Welcome to Opinion’s commentary for the Feb. 25 Democratic presidential candidate debate in Charleston, S.C. In this special feature, Times Opinion writers rank the candidates on a scale of 1 to 10: 1 means the candidate probably didn’t belong on the stage and should probably drop out; 10 means it’s on, President Trump. Here’s what our columnists and contributors thought about the debate.
Read what our columnists and contributors thought of the Feb. 19 debate.
Bernie Sanders
Gil Duran (8.5/10) — In a game of “pin the tail on the socialist,” Sanders took some hits, but it won’t affect his base. Too agitated at some points, but that’s his brand. He’s got everyone arguing over who is more progressive.
Elizabeth Bruenig (8/10) — Bernie is the front-runner now, and he certainly got the front-runner treatment, with Biden, Bloomberg and Buttigieg each spending a significant amount of time scrutinizing his record. He defended himself ably, had a few good laugh lines and handled a hostile crowd well.
Héctor Tobar (8/10) — Stood in the center of the storm and held his ground. For the most part, he left the impression of a credible nominee.
Mimi Swartz (8/10) — He was like Rambo, ready for every attack and ambush. No teacher will earn less than $60,000 a year. Marijuana legalized. Free public university. But still hasn’t explained how we are going to pay for all this.
Michelle Goldberg (8/10) — Despite some boos, he rarely seemed thrown by his competitors’ attacks. But while he’s right about America’s ugly history in Iran, Chile and Guatemala, and while I agree that Bibi Netanyahu is a “reactionary racist,” he left me as frightened as ever about how his unapologetic leftism will play in a general election.
Jamelle Bouie (8/10) — For the first 45 minutes, he took attack after attack from his competitors, and he brushed them away. That alone gives him the win.
Nicholas Kristof (8/10) — Knives were flying at Sanders, but most bounced off. His numbers still don’t really add up, but he tries to compensate with passion for what his policies lack in precision. He emerged largely unscathed from the scrum.
Melanye Price (8/10) — He is the front-runner and he was treated like one. He was embattled and looked wearied by the fight. He should be glad Bloomberg was there to take some of the blows.
Nicole Hemmer (7/10) — Rattled by the weirdly hostile crowd, Sanders stumbled more than usual, but did little to endanger his front-runner status.
Bret Stephens (7/10) — He’s settling in pretty comfortably to his role as front-runner.
Wajahat Ali (7/10) — They came for Bernie and he couldn’t stop all the bullets. He’s wounded and bloody, like John Wick, but he persists, consistently on message, like always.
Liz Mair (6/10) — A bad debate for Sanders. Stuck to his schtick and was attacked effectively. He says his agenda is mainstream, so why does he need a revolution? But no one actually inflicted a fatal wound, and someone needed to.
Gail Collins (6/10) — Nobody knocked him down.
Will Wilkinson (6/10) — He took palpable hits in the early going on the impracticality and exorbitance of his vision, as well as his tendency to see the silver lining in authoritarian socialism. He got atypically defensive and turned the bellowing to 11. For the most part, the field unaccountably let the front-runner skate, but it was still his worst debate.
Daniel McCarthy (5/10) — Strong on the attack, in his indictment of billionaires like Bloomberg, but weak on defense when he’s hit from the left on guns and hit from the right for being too fond of Castro’s Cuba. He survived but didn’t strengthen his claim on the nomination.
Ross Douthat (5/10) — Took a few more attacks and seemed a little more rattled and frustrated than usual; I don’t think he’ll vault over Biden in South Carolina. But he’s still the Super Tuesday front-runner.
Michelle Cottle (5/10) — This was the pile-on he should have been prepared for but clearly wasn’t. His invoking Obama on Cuba, then grumping at the audience reaction, was a low point. Still, the beating could have been worse.
