MSNBC Democratic debate: news and updates

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had their first one-on-one debate Thursday in New Hampshire — and the two ended up sharing the stage pretty equally. Sanders spoke about a minute longer than Clinton overall. This is pretty different from the first Democratic debate, when Clinton was clearly the dominant speaker.

With the field narrowed to the two candidates, Sanders and Clinton ended up talking directly to one another a lot. Sanders mentioned Clinton 31 times — and Clinton name-checked her opponent 27 times.

Bernie Sanders has all the upsides and all the downsides of a political outsider. Hillary Clinton has all the upsides and all the downsides of a political insider.

That was the main takeaway from MSNBC’s Democratic debate on Thursday, which was the best debate, on either side of the aisle, aired during this presidential cycle. With Martin O’Malley out of the race, it was down to Sanders and Clinton. Both candidates turned in their finest, most contrasting performances of any debate yet — and they offered voters a very clear choice on their different visions of how politics works.

Thursday night’s Democratic debate started out with an electrifying — and rare for Democrats — series of frank back-and-forth blows over ideological questions. Bernie Sanders said the big problem with Hillary Clinton is that she is, in her own words, a moderate.

“Nothing is wrong with being a moderate,” Sanders said, but “you can’t be a moderate and be a progressive.”

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders squared off at a Democratic debate on Thursday night, a few days before voters in New Hampshire decide the winner of the second primary contest.

The debate began with the candidates arguing over the label “progressive” before moving on to discuss investment banking, campaign finance, foreign policy, and a host of other issues.

In his closing remarks at the Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders got personal, drawing from his family’s immigrant story to make one of the most emotional pitches for his candidacy yet. It was a rare moment for Sanders, who normally insists on sticking to the issues — but he managed, in my mind, to successfully weave his policy platform to his own story.

Here’s the full transcript of his remarks:

At the Democratic debate on Thursday, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had a candid debate on the death penalty — a debate that’s just not common at the national level.

On the side for the death penalty, Clinton argued that some crimes are so heinous that death is the only proper punishment — while arguing that some states are too shoddy in their use of the death penalty:

Halfway through Thursday’s feisty Democratic debate, the conversation turned to ISIS. Bernie Sanders, as he often does, brought up Clinton’s vote to authorize the Iraq War in 2002. “Where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq,” he said.

But Clinton was ready with a new rebuttal — and a more effective one: “A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS.” Here’s the full text of her response, met with a round of applause from the Democratic audience:

Debating with Hillary Clinton Thursday night, Bernie Sanders argued that Congress’s decision to repeal an old law called Glass-Steagall over his objection led to the financial crisis of 2007-‘08.

The argument over whether Glass-Steagall was a good idea and should be reinstated is an interesting one with some good points on both sides, but the allegation that the Glass-Steagall repeal was the cause of the financial crisis is entirely unfounded.

Clinton’s argument is that her more moderate but passable policies are progressive, because they will lead to some progress:

Sanders’s argument is that his policy proposals aren’t extreme, so he can push them through Congress and, as a result, get much more progress than Clinton’s proposals would:

The next Democratic debate is tonight at 9 pm Eastern time and will air on MSNBC. However, if you don’t have a TV, don’t despair — an online live stream will be available at MSNBC.com.

This debate — just recently added to the schedule, and Democrats’ fifth overall — will pit Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders just days before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. And since Hillary Clinton has been trailing in most recent polls of the Granite State, she’s hoping a strong debate performance will help her close the gap with Sanders.

The next Democratic debate is Thursday at 9 pm Eastern. It will take place at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, and will air on MSNBC. An online live stream will be available at MSNBC.com.

This debate wasn’t on the sparse original list of six that the Democratic National Committee approved. But when NBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader decided to host an “unsanctioned” debate between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, without the DNC’s approval, Hillary Clinton — who seemed to regret her allies’ role in limiting the debates and hoped for an opportunity to shrink Bernie Sanders’s large lead in New Hampshire — said she’d show up. The Sanders team then used the opening to get Clinton to agree to three more debates in exchange for his own attendance.