CBS Democratic debate (November 14, 2015)
This article focuses exclusively on the second Democratic debate hosted by CBS News and Twitter on November 14, 2015. Click here to access Ballotpedia's full 2015-2016 presidential debate coverage. A schedule for Republican primary debates can be found below.
Ballotpedia's coverage of the second Democratic debate—which took place November 14, 2015—includes an overview of the event's basic information, a debate preview, statistics and post-debate analysis. Polling data was used to determine which candidates participated in the debate. More information on participants and rules for inclusion can be found in the "Basic Information" tab below.
Basic Information
Date: November 14, 2015
Time: 9:00 pm EDT
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Venue: Drake University
Sponsors: CBS News, Twitter, KCCI-TV and The Des Moines Register
Moderators: John Dickerson, Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney and Kathie Obradovich.[1][2]
Participants
|
|
Debrief
November 13, 2015
Look for more friction between the Democratic presidential candidates when they gather at Drake University in Des Moines Saturday night for their second debate hosted by CBS. At the first Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas on October 13, Hillary Clinton’s two main rivals for the party’s 2016 nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, understandably seemed more focused on introducing themselves to a national audience rather than attacking the far better known Democratic frontrunner.
But in any presidential nominating contest, those who are pursuing a frontrunner like Clinton must be able to open up and exploit policy differences with the favorite if they hope to overtake that candidate. Otherwise, people tend to just go with the candidate who looks more likely to win. In the Democratic Party taking advantage of policy differences means finding a way to appeal to its liberal base that provides a disproportionate number of volunteers and voters in the primaries and caucuses, especially in the early battlegrounds of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Clinton knows all too well how this strategy can work. In her 2008 presidential bid Clinton refused to admit that her 2002 Senate vote in favor of the use of military force in Iraq was a “mistake,” as one of her rivals for the Democratic nomination that year, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, acknowledged his vote in favor of the war was. Clinton resisted that kind of admission declaring at one point, “There are no do-overs in life.” But her intransigence enabled Barack Obama, who had opposed the war as an Illinois state senator, to appeal to the liberal anti-war wing of the party and mobilize support for his candidacy. In Iowa, Obama capitalized on his opposition to the Iraq war and won the first-in-the-nation caucuses, igniting his march to the nomination.
In the first debate, Sanders was largely unable to take advantage of his policy differences with Clinton. Indeed, the former Secretary of State may have gotten the better of him in that game: she skewered the Vermonter on gun control, noting a 2005 vote he had cast in the Senate on a measure that included a provision providing some legal protection to arms manufacturers and gun store owners if their weapons were used in a crime. Later, Sanders was seen as letting Clinton off the hook for the political controversy over her use of a private email system when she was Secretary of State. “I think the Secretary is right, and that is, the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails,” said Sanders turning to his opponent. “Thank you, me too, me too,” chirped Clinton.
Sanders, has tried to draw contrasts with Clinton on issues like the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal and the XL Keystone pipeline, arguing that he had been fighting both well before Clinton publicly announced her opposition to those proposals. His comments this summer that he is no “Johnny- or a Mary-come-lately to the issues,” was a not so veiled dig at Clinton’s constancy compared to the depth of his liberal convictions.
But the fact that Clinton did come out against the trade deal—in its current form—and the Keystone pipeline, enables her to co-opt Sanders’ criticism and maintain her liberal bona fides with party activists, or at least, their institutions. The League of Conservation Voters, a major environmental advocacy group that fought the pipeline for years, endorsed Clinton this week.
A more recent example of Clinton’s maneuverability on issues came in early November, when Sanders introduced a measure to remove federal sanctions on marijuana use. Clinton had previously favored allowing states to experiment with decriminalizing marijuana, but after Sanders proposed new legislation, Clinton told a town hall in South Carolina that she favored changing the federal classification of marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug, which removes barriers to research and medical use of marijuana. Clinton also allied herself with efforts to end handing out prison sentences for marijuana use.
O’Malley has stepped up his criticism of both Clinton and Sanders lately. At the Fair Immigration Reform Movement forum in Las Vegas last Sunday, O’Malley accused both Clinton and Sanders of “poll-tested triangulation” when it comes to the issue, a not-so-subtle reference to Bill Clinton’s occasional practice of positioning himself apart from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress when he was president.
O’Malley has also criticized Clinton the on death penalty which he helped repeal in Maryland and she would allow for some heinous crimes. “I have a great deal of respect for her, but she's often late to many of these issues because she's of a different generation than I am,” O’Malley, 52, told CNN. Clinton is 68 and Sanders is 74. In the Des Moines debate, look for O’Malley to try to highlight the generational difference in his approach to issues and politics compared to Clinton’s and Sander’s.
Clinton remains a towering favorite to win the Democratic nomination that eluded her in 2008—an Associated Press survey of 579 of the Democratic “superdelegates,” the 700-plus Democratic elected and party officials who are automatic delegates to the 2016 convention in Philadelphia, released on Friday found that she has the support of 359, followed by Sanders, who was backed by eight, and O’Malley who was favored by two. Another 210 said they were uncommitted.