Pete Buttigieg
Nicholas Kristof (9/10) — Mayor Pete is very sharp on an enormous range of subjects, from grand historical trends to faith to personal experiences. Nobody is better at soaring rhetoric or at amusing put-downs. If I’m ever stabbed in the back, I hope it’s by a smiling Pete.
Liz Mair (9/10) — He seems to be the only guy who remembered he had one job: to beat the bejeezus out of Sanders and troll him to the point of Sanders’s looking like he was going to have a meltdown onstage. He did that quite effectively.
Gail Collins (8/10) — Always sounds sensible; just needs some passion.
Michelle Cottle (8/10) — Smooth, as usual. Tried his best to keep the heat on Bernie. He didn’t have any breakout moments — though it’s unclear how anyone could in this dumpster fire.
Michelle Goldberg (8/10) — Buttigieg is just amazingly quick on his feet in these things, and I suspect he spoke for a lot of nervous moderates when he invoked the danger a Sanders candidacy could pose to down-ballot Democrats.
Bret Stephens (8/10) — Consistently defeats all my attempts to find fault with him.
Will Wilkinson (7/10) — Mayor Pete repeatedly tried and failed to butt in, to annoying effect. He was by turns pandering and banal. (Not boring! Passionate but unflappable, if he can say so himself.) But he managed to hit Sanders harder than anyone and gave a great answer on the toxic futility of litigating ancient Cold War grievances.
Héctor Tobar (7/10) — Made the most effective arguments against Bernie’s coronation as nominee. But did little to make a strong case for himself as an alternative.
Gil Duran (7/10) — Buttigieg had some of the strongest lines — including directly telling billionaires he will raise their taxes. It’s hard to stand out on a crowded stage, but he’s giving it the old college try.
Melanye Price (7/10) — Mayor Pete was very strong tonight and delivered a wonderful retort to Bernie on his unwillingness to support ending the filibuster.
Ross Douthat (6/10) — The most consistent Sanders critic, and the most effective one. But his attacks were probably overshadowed by onstage chaos and terrible moderation.
Jamelle Bouie (6/10) — Buttigieg performed as well as he usually does, which is to say that he’s polished and slick, a skilled speaker capable of delivering his lines with conviction (or at least the appearance of such). If he had support with anyone other than the highest educated, most-affluent Democratic voters, he might have a path to the nomination. As it stands, he doesn’t.
Wajahat Ali (6/10) — Usually unflappable, he seemed frustrated by the lack of time. He’s hoping Biden falls so he can claim the moderate lane, but people of color haven’t shown up.
Nicole Hemmer (6/10) — He was trying to be the adult in the room, but by the end of the debate he was giving off strong annoying-little-brother energy.
Daniel McCarthy (5/10) — He had plenty of zingers to lob at Sanders, but more important he makes sense when he says we need good intelligence more than troops on the ground everywhere that terrorists might plot.
Mimi Swartz (5/10) — Had trouble fighting to be heard among all the other people fighting for their political lives. He’s hanging in there — played the youth card skillfully against old man Sanders — but the sun is starting to set on Buttigieg 2020.
Elizabeth Bruenig (5/10) — A decent Obama impression for people who would probably prefer to vote for a third Obama term; unfortunately lacking the political vision and gravitas Obama effortlessly projected. He’s no radical — got it — but I’m less clear on what he is.
Elizabeth Warren
Will Wilkinson (8/10) — Warren finally took shots at Sanders as a vague idealist who can’t get things done. She left a mark, but kicking Bloomberg in the teeth is her love language. She was strong on the filibuster and education, but didn’t register the overawing triumph of the last debate.
Elizabeth Bruenig (8/10) — Among an aggravated and tense field, Warren stood out as remarkably winsome, focused and optimistic. Weak moderation puts women candidates at a disadvantage; Warren navigated this better than Klobuchar, but still.
Melanye Price (8/10) — If Bloomberg has an enemies list, Warren holds the top five spots. Her attacks continue to undercut his efforts. It benefits all the other candidates — and Democratic voters.
