MIAMI — Joe Biden has stood on many debate stages over his four decades in politics, but never as he will on Thursday night: as the frontrunner for president in the Democratic primary.
Flanked by nine other Democrats here, Biden will stand at center stage, prepared to be the focus of attacks from all sides and possessed with the knowledge that multiple-candidate debate stages benefit the frontrunner.
Biden’s biggest weapons: time and his status as a well-known Democrat who doesn’t have to waste precious debate minutes introducing himself to the national audience tuned into NBC and MSNBC.
That puts pressure on his lesser-known rivals — some of whom might have fewer than nine minutes total talking time during the course of the full two-hour debate — to stand out or say their piece, Biden advisers say. And if they talk about Biden, that might just help Biden get even more time and solidify his spot as the front-runner.
“The time that you do have on stage is very valuable,” one Biden adviser said before the debate. “So while a lot of people want to talk about Joe Biden and to Joe Biden on that stage, Joe Biden is going to be talking to the American people.”
Biden and Bernie and a little bit of Trump
The debate began with the top two candidates flexing their rhetorical muscle.
When asked about his comments that the wealthy would not be treated too differently under a Biden administration, the former vice president went right after his favorite target: President Trump.
“Donald Trump thinks Wall Street built America. Ordinary middle-class Americans built America,” Biden said. “My dad used to have an expression.
He said, ‘Joe, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s being able to look your kid in the eye and saying that everything is going to be okay.”Sanders was asked about whether his proposals would result in higher taxes for the middle class and, after first explaining the need for Medicare For All and subsidized college debt relief, he said taxes would go up but healthcare costs would go down.
“We have a new vision for America. And at a time when we have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America, while 500,000 people are sleeping out on the streets today, we think it is time for change. Real change,” Sanders said. “By that, I mean health care in my view is a human right.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine