera, made by underwriting the plan to a tune of about $750 billion, and making sure we’re able to cover everyone who is in fact able to be covered,” Biden said.

“Hey, put your hand down for a second, Bernie, OK?” Biden said in the next breath, without turning his head away from the camera to make eye contact with Sanders.

“Just waving to you, Joe,” Sanders said as the audience laughed. “Saying hello.”

“I know,” Biden said. “I know.”