Nicholas Kristof (8/10) — Warren was effective again at challenging Bloomberg, and she showed once more her mastery of policy detail. But she didn’t succeed at wounding her chief rival for votes, Sanders, and she didn’t obviously gain on him.
Gil Duran (8/10) — Strong performance by Warren, but at this point it’s not clear what her lane is — besides kneecapping Bloomberg in order to benefit her chief progressive rival, Bernie Sanders.
Jamelle Bouie (8/10) — I’ve never seen someone deliver the People’s Elbow on a presidential stage, which is what Warren did to Bloomberg again and again. First time for everything, I suppose.
Wajahat Ali (7/10) — Warren came to kill Bloomberg and contrasted herself with Bernie as a practical progressive who can get things done. But will progressives leave Bernie for her?
Michelle Goldberg (7/10) — She shivved Bloomberg again, if not as memorably as last time. But after a strong opening, she didn’t do enough to contrast her record of accomplishment with Sanders.
Daniel McCarthy (7/10) — I can’t help but think of her as the left’s answer to Ted Cruz: highly intelligent, ideologically articulate and wholly inauthentic. But, like Cruz, she’s capable of great performances, and she was on good form.
Nicole Hemmer (7/10) — Her hate for Bloomberg is the purest substance on earth. It may not boost her in the polls, but her demolition of him was a beautiful thing to watch.
Mimi Swartz (6/10) — She did better than in the previous debate — she wasn’t all attack terrier — but she went too micro with the filibuster monologue. She is going to have to take on Sanders eventually, and it may already be too late.
Héctor Tobar (6/10) — Still pushing “I have a plan for that,” but is anyone listening? She attacked Bloomberg a lot, but it probably helped Bernie more than herself.
Michelle Cottle (5/10) — Once again set her sights on eviscerating Bloomberg, well past the point of productivity. She really must hate that guy.
Bret Stephens (5/10) — She’s clearly all but given up hope of winning, but aspires to be Sanders’s Spiro Agnew.
Ross Douthat (4/10) — She tried to repeat her deconstruction of Bloomberg, but to diminishing returns, and it’s not really clear what being Sanders’s wingwoman gets her in the end.
Liz Mair (4/10) — The only reason Warren is still in this race is basically to stick it to Bloomberg. That’s not a good enough reason, and it doesn’t usually lead to good lines or punches that land.
Gail Collins (3/10) — Kept attacking Bloomberg — what about Bernie?
Joe Biden
Gil Duran (8.5/10) — Biden roared, unleashing his cranky side and producing comedy gold. He went for Steyer’s jugular on private prisons, roasted the moderators and promised to put a black woman on the Supreme Court. Nothing left to lose but the nomination.
Wajahat Ali (7/10) — Resurrected Angry Joe to save his candidacy. The bar is always low, but he brought fire, and it will be enough to win South Carolina and inject life back into his campaign.
Héctor Tobar (7/10) — His best moment: “I’m not going to be quiet anymore!” Showed flashes of energy. But only rarely did he try to do anything to slow Bernie’s momentum.
Bret Stephens (7/10) — Here’s the deal: He’s not as verbally incontinent as you remember.
Jamelle Bouie (7/10) — Joe Biden will not be silenced! At several points, he rebuked either the moderators or his fellow candidates for talking over him. It was forceful and, compared with his previous performances, effective.
Nicholas Kristof (7/10) — Biden was angrier in this debate, shouting more at other candidates and challenging the moderators. He came across as assertive and knowledgeable, but also as desperate.
Will Wilkinson (6/10) — Listen, buster brown, here’s the score! A dyspeptic Uncle Joe angrily took credit for everything good that’s ever happened, but also seemed like the only candidate on the stage aiming squarely at South Carolina voters.
Michelle Goldberg (6/10) — In a messy, rambunctious debate, he struggled to break through. At least he seemed energetic, even if he often showed it by shouting.
