[ cheers and applause ] >> secretary clinton. >> thank you very much, anderson. and thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. i think what you did see is that in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. that's in stark contrast to the republicans, who are currently running for president. what you have to ask yourself is who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the american people, who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done. now, i revere my late mother and she gave me a lot of good advice, but one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up. america's been knocked down.

that great recession 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. and although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way america needs to. my mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard working middle-class families and make sure we get back to the basic bargains i was raised with. if you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. please join me in this campaign. please come and make it clear that america's best days are still ahead. thank you very much. [ cheers and applause ] >> well that, does it for this democratic presidential debate. on behalf of everyone at cnn, we want to thank the candidates, our partners at facebook, the

wynn resort, thanks to dana bash, juan lopez and don lemon. we'll be back for our next republican debate moderated by wolf blitzer. wolf picks up coverage our debate tonight right now. wolf? >> anderson, thanks very much. we've just seen the democratic candidates go all out in this their first presidential debate. they're still up there on the stage as we begin our special edition of "ac 360." there's hillary clinton. she's obviously going to go meet with some of her supporters out there. the other candidates are going to do the same thing. bernie sanders is there with chris cuomo. jake tapper, our chief washington correspondent, you've been watching and listening. do you have think this changed the race, this debate? >> i doubt that we'll see much in terms of numbers changing in

the polls. i think hillary clinton showed this evening that she is indeed the most experienced debater and that practice and preparation for debates does indeed matter. she was very polished, she had answers ready for all of the charges coming her way. she was also given a big assist by bernie sanders, who said that he was sick and tired -- i'm not quoting him directly -- but sick and tired of discussing hillary clinton's e-mails, which kind of put an abrupt end of that topic of conversation. bernie sanders as i understand it is already sending out fund-raising e-mails on that issue, on that moment. but i think sanders obviously showing his fans out there the issues that he has been fighting for for decades. both of them had good nights but i don't think it's going to shake the race up too much.

i thought martin o'malley had a decent night as well. is there a reason for majority or plurality who support hillary clinton or bernie sanders, i guess, to jump to him. chafee and webb i did not think were tremendous factor and i would be surprised if both of them were around for much longer in terms of their candidacies. >> doesn't look like these candidates are anxious to get out of this room. there you see bernie sanders, who is speaking with some of her supporters. she looks pretty happy, hillary clinton, after these two hours. john king is with us. did hillary clinton do tonight what she needed to do? >> i'll say first and foremost her team is ecstatic. they believe she showed the poise she needed to show and

that she had a sense of humor at times but was not afraid to mix it up. early on she and senator sanders did get into it over guns and other issues. not personal in any way but it got a little feisty for a little bit. the republicans think she made some mistakes on issues, but the goal tonight, democratic primary, they're very happy. >> chris cuomo is with bernie sanders. if you can hear me, talk to the vermont senator. >> senator sanders, how are you? i saw you back stage right before the closing statements. you seed like you were in a quiet moment, getting your thoughts together. where was your head in that moment? >> i head was trying to make the case in the short period of time that we have, that if the middle class of this country is going to survive, if we're going to deal with income and health inequality, we need some very

profound changes about the way we do business in this country. >> there was a lot of substance tonight but the line of the night came from you and probably a gift to hillary clinton, "enough with your damn e-mail." what did that? >> what motivated is i think the american people want substantive discussion on substantive issues. the middle class in this country is disappearing. we have 27 million people living in poverty. a finance system that's corrupt. the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. those are the issues the people want discussed. let it play itself out. but as a nation let us start focusing on why it is that so few have so much and so many have so little. >> others would have chosen to play to advantage. did you not because -- >> because i think it was the right thing to do. i think the american people want