If Sanders and O’Malley are going to deny Clinton the nomination again, they are going to have to convince enough Democrats that their resolve on issues important to them is deeper than hers. And that’s going to have to start happening on Saturday night in Des Moines.
James A. Barnes is a senior writer for Ballotpedia and co-author of the 2016 edition of the Almanac of American Politics.
Statistics
This article analyzes the central themes of the Democratic presidential debate held on November 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. The transcript prepared by The Washington Post was used to measure candidate participation and audience engagement.[3] Footage from the debate was consulted where there were ambiguities in the text.
To compare the statistics of this debate to the previous Democratic debate, please see the analysis of topics and participation in the October 2015 CNN Democratic debate.
Segments
The second Democratic presidential debate featured 21 unique discussion segments covering a range of national security, economic and domestic issues. These discussion segments were measured by any shift in the theme of a discussion prompted by one of the moderators: John Dickerson, Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney and Kathie Obradovich.[4][5]
- Paris terrorist attacks
- The Obama administration's response to ISIS
- Factors contributing to the growth of ISIS
- America's role in combatting ISIS
- The term "radical Islam"
- Military force and congressional approval
- Syrian refugee crisis
- Tax increases
- Healthcare deductibles under Obamacare
- Border security
- Federal minimum wage
- Campaign finance and Wall Street reform
- Gun control
- Glass-Steagall Act
- Bernie Sanders' "political revolution"
- Hillary Clinton's email investigation
- Race relations
- Higher education reform
- Reforming Obamacare
- Crisis experience
- Closing statements
Although the debate was initially set to focus on economic issues, CBS News adjusted its theme following the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015. "Last night’s attacks are a tragic example of the kinds of challenges American presidents face in today’s world, and we intend to ask the candidates how they would confront the evolving threat of terrorism,” CBS News Vice President Christopher Isham announced prior to the debate.[6] A little more than one-third of the discussion segments dealt with terrorism or national security.
Overall participation
Participation in a segment was defined as a substantive comment related to the segment's topic. Jokes and attempts to gain permission from a moderator to speak were not considered participatory speech acts. In some instances, candidates who participated in a segment diverted from the prompted topic.
Each candidate participated in at least 16 of the 21 discussion segments. Hillary Clinton participated in all but one discussion segment. That discussion segment featured questions directed solely at Bernie Sanders regarding his "political revolution" to combat corruption. With input in 16 discussion segments, Martin O'Malley contributed the least.
Candidate participation by behavior
Participation in the debate was also measured by the candidates' behavior at the start of each discussion segment. This study considered whether a candidate was initially prompted to speak during a discussion segment by a moderator or whether he or she independently engaged in the discussion segment by interrupting another candidate or calling on the moderator for permission to speak. A candidate's conduct after he or she joined a discussion segment was not considered.
Compared to the first Democratic presidential debate held on October 28, 2015, each candidate was slightly more aggressive. Nearly one-third of O'Malley's participation in the debate was the result of him interjecting. With three unsuccessful interjections, he was the only candidate who attempted to contribute to a discussion segment and was blocked from speaking substantively on the matter. Twice, moderator John Dickerson attributed this obstruction to the need for a commercial break, telling O'Malley, "Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial," and, "I'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down."[3]
Candidate participation by segment vs. speaking time
According to Politico, Clinton spoke the most at 28.3 minutes. Sanders and O'Malley followed with 24.6 minutes and 17.6 minutes, respectively.[7]
The amount of time a candidate spoke did not necessarily align with the number of issues he or she covered during the debate. With three candidates, an equal distribution of participation would be 33.3 percent. O'Malley's participation in both number of discussion segments and speaking time was disproportionately limited.
Candidate participation by speaking order
This study also calculated the number of times a candidate spoke first, second or third during a discussion segment, whether prompted by a moderator with a question or invitation to rebut or by interjection.
Clinton and Sanders were generally called on first or second to answer questions. O'Malley was rarely asked to give his position on a topic before the other candidates.
Audience engagement
Audience engagement was measured by noting the instances of applause, cheering or laughter in The Washington Post's transcript. Footage from the debate was consulted where the text was ambiguous regarding which candidate the audience was responding to.
The live audience did not vocally react to the candidates until after discussion of the Paris terrorist attacks, ISIS, and the Syrian refugee crisis had finished. The discussion segments on gun control and Wall Street reform registered the most audience engagement. Individually, Clinton received the warmest response from the live audience, earning applause or laughter 17 times. O'Malley received the least with 7 instances.
Candidate speech analysis
|
|
|
Democratic Debate Schedule
Click the schedule to return back to the top of the page.
See also
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential election, 2016/Polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
- Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "CBS News, Twitter partner up for second Democratic debate," October 26, 2015
- ↑ Drake University, "'Face the Nation' to broadcast live from Drake University," November 4, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Washington Post, "The CBS Democratic debate transcript, annotated," November 15, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "CBS News, Twitter partner up for second Democratic debate," October 26, 2015
- ↑ Drake University, "'Face the Nation' to broadcast live from Drake University," November 4, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "CBS Shifts Emphasis of Democratic Debate to Reflect Paris Attacks," November 14, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Who spoke the most?" November 14, 2015
| |||||||||||