Democrats spar on policy at debate in shadow of impeachment probe
ATLANTA - The top candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination largely sought to speak directly to the American people rather than to draw contrasts with one another Wednesday night, in a wide-ranging presidential debate that came at a critical point in the party’s nominating contest.
For much of the debate, the candidates shied from the biting exchanges and intraparty contrasts that marked the first four gatherings, opening new lines of conversation on issues as disparate as racial justice, marijuana policy and child care. But there were also pointed if brief disputes as the night wore on, some of them focused on black voters, a key Democratic constituency.
The fifth Democratic primary debate, sponsored by the Washington Post and MSNBC, was the first since South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg showed signs of surging in several polls, and Sen. Kamala Harris of California obliquely criticized him for his lack of support among black voters.
“For too long candidates, I think, have taken for granted constituencies that have been the backbone of the Democratic Party,” Harris said. “They show up when it’s close to election time, show up at a black church.”
She urged the party to do more to rebuild the Obama coalition.
“I completely agree,” Buttigieg said. “I welcome the challenge of connecting with black voters who don’t know me.”
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey criticized former vice president Joe Biden in blunt terms, attempting to peel away the black voters have been the backbone of Biden’s support.
“Black voters are pissed off, and they’re worried,” Booker said. “I have a lot of respect for the vice president … But this week I heard him literally say that ‘I don’t think we should legalize marijuana.”
Looking toward Biden, Booker said, “I thought you might have been high when you said it.”
Biden said that marijuana should be decriminalized but that its long-term effects need to be further studied before it was fully legalized.
“I come out of the black community in terms of my support,” Biden said. “They know me.”
Biden also claimed to have the support of “the only black African-American woman who had ever been elected to the United States Senate.” It was an apparent reference to an endorsement from former senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, but disregarded Harris - who, onstage, laughed and shrugged.
The debate came with less than three months remaining before the voting begins in Iowa, and as the field is growing both larger and more fluid. It also came after a convulsive day in Washington, with riveting testimony in Washington’s impeachment hearings extending to just before the candidates took the stage. The event began only hours after U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told the committee he believed the president used the power of the Oval Office for his own political gain.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has disparaged several of the witnesses testifying in the probe. Five of the 10 presidential candidates who appeared on the stage are U.S. senators who may ultimately have to decide whether to convict Trump during a trial that could coincide with voting in the early nominating contests next year.
“The president felt free to break the law again and again and again,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. “We have to establish the principle: No one is above the law. We have a constitutional obligation, and we need to meet it.”
“We have a criminal living in the White House,” Harris said.
Biden chided his party for the chants that have been breaking out at some Democratic events attendees have been shouting “Lock him up!” a reference to Trump that echoed the line about Hillary Clinton that Trump supporters rallied around during the 2016 campaign.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea that we mock that - that we that we model ourselves after Trump and say, ‘Lock him up,’ ” Biden said. “Look, we have to bring this country together. Let’s start talking civilly to people and treating - you know, the next president starts tweeting . . . anyway,” he said, trailing off.
“Look, it’s about civility,” he continued. “And that’s not who we are. That’s not who we’ve been. That’s not who we should be. Follow the law.”
Biden said emphatically that he would not order his Justice Department to prosecute Trump, but he held out the possibility that it could do so if the attorney general he appointed thought it was warranted.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, in an aggressive debate performance, pointedly stood by her recent comments about a double standard harming the female candidates. She had said that if a woman had the same resume as Buttigieg - mayor of a midsize city - she would likely not be on the presidential debate stage.
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