Clarification was expected during the seventh Democratic debate in Iowa on Tuesday January 14, three weeks before the first ballot for the presidential nomination. Vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders, leader of the Democratic Party's left wing, had assured in 2018, to his contender, his Massachusetts colleague Elizabeth Warren, that a woman couldn't win the next presidential election against incumbent President Donald Trump.
When questioned, the dean of the Democratic race denied, hand on heart. Elizabeth Warren, when her turn came, coldly implied that he had just lied. " I told him I didn't agree with him ", She replied. " Can a woman beat Donald Trump? Look at the men on this set. Between them, they lost ten elections. The only people here who won all the elections they ran for are women, Amy (Klobuchar, the other senator on stage) and me Said Elizabeth Warren, whose state is, however, a bastion of Democrats. The cameras of the CNN channel, which organized the debate, captured a brief icy aside between the two elected representatives after the discussions.
On stage, the senator did not push her advantage, when she is outdistanced by Bernie Sanders. She was not the only one. Contrary to previous debates, marked by the passing of arms, no severe attack was carried by one of the six candidates against one or an opponent. The evening ended with an indisputable winner and loser.
Extreme uncertainty and status quo
This is no doubt explained by the extreme uncertainty that currently prevails in Iowa. A leading quartet broke away, consisting of former vice-president Joe Biden, the two senators on the left, and Pete Buttigieg, the youngest in the race, former mayor of a mid-sized Indiana city. But no figure has yet been able to widen the gap, as shown by polls of conflicting and fluctuating voting intentions; and the evening of Tuesday did not allow a champion to emerge.
This status quo was verified on each of the files reviewed. In foreign policy, the left wing embodied by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren has camped on its anti-interventionist positions, the Massachusetts senator even arguing in favor of the repatriation of all the American fighting forces in the Middle East, unlike centrists, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. The last guest, billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, seemed uncomfortable with the subject.