substantive debate on the real issues that are affecting their families. >> do you think you overcame questions that people have as to the how with some of your plans and to the what when it comes to how you described yourself politically, democrat socialist? absolutely. i hope i did. i can't say that i did. we are paying for every public policy idea that we have brought forth. i think overwhelmingly the american people do believe that we have to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of jobs doing that and that we pay for that by doing away with outrageous tax breaks that corporate america is getting. the american people do understand that we have got to treat public colleges and universities tuition free so all of our young people have an opportunity to go to college regardless of their income. people are disgusted, i can't tell you whether they're republicans, democrats, moderates, progressives, people are disgusted with the campaign

finance system that allows billionaires to buy elections. >> what do you tell people you can create the kind of large scale, sweeping change you're asking to. what do you tell them about how you get it done? >> what i tell them is that tonight there are probably 100,000 people at house parties as part of the bernie sanders campaign. we have brought out some of the largest crowds that people have seen in many, many years, that there is a level of energy and enthusiasm in our campaign that we're not seeing elsewhere. people are ready for a political revolution. they're ready to transform america and that's what our campaign is about. >> this is going to be a tough question for you but the word is the crowd is actually coming out to see jane. are you okay with that? she's here now. a lot of times the camera started on you but went from jane. i'd rather hear from jane. how do you think your man did tonight? >> i think he did great.

he speaks the truth, comes from principle, knows what he believes and put it out there. >> i grew up in situations watching what the wife would do watching her husband to help and hurt the situation. how do you feel now. >> i'm surprised how quickly it went. i looked to my son and said, "wait, it's closing arguments already?" >> did go quickly for you, senator? this was probably the biggest night for you and everybody up there. >> it did go quickly. while there were differences of opinion up here, there was a serious, substantive debate about the major crises facing our country, unlike the republican debate which was name calling. it seemed like a food fight rather than a substantive debate. >> biggest thing that got left on the table tonight that you still want to address with the american people?

>> income and wealth inequality. i don't think we spent enough time on that. it's the great moral issue. we should not be living in a country where the top 10% owns just about as much as the bottom 90%. >> always great to speak to you. one down, many to go. wolf, back to you. senator sanders said he wanted it to be about policy. all of them did but you never know what's going to happen once it starts to fly around among them about whom is better than whom. it seemed to be substantive. to see him backstage right before the closing, his eyes were shut, deep in thought, right by his friend jim webb. those are the moments that wind u up defining how you're going to perform in a debate. he feels he did well tonight. >> stand by. i want to get some more impressions about what happened here tonight.

david axelrod former obama adviser. some are already suggesting, david, this may have been hillary clinton's best debate. you organized a lot of help for barack obama 2007, 2008 against hillary clinton. how did she do? >> i think she did very, very well. i said before the debate that if president elections were dekhat lons, this was her event. think she showed why. if i were her campaign, i would be thrilled with what she did here tonight. >> gloria borger, what about bernie sanders? did he achieve what he wanted to? >> he did in a way. he spoke to the supporters and base to the democratic party. i'm not sure he made the case as to why he's electable as a candidate. i thisnk he had a rough moment when hillary clinton surprisingly to me took him on on gun control, an issue on which she's been consistent and he has been inconsistent. i don't think he was kind of

ready for that attack from her and i think she did extraordinarily well. i agree with david. she was so adept at making herself the candidate of both experience and change. it's kind of hard to do that. >> she clearly was prepared. she had gone through rehearsal after rehearsal getting ready for this. she anticipated these questions and the criticism she would get from some of the candidates. >> let's give anderson credit. i thought the questions were focused and appropriate. it was an adult debate yet thorough li thoroughly entertaining. >> i want to play a clip for you. our senior reporter is with us. she's been accused of flip-flopping, especially on this new trade agreement in the pacific.