Michelle Cottle (6/10) — The VP seemed angrier than usual, which doesn’t work all that well for his brand. But he made sure he got heard above the fray. And he was not wrong that the moderation was a mess, letting the evening dissolve into incoherence.
Ross Douthat (6/10) — He was higher energy than usual and probably did just enough to hold his lead in South Carolina. But he never really came to grips with Sanders or Bloomberg, his “I’m the only one who did X” bit is just exhausting, and he doesn’t seem poised to clear the field of the other non-Sanders candidates.
Liz Mair (6/10) — Did reasonably well when he was speaking, but he didn’t make the effort to butt in nearly as much as others. Everyone knows he literally did write all of the bills and do all of the other things, too. He should have behaved like a candidate who wants to win rather than a gentleman.
Melanye Price (6/10) — Staring into the camera to make a declaration does not make it more real or believable. Saying you fixed a problem that still exists does not make sense. You did not beat the N.R.A.; we all see them winning.
Nicole Hemmer (6/10) — The bar is so low for Biden that his performance looked like a win. But if South Carolina revives his campaign, it won’t be because of the debates.
Gail Collins (5/10) — He’s finding his footing ... a tad.
Mimi Swartz (5/10) — He’s awake! Landed a serious punch on Tom Steyer, but why? Overall, seemed uncharacteristically churlish. Still seems like a candidate of the past instead of the future.
Elizabeth Bruenig (5/10) — At times, Biden brazenly took credit for achievements he was only modestly involved with, and at others seemed oddly reticent. He will probably have a good showing in South Carolina, but it will be in spite of, not because of, his performance.
Daniel McCarthy (4/10) — He’s a dwindling presence in a conversation driven by Sanders, Warren and Bloomberg, and he lets his irritation with being sidelined show. Shouting louder doesn’t make him seem any more cogent.
Amy Klobuchar
Liz Mair (9/10) — She really sold herself by offering more substance and less fluff than most everyone. It’s too bad for her that it’s coming so late. She could have done with hammering Sanders harder.
Nicole Hemmer (8/10) — Lots of M.L.K. Jr.; made a pitch to black South Carolinians. Sharp, direct answers, plus a lot of are-you-kidding-me smirks at the men bellowing around her.
Mimi Swartz (7/10) — Fighting like crazy to prove she’s the Midwestern candidate who can bring people together. Held her own like she has in every debate. OK. So is she running for Veep?
Bret Stephens (7/10) — She’s nervous onstage. Wouldn’t you be, too?
Jamelle Bouie (7/10) — Klobuchar has the Buttigieg problem of not actually having a path to the nomination after South Carolina. But she’s a good debater and convincingly presented herself as the moderate option if you think Biden is too old, Pete too young and Bloomberg too rich.
Héctor Tobar (6/10) — It’s the fourth quarter, and she’s trailing by three touchdowns, but she’s still sticking to her tried and true centrist, polite playbook. Where’s the urgency?
Will Wilkinson (6/10) — Klobuchar struggled to get oxygen and her “Hey, guys! Nobody likes all the shouting!” message simply couldn’t break through all the shouting.
Michelle Goldberg (6/10) — She needed another standout performance and didn’t have one. It’s hard to keep arguing that you’re the most electable candidate when you’re not winning elections.
Michelle Cottle (6/10) — Slow start, but once she got rolling did her best to focus the spotlight on Bernie and the concerns about his candidacy.
Nicholas Kristof (6/10) — With poll numbers sagging, she needed a great debate; instead, she had a so-so one and was often on the margins.
Gil Duran (5/10) — Klobuchar remains reasonable and centered, but this primary is a barroom brawl. She argued that her Midwestern roots make her the most electable candidate, yet she came in fifth in Iowa. Middle of the pack = game over.
Melanye Price (5/10) — I am unconvinced that her brand of Midwestern moderation is what we need now or ever. Also, I cannot unhear “do they hit my Uncle Dick in the deer stand?”
