They weren’t kidding when they didn’t label the Democratic event in South Carolina a “debate.”
As a concession to Democrats who thought their party was holding too few 2016 presidential debates, the DNC approved a candidates’ forum in Rock Hill, S.C.
But Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, the three surviving Democratic presidential candidates, never shared the stage until they shook hands with attendees at the end. The three of them were interviewed separately by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who lobbed many softball and a few pointed questions in their direction.
Unlike in the first Democratic debate, Sanders and O’Malley were more willing to criticize Clinton. The Vermont senator chastised Clinton for having a super PAC and big donors rather than walking the walk on campaign finance reform. Both he and O’Malley suggested Clinton took too long to come out against the Keystone XL pipeline. O’Malley even took an implicit shot at Hillary for having been a Goldwater girl in high school.
Sanders also cut a more likeable figure than his usual scowling, scolding demeanor. Call it socialism with a human face. He mentioned his grandchildren, joked about looking like comedian Larry David and engaged in pleasant banter with Maddow, much to the Democratic crowd’s delight.
O’Malley alternated between being earnest and smiling at Maddow. He emphasized that he was the only lifelong Democrat running, since Sanders has always run as an independent until now despite caucusing with congressional Democrats and Clinton had a youthful flirtation with the GOP (but she couldn’t name a single Republican presidential candidate she could have as her vice president if a national emergency required it).
But Clinton was the star, at least according to the crowd reaction when she first walked out. She shook hands with voters before taking her seat across from Maddow to be asked such questions as whether she regretted not running for president before Bill.
Clinton hopes to improve on her standing in South Carolina. She lost the primary in 2008 after then-Senator Obama overwhelmed her among black voters, a feat he replicated throughout the South. She has to do better this time.
The toughest question directed at Clinton concerned whether she was the most hawkish Democrat running. Clinton has supported every U.S. war from Kosovo to Libya, was often a voice for military intervention within the Obama administration as secretary of state and supports a no-fly zone over Syria now. The front-runner replied that she is no more aggressive than Obama.
Sanders’ toughest question was about guns, since he has not always voted for gun control. The Vermont senator pointed to his experience a senator from Vermont, a rural state with lots of guns, few gun laws and even less crime. While he said he was on board with the Democrats’ gun control agenda now, he added that he was well-suited to building a broad coalition that could actually solve the problem of gun violence.
Nevertheless, the lack of actual candidate back-and-forth made the forum less like a debate than a “Good Morning America” interview, with the affable Maddow as host. It might whet the most enthusiastic Democratic voters’ appetite for more exchanges between the candidates and get them used to these shows being broadcast on the weekend. It wasn’t a debate.
