Democratic Debate

I am very sad. Sanders is effective at convincing people of truths. But unless tonight was a fluke, he is uninterested or clueless about to convince people to positively imagine him as president. He can keep doing fine among people who are highly motivated by issues, but he's almost certain to lose the nomination and if he were nominated, he would lose to Rubio and probably to Bush.

Clinton was competent, I guess a little better than that. But she also reminded us that she's wrong about important stuff more often than we should expect, even taking electability fully into account. Yet if she can keep up tonight's level of performance, she will be nominated and that's probably for the best.

O'Malley started out every bit as badly as those who've seen him in person over the years told me he was. But he got better as the debate got toward the middle. And then he kept getting better--he was really good in the final half hour. I have real doubts that he will keep it up, but if he does, he becomes a possible vice-president and may even make the nomination interesting. He may also keep Biden out, if Biden would otherwise be in.

The other two are not factors at all.