Elizabeth Bruenig (5/10) — It’s about who gets things done, Klobuchar said, not “who talks the best”; unfortunately, it’s very hard to demonstrate the former on a debate stage, which is all about the latter.
Wajahat Ali (5/10) — She promises she’s not boring but she didn’t do enough to excite new voters or those on the fence. Thankfully, she and Buttigieg didn’t start a fist fight.
Ross Douthat (4/10) — She avoided another pointless war with Mayor Pete but if sounding sensible, moderate and Midwestern were enough to make her a contender, it would have happened by now.
Gail Collins (4/10) — Underperformed Amy 1; better than Amy 2.
Daniel McCarthy (3/10) — Debate after debate, it’s virtually impossible to name a distinctive policy that Klobuchar champions. She says she can win in Republican areas, but that’s a much taller order in a presidential contest than in any race she’s ever won.
Michael Bloomberg
Ross Douthat (7/10) — Still himself (which is to say, an anti-charismatic oligarch) but dramatically improved, predictably soft on Xi Jinping but good on charters and pot, and I’m spotting him two points for being the only guy to bring up the coronavirus unbidden.
Liz Mair (7/10) — A far better debate for him, though his first outing couldn’t have been much worse. When listing accomplishments in New York City, he did it quite well, and a lot of people just now looking at him will be surprised in a good way.
Mimi Swartz (6.5/10) — He lives! A few Freudian slips — “I bought ...” Democratic congressional victories — and he should never crack jokes. Ever. But he certainly wins “most improved.” He remembered he had a record to run on.
Héctor Tobar (5/10) — A veteran pol who looked really rusty. A television on the podium running one of his ubiquitous commercials would have been more effective.
Bret Stephens (5/10) — Better than last time, but N.Q.G.E: Not quite good enough.
Wajahat Ali (4/10) — Bloomberg has lots of money that he uses to invest in noteworthy causes. Got it. But Warren served him with his past racist policies, allegations of sexism and arrogance.
Michelle Cottle (4/10) — Not everyone is made for debates.
Michelle Goldberg (4/10) — He was better than last time, though that’s an extremely low bar. With all his money he should really be able to hire someone to write him better jokes.
Jamelle Bouie (4/10) — I was prepared to say he did better than the last debate until he told a series of terrible jokes that also reinforced the argument from Elizabeth Warren that he’s glib and unserious.
Nicholas Kristof (4/10) — Not as bad as he was in the previous debate, but still a (slower) train wreck. His answers were weak on women and NDAs, and he seems snippy and condescending when challenged — not a good look for a billionaire.
Will Wilkinson (4/10) — Mayor Mike recovered slightly from last week’s disaster. But he got bodied again by Warren for piggish remarks, gag agreements and bankrolling G.O.P. Senate campaigns, and failed to distinguish himself in rebuttal. There were flashes of assuring technocratic competence on the coronavirus, but he still fell short of average.
Melanye Price (3/10) — Stop saying these “jokes or comments” were just in bad taste. Your off-color humor can make the workplace hell for women. It portends a larger tone-deafness on social issues.
Daniel McCarthy (3/10) — If Rudy Giuliani couldn’t win the 2008 Republican nomination by talking about his record as mayor and invoking 9/11, can another Republican mayor win the Democratic nomination in 2020 by doing the same thing?
Gil Duran (3/10) — Bloomberg improved, but he still doesn’t look like the best candidate to go toe-to-toe with Trump. Weak answers on racism and sexism. Meme-worthy moment: Nearly saying he “bought” the Democratic Congress. Oops (but also partly true).
Nicole Hemmer (3/10) — After this, we’ll be able to get a rough baseline of tolerance for misogyny in the Democratic Party by the number of votes for Bloomberg.
Elizabeth Bruenig (2/10) — His tightly controlled expressions and carefully modulated tones suggest that he’s trained since last week’s punishing performance, but he’s still a font of abysmal artifice, condescending and petulant, totally unappealing.