when she was secretary of state, she seemed to be supporting it. now she says it not such good deal. she was asked to explain the flip flop. listen to this. >> i do absorb new information and look at what's happening in the deal. the trade deal, i did say when i was secretary of state three years ago that i hoped it would be the gold standard. it was just finally negotiated last week and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standard. >> nia, satisfactory answer? >> i think she's doing a little fudging here. i think she called it the gold standard rather than say she hoped it would be the gold standard. she said later at some point who among us on this stage hasn't changed our minds on a thing or two. but she's got some work to do on this answer. i think we've talked about this before. i think it's going to be to her political benefit that she has flipped to the side where unions are and much of the democratic

party is and where bernie sanders is. but this is going to dog her, this issue of flip-flopping. >> i think one of her best moments was on a flip flop attack from lincoln chafee on the war on iraq questioning her judgment. her answer was barack obama debated this in 2008, he knew what my vote was and he appointed me secretary of state because he had confidence in my judgment. that was a brilliant answer. >> she was prepared with that one. >> i thought her brilliant answer was the single word to lincoln chafee when he was challenging her credibility. anderson said do you want to respond to that? she said, "no." >> she was prepared but to me she didn't seem prepared, she didn't seem prefabricated. her tone was good, she seemed very fluid and that's not always the case. that's why i think this night was so successful.

>> she seemed very relaxed. she was consistent throughout the whole thing. in the beginning bernie sanders was clearly off his game, not used to being questioned, particularly on guns. he was i think in some ways a little unprepared for that. but i thought she was consistent and comfortable throughout the whole time. also i thought played the gender card, if you can call it that, in a pretty clever way. not on in her opening answer but also in her closing statement and also using it as an argument for why she is an outsider. >> she did a lot on the debates from 2007 and 2008. she clearly knew what she was doing tonight. bernie sanders, he was asked to explain to the american public why he thinks it's a good idea to declare he's a so-called democratic socialist as opposed to a capitalist. here's what he said. >> we're going to win because first we're going to explain what democratic socialism is. and what democratic socialism is

about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top 1/10 of 1% in this country own almost as much wealth as the 90 bottom percent. >> is that going to work? is that going to be a satisfactory answer to the public? >> it going to be a satisfactory answer to senator sanders supporters. remember, this is a debate in a democratic primary. republicans are seizing on that saying senator sanders and everybody else followed him, the democratic party is lurching more to the left, how are you going to pay for there? in terms of keeping his base, which is a surprisingly good slice of this race right now, senator sanders, i don't think there's anything you'll find tonight except for perhaps the gun control argument where he did not play to his people.

and his people right now is a pretty interesting and good size slice. one of his goals was not just to contrast with hillary clinton, it was to keep governor o'malley or anyone else from getting into his lane. if you're the sanders campaign, did you your job. >> he referred to denmark, he said this is united states, we're not ready for that kind of socialism. >> i looked at jim webb tonight. i wondering what kind of a wild card would he be. he revealed himself to be a very intelligent, very thoughtful republican. this is a guy who i think could play better on the other party stage. >> let's go to jake tapper. he has a special guest. jake, talk to us. >> thanks, wolf. we're here in the spin room. i want to bring in tad divine,

he the media manager for the bernie sanders campaign, a senior adviser to a super pac supporting hillary clinton, and cnn commentator van jones. gentlemen, who have picked candidates, i want to start with you. the big question, challenge for bernie sanders is he has his die hard supporters, much enthusiasm, very excited about bernie sanders and his ideas. can he expand beyond that? do you think he did that tonight? >> yes. i think america is going to begin to see someone who is deeply committed to taking on the biggest problem in this country right now, which is the gross inequality of wealth and income in america. and also a political system, a fund-raising system in america which is keeping that rigged economy in place. he delivered that message. i think he's setting the agenda, not just in this debate but on the election on that issue.

>> i think it's fair to say, paul, you saw the influence this evening of bernie sanders crowds and the black lives matter activists, which is a separate issue, but you saw their influence on the candidates. hillary clinton coming into this campaign, coming into this debate this evening with the challenge can she excite her supporters? she winning in a lot of polls nationally in iowa and other states but can she get them excited? did she do that tonight? >> i do. first of all, we saw the obama coalition. a big deal from the republicans who stand up attacking their leaders, they stand up there and attack john boehner in a debate. i thought she did a great job stylistically. dana mentioned this and she's been critical of my friend hillary. she's often been too scripted.

he was enjoying herself. she was relishing this. and even when she went after bernie sanders, a disagreement about the gun issue, there was no animus. she looked like she was having fun up there. >> one of the key moments this evening i think came when bernie sanders i think did a solid for hillary clinton when it came to a question about the e-mail controversy, which is about not just e-mails, it's about national security. let take a look at that moment from the debate. >> if this committee is basically an arm of the republican national committee, it is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the house republican majority leader, mcccarthy, to drive down my poll numbers, big

surprise. that's what they have attempted to do. i am still standing. i am happy to be part of this debate and i intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the american people. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me, too, me too! >> the middle class, anderson -- and let me say something about the media as well. i go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people, middle class of this country is collapsing. we have 27 million people living in poverty, we have massive wealth and income inequality, our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. the american people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy of citizens united. enough of the e-mails. let's talk about the issues of the citizens of america.

>> thank you, bernie. >> these last two weeks, hillary clinton and her campaign have been given two in-kind b contributions, one from senator mckcarthy and one from senator sanders. were you expecting bernie sanders to do that? >> no, it was a very smart move. he's a personal friend of mine. very smart. because hillary's favorable in this morning's abc news/"washington post" poll is 79% among democrats. if you take a shot at her, especially about something that democrats, any fair-minded person, one of the investigators has now come forward and said the investigation is partisan. i thought bernie did a brilliant thing. he was speaking for everybody i run into when i travel, too. it's like enough with the damn

e-mails. talk about what matters. >> was this planned? >> no. bernie has not been making of this and he wasn't going to make an issue of it tonight. was that line planned? no. >> it easy to imagine him saying it from behind doors. >> i'm not doing my best voice. it's not going to happen. >> but it's easy to imagine him expressing what he feels behind closed doors. >> one of the things we practiced for is let bernie be bernie. he's real, he's raw. he's connecting with people. the reason we're not going to attack bernie sanders on e-mails and stuff like that. we believe he has the strongest message. if we deliver it to enough people, he will win. that's what we're going to focus on. >> up next, we're going to talk to the debate moderators, anderson cooper and dana bash and juan lopez and our focus

group participants will also weigh in on what we all saw. who do they think are the winners and losers of tonight's contest? what did they make of it all? we'll be back after this very quick break.

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we're back here live at the wynn hotel in las vegas, site of the democratic presidential debate. the moderator, anderson cooper, is with us, dana bash and juan carlos. this was excellent. i say that not only as your friend but as a critic as well. i think the viewers around the united states will agree, you really came in well prepared. a lot of the attacks seemed to be at hillary clinton. you were there on the stage. how did she do? >> look, i leave it up to other people. as you know, when you're moderating this, it's hard to

get a sense of how it's all going. it's often until later on until you actually watch the whole thing that you say, oh, okay, this candidate did really well. i think clearly, you know, look, senator clinton shows she's an accomplished debater. best did very well. governor o'malley certainly made a mark and for a lot of people who had no idea who he is. i think senator webb struggled somewhat and governor chafee as well. but i think, you know, i'm happy with how the debate turned out. i mean, i think for me the whole thing is being fair, being tough and being prepared and when you have people like dana bash and juan carlos and don lemon, it was a great team. >> it was really well done. i think the viewers, the voters out there who were watching know a little bit more about these candidates now than they did a couple hours ago. that was the main purpose, get them educated who they are.

