I left watching the debate with the knowledge that hell or high water, Hillary is going to be the Democratic nominee. 

I'm not a Hillary fan even a little bit but she was head and shoulders above the rest of the field in terms of knowledge of issues, presentation style, deflecting attacks against her and so on. 

I think Bernie got beat up pretty good by Clinton. His standard stump speech doesn't translate very well to the debate format. He really screwed up the gun control section of the debate. I knew what he was trying to say, but it came off as incoherent and inconsistent. On the flip side, I thought Bernie did a good job of speaking to his record on key issues as a Senator, but I didn't see where he was able to translate that into how he would govern as President. 

Chaffee makes me giggle. I just don't get what he's trying to do by running for POTUS. He doesn't bring any value to the conversation. I suspect he'll drop out sooner than later. 

O'Malley was better than I thought he'd be. Had some good answers on Wall St./Banking reform and I thought he did well on the gun control questions.

Webb, I like a little. If you were to give me a John Kasich/Jim Webb ticket, I'd be on board.

I thought the exchange between Webb and Sanders on Vietnam was thoughtful and considerate and something we need more of in politics. It's certainly something you wouldn't see on the GOP side of the race.

The bottom line for me as it pertains to the 2016 POTUS race today...

1) As weak as the GOP field is, the Dem field is worse. Seriously, outside of Hillary Clinton, there's not one other Democrat (either currently in politics or not) that can remotely be a legitimate presidential contender? People talk all the time about how the GOP "brand" is damaged, but it's hard to look at that field and wonder why there aren't more people out there willing to call themselves Democrats and get into the race.

2) I'm not particularly wowed by anyone in this race. I'll give a nod to Rubio, because I think he's wicked smart, Clinton, because I do think she has the requisite experience for the job even though I just don't like her personally and Kasich because of his record as a moderate Republican and his fairly successful track record as Governor of Ohio. 

 

Without getting into the particulars of any candidate, Republican or Democrat, I would say the 'debates' contrasted the separate worldviews of each tribe, and although I'm not a member of either tribe, in general I still believe the D-Tribe better represents me at this time in history.

My biggest concern for the future of our nation is the tendency of the R-Tribe to lead us down the road to plutocratic oligarchy.

Just Fred wrote:

Without getting into the particulars of any candidate, Republican or Democrat, I would say the 'debates' contrasted the separate worldviews of each tribe, and although I'm not a member of either tribe, in general I still believe the D-Tribe better represents me at this time in history.

My biggest concern for the future of our nation is the tendency of the R-Tribe to lead us down the road to plutocratic oligarchy.

To your first paragraph, I agree completely. 

To your second, I had to laugh when Hillary was talking about how she "marched into the banks on Wall Street and told them, 'Stop foreclosing on people's homes!'"

Hellava job there Hill. 

In terms of Plutocratic Oligarchies, the Clintons have enabled that just as much as any GOP lifer in the House or Senate.
 

Chaffee is an embarrassing joke and needs to disappear.  Yeah, I loved his "I just got there" comment.  O'malley came across fairly okay.  As a former and long-time Viginia resident I'm appalled that some one as poorly informed as Jim Webb ever got elected to anyrthing.  But then this is what happens when voters vote along party lines with no thought of candidate qualifications.
The very most disturbing aspect of this debate was Anderson Cooper as narrator.  Instead of just asking prepared questions we had to listen to his backgroud dialogue of a situation before he ever got to the question.  Each one was soooo long that he had toreadlikethisandIgotwearyoflisteningtohimgettingtohispoint.

I watched Saw III last night instead.  That wasn't as scary.