Here are a few scattered thoughts about last night’s entertaining Democratic Debate.

• There is always a balance between electability and issue or ideological purity. Democrats are confronting it now. In my mind, Sanders and Warren are not electable. Klobuchar and Buttigieg could be. We will know about Bloomberg in the next week.
• Bloomberg would have been wiser to stay out of the debates until after Super Tuesday. His relative inexperience in that environment showed. Either he failed in his preparation or his team failed to prepare him for obvious issues–stop and frisk, sexual harassment claims, and his status as a billionaire.
• The data tell us debates do more to confirm pre-existing expectations than persuade voters. If this holds, Bloomberg may emerge fine from this. If this is one of those moments seared into the minds of voters, Bloomberg’s campaign may have ended last night.
• Bloomberg had two choices–either apologize and try to move past everything or defend himself and run as a little bit of the “anti-Democrat” best suited to beat Trump. He chose the former and it cost him.
• The contrast between Bloomberg’s tv ads and Bloomberg on the stage was jarring.
• Elizabeth Warren was devastating in her attacks on Bloomberg, but in the end it will do more to hurt Bloomberg than to elevate her. She is still in that strange position of arguing, “I’m not as radical as Bernie, but not as pragmatic as everyone else. Vote for me?”
• Bloomberg woke up when he got tired of being criticized for being a billionaire. He rightly launched at Bernie as the most famous socialist in America who happens to own three homes and be a millionaire. He should have launched again at Bernie’s historic comfort with authoritarian regimes in the USSR, Cuba, and Venezuela. He needs to write off the possibility of winning any of Bernie’s voters and move forward.
• Klobuchar and Buttigieg spent much of the time arguing against each other. Pete was petty and Amy got ticked. I think they may actually hate each other.
• Joe Biden should not be running for the presidency. It is obvious to me why his former boss, Barack Obama, refused to endorse him. Joe has lost his fastball and even when he had it, he was not presidential material.
• Klobuchar’s strongest argument is that neither Sanders nor Warren have any chance to enact 90% of what they want to do. It is a fantasy to think that politics will just magically change in the next year to allow a radical revolution.
• Warren is a classic progressive. If the American system will not allow her to enact her preferred political agenda, the system–including the filibuster, Electoral College, or the Constitution in general–needs to change.