What People Are Saying About How Pete Buttigieg Won The Debate
“This was the single best moment of Buttigieg’s campaign for president” … “Buttigieg was a dominant and commanding force” … “Winner of tonight’s #DemDebate” ... “Buttigieg had a strong night and might have emerged as the winner of the debate” … “Had the best debate performance” … “Had a very strong night” … “Astonishingly articulate off-the-cuff” … “Buttigieg makes his mark”
Boston Globe: Grade: A. This was the single best moment of Buttigieg’s campaign for president. He did well on guns, on impeachment, and particularly on Syria. Buttigieg had been making the argument that he is the centrist where moderate Democrats can go if Biden fails. That came through Tuesday night. In this debate, he added a new layer to his national brand: outsider. He kept referring to how he was from “the industrial Midwest” and how Washington had not solved the problems facing a wide swath of the United States. Buttigieg won the debate.
NYT: “Buttigieg’s biggest night yet. It was Mr. Buttigieg’s exchange with Ms. Warren over “Medicare for all” that was most memorable, pressing her as she declined to say, yet again, whether her plan would require a middle-class tax increase. (She says her plan would curb middle-class “costs.”)... It felt at times on Tuesday as if the sprawling 12-person stage had actually narrowed to a four-person debate, with Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders representing the left, and Mr. Biden and Mr. Buttigieg representing the center-left. The occasional television shot of just those four served to hammer home the point.”
The Hill: “Buttigieg had a strong night and might have emerged as the winner of the debate. The performance is well-timed for Buttigieg, who burst out of the gate … Tuesday night’s debate could give him a burst of momentum heading into the final months before the caucuses. Buttigieg went aggressively after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), accusing her of equivocating on the central question of whether taxes would have to be raised on the middle class to pay for her “Medicare for All” plan … Buttigieg also memorably clashed with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) over U.S. involvement in the Middle East, showcasing his foreign policy chops.”
CNN: “From beginning to end, Buttigieg was a dominant and commanding force … debates -- and primaries! -- are about drawing contrasts, and that is what Buttigieg did. And did very well.”
McClatchy: “Pete Buttigieg stepped up … More than in any previous debate, Buttigieg was central to the night’s biggest moments. He went toe-to-toe with Warren, abely fended off criticism from Gabbard, and even initiated a confrontation with O’Rourke on gun violence — a subject the former congressman needled Buttigieg over in the week leading up to the debate ... his most memorable moment may have come during an exchange with Gabbard, in which he defended the presence of some U.S. troops in the Middle East — and reminded the audience that he was a veteran who once served in Afghanistan.”
LA Times: “Buttigieg became a factor in the race, raising a ton of money and building himself one of the most formidable campaign operations in Iowa, the state that casts the first votes and, for many, is where their campaigns will do or die. He turned in his most pugnacious performance, challenging Warren’s support for Medicare-for-all, flaunting his outsider status by going after the Washington politicians on stage and trading his intellectual policy talk for a series of sharp-elbowed responses.”
USA TODAY: “Buttigieg was also ready to take some of his more progressive competitors to task on their policies. Buttigieg used forceful rhetoric during the debate.”
Business Insider: “Pete Buttigieg ... successfully landing punches on Warren over healthcare, on Gabbard over foreign policy, and on O'Rourke over gun control policy.”
From TV:
Gloria Borger on CNN: “Pete Buttigieg I think had a very strong night […] Buttigieg is so crisp and sharp.”
Claire McCaskill on MSNBC: “He is kind of smooth in the way he communicates. He's not rough around the edges, but there's an eloquence to it.” [...] And I do think that his eloquence actually is authentic. I think he is-- It's a little bit like Barack Obama -- that Barack Obama had an ability when he was speaking, especially in speeches to kind of soar and inspire people. And I think Mayor Pete may do that.
Van Jones on CNN: Van Jones: Tonight was the night you saw Pete Buttigieg 2.0, passionate Pete, pistol Pete. And you could this thing shaping up as Warren versus Pete.
Van Jones on CNN: “I thought that Pete... you got a new candidate in this race: pistol Pete, passionate Pete -- not the polite Pete. He was tough on Syria, he was tough on guns, he went back at folks.”
David Axelrod on CNN: “For Buttigieg [...] his oratory as a veteran on what the meaning of the withdrawal from Syria was was one of the best moments of the night.”