you had an interesting exchange with lincoln chafee, the former governor of rhode island approximately. >> governor chafee, you've attacked secretary clinton for being too close to wall street backs. in 1999, you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. >> i just arrived in office, my dad just died. >> are you saying you don't know what you voted for? >> it was 92-5. >> with all due respect, what does it say you're casting a vote you didn't know what you were voting for? >> i think you're being a little rough. hi been mayor of my city, my dad just died, i just arrived, it was my first vote and it was 90-5. >> totally fair question, you pressed him, you were polite, to the point. what was your reaction when you saw that exchange? >> i'm sad that his dad died and

he's a human being and there's the human side of me which obviously feels bad. but you're on a debate stage, you're running for president of the united states and the people you voted for should know what was in your mind and you should know what you're voting for. i was startled by his description -- it's one thing to say i regret that vote. it's another thing to say i'm not sure what i was doing at the time. >> yeah, i've just been in the senate for a few weeks, my dad had died and i voted for it. i covered politics in washington for a long time and i never heard that. >> you were surprised? >> i was very surprised as well. >> dana, take us behind the scenes. commercial breaks, some longer, some shorter. what was going on? >> trips to the rest room. i don't know if viewers could tell what anderson was joking about, when we came to the third block, hillary clinton was a little late to getting back to the stage. we were thinking, oh, my goodness, is she going to make

it back, you did a good job of joking about it. the candidates go out, have a couple of moments with their family members, with their aides, they take a breath and i didn't in the a lot of interaction between them. one thing i did notice, i'm not sure if the camera got it, a lot of interaction between webb and sanders. webb, as you know, anderson, wand to get in a lot. i saw sanders whispering to webb i'll do my best to help do you that. those moments i don't think the cameras got. >> was there a breakout moment for you, juan carlos? anything that really surprised you? >> i was surprised at how they were working together, even though hillary clinton was dominating the conversation. just the way, the demeanor, you could see that senator webb and governor chafee weren't looking at her when she was speaking but governor o'malley and senator

sands a sanders were looking at her all the time. >> hillary clinton was speaking with some of her supporters out there. she's not necessarily leaving yet. these are pictures we're showing our viewers right now. i guess she just wrapped up in one of the rooms over there with some of the her supporters out there. anderson, i'm sure you agree, she's pretty pleased with what happened tonight. >> i haven't talked to her, nor have i think rarely ever talked to her other than an interview setting or on a stage like this but i think her campaign must feel she did pretty well. there were no major gaffes from her standpoint. it was interesting to watch governor o'malley's body language. he was very much turned to hillary clinton and turned to bernie sanders. you didn't see that really from jim webb, from governor chafee. he clearly wanted to come, wanted to engage. he's been doing that on the campaign trail. our question going into this was when you're coming up with question and juan carlos and

dana were intricately involved in this and you're trying to plan out this three dimensional chest, you look to see are these candidates going to go engage with one another? we could never be sure if they were going to be sure if they were going to engage with one another, which is why we sort of designed the questions to be very much frontal from us to them about their records. >> because you don't want just to hear their talking point. you want to hear them exchange ideas. this is a debate after all. >> absolutely. and i think that they did, change ideas on the issues where there really are disagreements. but one thing i thought was fascinating was hillary clinton went into this determined to be perceived as the front-runner and as the person who has it locked up. for example, on paid leave, she gave a very, very sort of hard core democratic answer, not just about that but about big government and so forth.

that obviously played very well to the crowd here of democrats and will serve her well in the democratic primary, but it could be a flash point, a major flash point if she does get the democratic nomination with whom ever her republican rival is. >> a lot of things that the candidates said not is pleasing to democrats but neighbor not the general election. up next, high-tech feedback from members of our focus group. but first, one of the highlights of tonight 's debate. >> i'm a progressive but i'm a progressive who likes to get things done. i know how to find common ground and i know how to stand my ground.