Gail Collins (1/10) — Only person he beat is the prior Michael Bloomberg.
Tom Steyer
Melanye Price (6/10) — Private prison investment is a problem, but ultimately he doesn’t have a path to victory. He should go back to his role as advocate and funder of progressive causes.
Michelle Goldberg (6/10) — He had a good riff on Russia’s ongoing attack on American elections.
Wajahat Ali (5/10) — Steyer spent so much money in South Carolina and brought up reparations but was unprepared for Biden reminding him that he invested in private prisons. Time to drop out.
Nicholas Kristof (5/10) — Often articulate and passionate, but didn’t fully answer the fundamental question of why he’s there.
Will Wilkinson (5/10) — Steyer’s relatively strong numbers in South Carolina drew attacks from Biden, which made him look more important than he is. He was a little rattled by the novel experience of being taken seriously, but didn’t embarrass himself.
Elizabeth Bruenig (4/10) — Right about quite a bit, as he so generously said of Sanders, but muddled and sporadic on solutions. Suffered few hits because attacking him is not a wise expenditure of anyone’s time.
Nicole Hemmer (4/10) — Steyer managed just seven minutes of speaking time before the primary where he’s polling best. Must be counting on his ground game.
Héctor Tobar (4/10) — Way out of his league, yet again. Can we make this his last debate?
Mimi Swartz (4/10) — A lot of good here, but it’s time to turn off the lights and lock the door.
Daniel McCarthy (4/10) — He’s a better debater than Biden and has more of substance to say than Bloomberg. He’s made the case he belongs onstage and in the contest.
Gil Duran (3/10) — Steyer is the most woke billionaire in the race, but his campaign pretty much ended when Bloomberg’s began. At this point — as Biden’s main foil in South Carolina — he’s a Bernie surrogate.
Jamelle Bouie (3/10) — He didn’t speak that much and to the extent that he was a presence, it’s because he was repeatedly knocked by Biden. It wasn’t a great showing.
Michelle Cottle (3/10) — This debate didn’t need two billionaires. Honestly, it probably didn’t need one.
Ross Douthat (3/10) — Sometimes I think Twitter is unfair to Steyer, but tonight he was just an expense of spirit and a waste of breath.
Liz Mair (2/10) — A terrible debate. He looked like an attention seeker who has nothing to say, and no reason for being there. I still don’t know why he’s running. I’m not sure he does, either.
Gail Collins (2/10) — This just isn’t working.
Bret Stephens (2/10) — If he were still in third grade, they’d give him a participation award.
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About the authors
Jamelle Bouie, Gail Collins, Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg, Nicholas Kristof and Bret Stephens are Times columnists.
Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) is a playwright, lawyer and contributing opinion writer.
Elizabeth Bruenig (@ebruenig) is a Times opinion writer.
Michelle Cottle (@mcottle) is a member of the Times editorial board.
Gil Duran (@gilduran76) is California opinion editor at The Sacramento Bee and a co-host of the FrameLab podcast.
Nicole Hemmer (@pastpunditry) is an associate research scholar at Columbia University and the author of “Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics.”
Liz Mair (@LizMair), a strategist for campaigns by Scott Walker, Roy Blunt, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry, is the founder and president of Mair Strategies.
Daniel McCarthy (@ToryAnarchist) is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Quarterly.
Liz Mair (@LizMair), a strategist for campaigns by Scott Walker, Roy Blunt, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry, is the founder and president of Mair Strategies.
Melanye Price (@ProfMTP), a professor of political science at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, is the author, most recently, of “The Race Whisperer: Barack Obama and the Political Uses of Race.”
Mimi Swartz (@mimiswartz), an executive editor at Texas Monthly, is a contributing opinion writer.
Héctor Tobar (@TobarWriter), an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine, is the author of “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free” and a contributing opinion writer.
Will Wilkinson (@willwilkinson), the vice president for research at the Niskanen Center, is a contributing opinion writer.
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