From Twitter:
Paul Begala @PaulBegala: .@PeteButtigieg closes the debate with a powerful appeal for service. So glad he makes the case for common ground on common purpose. #DemDebate
Carla Marinucci @cmarinucci: Strong from @PeteButtigieg: Dems are "competing to be president for after the Trump presidency.. we'll be vulnerable, even more torn apart by politics then we are now...I'm running to be the president who can turn the page & unify a dangerously polarized country." #DemDebate
Chris Cillizza @cillizzaCNN: Buttigieg is dominating the debate. Best performance I've seen with possible exception of Kamala Harris in 1st deb
Ben LaBolt @BenLaBolt: Really strong night for @PeteButtigieg. We knew he was really smart and articulate, but tonight he showed he could engage in a strong and compelling way.
Van Jones @VanJones68: Mayor @PeteButtigieg is showing that he has another gear tonight. #PistolPete
Alex Castellanos @AlexCast: damn. @PeteButtigieg is good. sincere. authentic. good. #DemDebate
Mo Elleithee @MoElleithee: .@PeteButtigieg is having a very, very good night. He has driven this debate more than any other candidate so far.
Tara Setmayer @TaraSetmayer: One of the best lines of the night.@PeteButtigieg had the best debate performance of his campaign.#DemDebate
Kurt Bardella @kurtbardella: It's not even close, @PeteButtigieg is the winner of tonight's #DemDebate. Frankly, you'd think he was the front-runner the way he dictated the debate. There is no doubt in my mind that in a one-on-one debate with @realDonaldTrump ... Pete would annihilate him
Noah Rothman @NoahCRothman: Buttigieg has had the strongest night. Everything else is debatable.
Howard Fineman @HowardFineman: Big night for @Nationals and @PeteButtigieg. Nats hammered Cards, Pete hammered everybody. The debate I want to see is between him and @ewarren. That would be a serious intellectual, linguistic and political throwdown.
Christopher J. Hale @ChrisJollyHale: Y’all, @PeteButtigieg is speaking some truth. We need progressives who get things done. Virtue signaling isn’t enough.
Mark Lukasiewicz @DeanLuk: I’ve said it before: @PeteButtigieg is astonishingly articulate off-the-cuff. Most ideas conveyed with fewest well-chosen words. Reminds us all #wordsmatter #DemDebate #DemocraticDebate
Brian Fallon @brianefallon: Pete was the first candidate to offer a concrete proposal to structurally reform the Court. He has been a leader in promoting this conversation while too many others have ducked it. #DemDebate
S.E. Cupp @secupp: Strongest performances of the night: @PeteButtigieg, @amyklobuchar, and @ewareen, in that they made compelling arguments distinguishing themselves from their opponents. That should actually be the point of these things in a primary, right? #DemDebate
Judy Carr @jschaffercarr: @PeteButtigieg is the only candidate making this election about the American people and not the current occupant of the White House. #nhpolitics #fitn #demsdebate
Sally Kohn @sallykohn: “We have a crisis of belonging in this country.” — great closing theme from @PeteButtigieg
Zac Petkanas @Zac_Petkanas: Mayor Pete is strongest when he's talking about structural reforms to our democracy.
Lauren Duca @laurenduca: .@PeteButtigieg talking about court reform like this is so exciting. Even just offering up the *idea* of a 15-member court. This is key: SCOTUS is not a vacuum-sealed institution. It is an arm of our government that can be changed by public mandate.
Adrienne Elrod @AdrienneElrod: .@PeteButtigieg and @amyklobuchar are doing a phenomenal job in their own compelling way articulating pragmatism tonight.
Mark Lukasiewicz @DeanLuk: I’ve said it before: @PeteButtigieg is astonishingly articulate off-the-cuff. Most ideas conveyed with fewest well-chosen words. Reminds us all #wordsmatter #DemDebate #DemocraticDebate
Marielena Hincapié @MarielenaNILC: @PeteButtigieg TY for finally raising #Immigration and the broad vision that’s needed for the country when we defeat #Trump #DemDebate
Alan Berkson @berkson0: "In the mid-west, where I live, normal didn't work" - @PeteButtigieg The most important thing said tonight. Trump is a symptom, not the cause. We have deep, complex problems. They are hard to solve. They take commitment and stamina. Who on stage can start that? #DemDebate
David Bach @DBachGlobal: Appreciate how @PeteButtigieg keeps coming back to how and why Trump got elected, and how he connects his diagnosis of Trump’s success to his policy proposals.
Chris Johnson @chrisjohnson82: "For every argument that I've witnessed like this I could pay for college for everybody," says Buttigieg, before knocking Biden and accusing Warren of "infinite partisan combat." Can really see Pete standing out in this debate, both by rising above the fray and engaging in it.