welcome back to cnn's

postdebate show. we have some realtime, high-tech feedback on what we heard the candidates say tonight and a moment that drew huge applause here when bernie sanders sided with hillary clinton over the issue of the controversy about her private e-mail server. randi kaye is with a focus group. what did they respond to? >> we have 20 undecided voters he here, jake. you can see them seated behind me. they all had one of these, it was for dial testing. they were able to move the dial up and down if they responded to every word a candidate said. if they didn't like it, they moved it down, if they liked it they moved it up. one of the high points during our debate for there group was when bernie sanders showed some support for hillary clinton as she was being questioned about

her private e-mail server. i want you to watch this clip and play very close to the lines. the blue lines are the men in our group, the yellow lines are the women. >> let me say something that might not be great politics, but i think the secretary is right. and that is that the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me, too, me, too. >> the middle class, anderson and let me say something. i go around the country, the middle class is collapsing, we have 27 million living in poverty, our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. the american people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of citizens united.

enough of the e-mails. let's talk about the real issues facing america. >> that was a great moment. the women were yellow. the women on your screen at home were in pink. bernie sanders made a big deal about not wanting to hear about scandal anymore. how many of you are tired about hearing about all of these scandals and you want to get back to the issues? >> oh, all of you. how many of you again, raise your hands, think that bernie sanders won this debate? >> most of you. >> and how many think hillary clinton won this debate? >> all right. let me ask you here because you had an interesting thought for a ticket that you would like to see. >> my dream team would definitely be a hillary clinton/bernie sanders ticket. definitely. i think hillary clinton is very presidential but bernie sanders really hits home when it comes to what matters, regular folks.

a lot of our politicians are just disconnected. >> we're having a little trouble with the microphone. hopefully we'll get this fixed. tell me what you're looking for in a presidential candidate? >> i think hillary more more knowledgeable and came off more presidential than the other candidates. everybody did remarkable. it was plaqblack and white comp to the republicans. hillary is more knowledgeable and bernie is nor passionate. i think they'd make a great team. >> i really like hillary. but i kind of liked bernie after this debate. he really pushed me to his side with his passion and speaking for average person. >> you know, bernie sanders is a

self-described democratic socialist. do you have a problem with that or are you okay with that? >> absolutely not. i think this country need as little bit of socialism into its system, especially with health care and the disparity between the 1% and the people -- the working poor and the poor. i think there's more working poor now in this country than there are middle class. and i think he wants to remedy that as well. >> so income inequality is very, very to this group and also the whole issue of black lives matter. the sanders campaign came out saying they would plan to reintroduce bernie sanders to the black community. did you hear what you wanted to tonight? >> yes, he spoke out about how

the republicans have been so rude and unprofessional with president obama. i think it's more of a racial thing than anybody else. none of the presidents have been treated or disrespected like they have him. >> he certainly says he's going to fix that. one interesting note. our group was asked if you were going to vote tonight, even though they're undecided, who would you vote for? it was evenly split between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. but when asked who they think would win the election, it was overwhelmingly hillary clinton.

>> paul begala and political adviser van jones. you heard that bernie sanders was going to attempt to address the issue of black lives matter. he has struggled with african-american audiences and struggled to talk about the black lives movement. what did you hear? >> two big winners. first of all, class won tonight and not just class issues but class as dignity. there was a dignified debate. you actually saw people who don't agree people others with great respect. i think that's very important for the country because class has been losing up until now. the other thing is that black lives matter won this debate. this is the first time that i have seen the entire democratic party speak this forthrightly about the issue of anti-black racism and that is a direct

result of these young activist who is have felt so hopeless and frustrated, they marched after ferguson, they marched after charleston, baltimore and they have had an effect. i hope that the young people are in thing that the top people in the world -- hillary clinton is one of the top people in the world are listening to them. they should stay engaged, stay involved. >> one of the reasons it was a more collegial feel on the stage is because there's much more agreement on that stage than there is on the republican side. the republican side there are some very strong conservatives and others. do you think that the democratic debate is going to be able to continue to be this relatively friendly and collegial? >> yeah, and there are also fewer people to contend with for democrats. they almost seemed to make a fetish tonight out of how friendly and civil they can be. that is great and refreshing as a republican, i'll say, but you

