Democratic presidential candidates took aim at 2020 rival Joe Biden over legalization of marijuana and long-festering issues of race in American society during Wednesday’s primary debate in Atlanta.
“This week I heard him literally say I don’t think we should legalize marijuana. I thought you might have been high when you said it,” said New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. “With more African Americans under criminal supervision in America than all the slaves since 1850, do not roll up into communities and not talk directly to issues that are going to relate to the liberation of children.”
Biden said in Las Vegas last weekend that he opposed federal recreational marijuana legalization due to a lack of research about whether it is a gateway drug. Biden countered that he supports medical use of the drug and thinks that states should be empowered to make their own decisions about recreational legalization.
The former vice president, 77, in responding to Booker, stumbled and asserted that he earned the endorsement of the “the only African American woman who’s been elected to the Senate,” to which California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, interrupted.
“The other one is here,” Harris said.
Electability was another major theme on the stage in Atlanta, with 10 White House hopefuls refining pitches about how they would confront President Trump in 2020.
In perhaps his most explicit assertion yet that he is more electable than his rivals, Biden suggested that down-ballot candidates would be able to ride his coattails to a Democratic majority if he is at the top at the ticket.
“I think we have to ask ourselves the honest question, who is most likely to do what needs to be done: produce a Democratic majority in the United States Senate, maintain the House, and beat Trump,” Biden said. “To be commander in chief, there’s no time for on-the-job training. I’ve spent more time in the Situation Room, more time abroad, more time than anybody up here.”
Harris had her own version of the electability argument.
“We need someone on the stage who has the ability to win,” said Harris, 55. “We need someone on that stage who has the ability to go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump and someone who has the ability to rebuild the Obama coalition and bring the party and the nation together. I believe I am that candidate.”
The electability argument is targeted at likely primary voters and caucusgoers who say that they would prefer a candidate who is more likely to win against Trump rather than a candidate who agrees with their finer policy points.
Hammering electability could also be a response to angst among some voters and party insiders in recent weeks about finding the right candidate to take on Trump. Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, 63, joined the large field of candidates last week, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 77, has filed paperwork to appear on some primary ballots.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 59, also took aim at biases against female candidates.
“I am the one that has passed over 100 bills as the lead Democrat in that gridlock of Washington, in Congress, on this stage,” Klobuchar said. “I think you’ve got to win, and I am the one, Mr. Vice President, that has been able to win every red and purple congressional district as the lead on a ticket every time. I govern both with my head and my heart. And if you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”
For more moderate candidates, focusing on electability was also an implicit swipe at Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, running as a left-wing populist, and socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Both advocate a single-payer “Medicare for all” plan that would eliminate private insurance.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 37, said that Democrats should “galvanize, not polarize that majority” of Americans who are in favor of positions such as stricter gun control and expanding the government healthcare apparatus but “without the divisive step of ordering people onto it.”
The debate, which took place as recent polls show a volatile field with no one clear front-runner, also broke a pattern of candidates taking many swipes. During the October debate, candidates piled on Warren, who had recently surged in the polls. Biden took heat for his record in the Senate in previous debates.
Warren, though, disputed that her liberal agenda is divisive.
“The way we achieve our goals and bring our country together is we talk about the things that unite us,” said Warren, 70. “We want to build an America that works for the people, not one that just works for rich folks.”
With a lack of personal attacks and questions about his long record in government, Biden had fewer speech stumbles and more energy than he did in previous debate performances.
Booker, who has not yet qualified to be in next month’s debate round, earned laughs from the audience when he stressed the importance of winning over black voters, a key demographic for the Democrats.
“I have a lifetime of experience with black voters. I’ve been one since I was 18,” Booker said. “Nobody on this stage should need a focus group to hear from African American voters.”
Despite taking place directly following high-profile public impeachment hearings over whether Trump improperly tied foreign aid to Ukraine to investigating activities by Biden and his son while he was vice president, the candidates focused little on impeachment aside from supporting House Democrats’ proceedings.
Warren reiterated that she would vote to convict and remove Trump in a Senate impeachment trial while other senators declined to go so far, arguing that they should act as impartial jurors. Harris asserted that recent testimony showed a “criminal enterprise” in the highest levels of the Trump administration.
