Newly combative Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren

On Wednesday night, Elizabeth Warren earned rave reviews for her assertive, combative performance at the Democratic Party presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Warren spent most of her time going after Mike Bloomberg, and by many accounts, Warren eviscerated Bloomberg. But the question becomes, to what end? Warren was considered to be in the “left lane” of the nomination contest, and that lane is dominated by Bernie Sanders, yet Warren barely attacked Sanders. Likewise, Warren (and to be fair, her competitors onstage) barely laid a glove on Donald Trump, who, after all, is supposed to be the subject of their competition. So, what is Elizabeth Warren doing, and did it help her candidacy?

Former Vice President Joe Biden

Just before Iowa’s first in the nation Democratic presidential caucus next Tuesday, Joe Biden‘s campaign has released its latest Iowa-targeted ad. Entitled “Imagine,” the ad has Biden himself on camera, asking viewers to “imagine all the progress we can make in the next four years,” including affordable healthcare, renewable energy to tackle climate change, and banning assault weapons to reduce gun violence in our schools. At the end of the ad comes the kicker from Biden:

But first, we need to beat Donald Trump. Then there will be no limit to what we can do.

Rally outside Democratic presidential debate, July 2019

When the first Democratic Party presidential debates had 20 or more participants last year, many viewers found the format unwieldy and unworkable. The candidates never had enough time to answer the questions, and constantly were cut off. While one candidate was giving an answer, one or more other candidates were raising or waving their hands to try to be called upon for a response. The moderators were too intrusive. It was all very distracting, and sometimes provided heat but very little light. Plenty of folks said, just wait until we have fewer candidates, then the problem will be solved.