can't maintain that if you want to usurp the front-runner, who at the moment is hillary clinton. bernie sanders is going to have to get a lot more significant in terms of the amount of criticism he is willing to levy at hillary clinton. i also thought it was interesting, you know, republicans are usually criticized for running far to the right during a primary and then having to do an unconvincing course correct during the general. i thought the democrats set themselves up very badly for a general in this debate. at the end of the debate you had the democratic candidates naming enemies, nra, insurance companies, coal miners, republicans. half the country is essentially the enemy of the democratic party and democratic candidate. they're going to have to speak to half the country. >> the one mistake, i will agree with you. basically tonight hillary clinton was beyonce. she was flawless.

hillary clinton did an extraordinary job. the one mistake she made was to say her favorite were republicans. i think that was a bridge too far. the big losers tonight, martin o'malley, he had an opportunity. look, he would make a great secretary of the treasury. he talked about banking the whole time. he'd make a great subject of hud but he did not come across as commander in chief. if i'm biden, i don't see any way to get on the stage between sanders' performance certainly near the end and hillary clinton's domination, i don't see a road in for biden. the black lives matter won this. >> i think o'malley helped himself. i don't know that he helped himself enough. but i think his constant drum beat of you like that policy? i did it in maryland. you like that? i did it. >> that was effective. >> he's got 15 years of executive experience. there were moments i thought he was good and others where i thought he was a little waxy.

but i see a small bump for him. >> coming up next, a closer look at some of the claims that the candidates made throughout this debate. we have a cnn debate reality check. but first another key moment from the debate. >> secretary clinton, is bernie sanders tough enough on guns? >> no, not at all. i think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. this has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the nra. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel.

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we're back here. we're following the reaction to this first democratic presidential debate. gloria borger, a lot of commentators are suggesting joe biden, the vice president, may have missed his chance. hillary clinton did well, bernie sanders did well. if he was going to jump in, he probably should have jumped in before this debate. that's what you're hearing. >> i think joe biden was probably at home watching this debate. i don't see where his different lane is to run. i think there are a lot of people, including joe biden, who believe that he deserves to run, that he spent a lifetime in politics and elected office and this is what he knows how to do and is certainly qualified, but it would be interesting to see where his lane would be given the fact that a lot of those

candidates up there were very supportive of president obama. hillary clinton has outlined her differences but nobody up there was particularly attacking the president and joe biden is a big supporter of the president. >> when you look at the polls going in. he was running a distant third behind sanders and hillary at the top. nothing tonight would have changed those numbers and given him more encouragement. i would have to think this would give him some pause. >> or not. >> we're going to continue to assess the joe biden factors. stand by. just ahead you'll hear from the candidates directly as we take a look back at some of the best moment in this, the first democratic presidential debate. >> announcer: the democratic presidential debate is brought to you by "suffragette," in select theaters october 23rd.

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i'm wolf blitzer in las vegas, and this is a special edition of ac 360.

>> translator:. it was quite a stunner. >> i'm a progressive, but i'm a progressive who likes to get things done. >> we're going to win because we're going to explain what democratic soercialism is about. it's wrong that the top one tenth of one% of this country own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. >> is senator sanders tough enough on guns? >> not at all. >> this was a large and complicated bill. do i think that a gun shop in the state of vermont that sells legally, a gun, to somebody and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? i don't. >> senator sanders voted five times against the brady bill. since it was passed more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented.

he also voted for this immunity provision. i voted against it. it wasn't that complicated to me. it was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in america. everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. and we need to stand up and say enough of that. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me too. >> you know? >> the middle class -- let me say something about the media as well. i go around the country and talk to a lot of people. middle class in this country is chancing. we have the 27 million people living in poverty and mass i wealth and income inequality. the american people want to know if we're going to have an democracy as a result of citizens united.

