A former senior adviser to President Barack Obama said the “seasoned candidates” who have so far dominated the polls for the Democratic presidential nomination failed to impress in their first debate performance of the 2020 election cycle.
In a CNN panel at the conclusion of the debate Thursday evening, David Axelrod said former Vice President Joe Biden seemed “confused” and Sen. Bernie Sanders “might have been a hologram.” Meanwhile, he said “two new generation candidates” really shined.
“I think this was a good night for two new generation candidates, for Mayor [Pete] Buttigieg of South Bend and particularly for Kamala Harris, the senator from California. I think they took full advantage of the platform tonight. I think it was a tougher night for the most seasoned candidates on the platform for Vice President Biden,” Axelrod said.
Asked why he thought that was, Axelrod added, “Because they seemed like part of the past rather than the future. At times the vice president seemed somewhat confused to me in handling some of the questions and following some of the — he seemed a bit defensive, and Bernie Sanders, we joked earlier, he might have been a hologram because a lot of what we heard tonight, we’ve heard many, many times before. So I think they seemed a little bit mired in the past, and these other candidates seemed like fresh new faces and really profited from this evening.”
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, Biden, 76, leads the field with 32% support, followed by Sanders, 77, with 16.9%. Buttigieg, 37, has 6.6%, and Harris, 54, has 7%.
