“[Compared to her treatment of Bloomberg] Warren treaded much more lightly with Sanders, although she did draw more of a contrast with him than she has in the past. ‘Bernie and I agree on a lot of things, but I think I would make a better president than Bernie,’ she said, explaining that she’s had more success in the fights she’s waged, such as pushing for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She said their plans for Medicare for All were similar, but his ‘doesn't show enough about how we’re going to pay for it.’ ‘I dug in,’ Warren continued. ‘I did the work, and then Bernie's team trashed me for it. We need a president who is going to dig in, do the hard work, and actually get it done.’ It was a clear shot, but like so many of the attacks leveled against Sanders tonight, it was a glancing blow. For Warren, as for the others, it might have come too late.”
Russell Berman, The Atlantic

“By far Sanders’s most vulnerable moment came when Norah O’Donnell brought up Sanders’s kind words for Cuban literacy programs. Like many leftists, Sanders expressed heavily caveated solidarity for leftist regimes like Fidel Castro and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in the 1980s, especially when those regimes were being threatened by right-wing authoritarian movements backed by the US…

“[Sanders gave] a satisfactory explanation of his comments on Cuba, situating them in the context of former President Barack Obama’s historic opening to the country. ‘Of course you have a dictatorship in Cuba. I said what Barack Obama said in terms of Cuba, that Cuba made progress on education,’ Sanders said. ‘Occasionally, it might be a good idea to be honest about American foreign policy, and that includes the fact that America has overthrown governments all over the world in Chile, in Guatemala, in Iran.’ ‘Being honest’ about topics that politicians aren’t typically honest about is at the core of Sanders’s appeal as a candidate, and he showed he could take the same approach when asked about Cuba. It was a good audition for the general, and crucially for a frontrunner, he did no harm to his standing in the primary.”
Dylan Matthews, Vox

Meanwhile, “Mayor Pete made a solid, regular case for just about every solid, regular subject. If this were a contest in sounding reasonable, then Buttigieg would run away with the contest. But the metronomic mayor regulates his beat a little too precisely to have a true pulse… Yes, he admitted, there was a progressive majority. ‘But, also, there’s a majority of the American people who I think right now just want to be able to turn on the TV, see their president, and actually feel their blood pressure go down a little bit, instead of up through the roof.’ It takes a peculiar love of reason to think you can campaign against passion by pushing for lower blood pressure. Don’t get too excited now.”
Richard Wolffe, The Guardian

Some argue that “The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor was at his absolute best in this debate. He found several occasions to make direct contrasts with Bernie Sanders -- most notably on the dangers for Democrats of nominating a democratic socialist and the differences in their health care plans -- which is a win in and of itself. Buttigieg also flashed a sense of humor when plugging his website to encourage donations, which was a welcome moment of levity in a debate defined by people shouting at one another at very close range. If voters were looking for a Sanders alternative who looked like he could be commander in chief in this debate, Buttigieg made a very good case for himself.”
Chris Cillizza, CNN

Finally, “By the metrics of shoring up his base, Biden did well. He was forceful and on message. He won much applause for his promise to appoint an African American woman to the Supreme Court. He kept alluding to his record as Obama’s vice president and his experience on the world stage. Biden made the case for himself as a tough, experienced, and trustworthy leader.”
Jeet Heer, The Nation