enough of the e-mails. let's talk about the real issues facing america. >> thank you, bernie. thank you. >> if you're looking ahead and you're looking at someone that made that poor decision in the 2002 to goo into iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in iraq. i know because i did any homework. that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. >> i recall very well being on a debate stage about 25 times debating this very issue. after the election he asked me to become secretary of state. he valued me judgment. it's always the republicans or their sympathizers who say you can't provide health care and have paid leave. they don't mind having big government try to take down planned parenthood. they're fine with big government when it comes to that. i'm sick of it.

we should not be paralyzed by the republicans and their constant refrain, big government this and that, except for what they want to impose on the american people. i know we can afford it because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. >> some of the highlights from this, the first democratic presidential debate. let's go to jake tapper, our chief washington correspondent. what are people saying about who won tonight? >> there's a consensus that both sanders and clinton had good nights. the question is can sanders expand his appeal beyond the army of supporters he has that represent the liberal base of the democratic party. i think that's still an open question. the big question for hillary clinton going into the debate, is she going to be able to generate the excitement among her supporters, and she leads in most national polls and in iowa,

south carolina, and nevada. people seem to think that she will get people more excited not because she spoke passionately at sanders, but because she was polished and commanding as a debater. i think those are the basic early reviews of the two main candidates on the stage. others say that o'malley had a pretty good night but nobody seems to think his poll numbers will necessarily change as a result. >> i want to bring in bernie sander's campaign manager who's with us here inside the hall. thank you for joining us. i'm going to play the entire exchange. a lot of people are talking about how berpny sanders responded to the up roar about the e-mail scandal. let's listen. >> if this committee is basically an arm of the republican national committee. it is a partisan vehicle as

admitted by the house republican majority leader, mr. mccarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. big surprise, and that's what they have attempted to do. i am still standing. i am happy to be part of this debate. and i intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the american people. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me too. me too. >> you know? the middle class, anderson, let me say something about the media as well. i go around the country and talk to a whole lot of people. middle class in this country is collapsing. we have 27 million people living in poverty. we have massive wealth and income inequality. our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. the american people want to know if we're going to have a

democracy as a result of citizens united. let's talk about the real issues facing america. >> thank you, bernie. thank you. [ applause ] >> two happy candidates right there. >> aim amen. >> we all knew it would come up. was this planned by is senator getting ready for this debate? >> absolutely not. this was pure bernie sanders being hill. he was in the moment. he was responding to the question. and look, the truth is is that he has said consistently that he doesn't like politics covered as a football game or baseball game. he doesn't like the petty essential attacks. he doesn't engage in them himself. he really does want to talk about what he views are the important issues facing america. a rigged economy and a corrupt political system. >> although he acknowledged it

could be a problem to come to her defense. >> absolutely, but it's more important to him to solve the real problems facing america than it is to get cheep political points. >> he scored points, bernie sanders in that exchange. >> without question. it was -- i believe it was completely unscripted, but it wasn't a political mistake, because i think most democrats shared the view. he has, at least about the benghazi part of the committee investigation what mccarthy said and so on. so he was speaking for a lot of people, but the wind up was just the pitch after was really strong because he got his full populous message. and i'll bet there were a lot of folks nodding their heads. my question is can you convert what appears to be a kind of cause, kind of fly type of candidacy into one in which people look at bernie sanders and say they can see him as the president of the united states?

>> that's what we're doing right now. people are coming out to big rallies. tonight there were over 100,000 people attending debate parties across america, and people are funding this campaign. we raised almost as much money as hillary clinton in the last quarter driven by small, individual contributions online. we have 650,000 people who have donated to the campaign. people don't give money to something they don't believe in. we have galvanizing the american people. >> are they voters? >> absolutely. look another tt the polls. the poll you did in nevada, we haven't had people on the ground here, but for a week, and our position in nevada, we're doing 50% better in nevada than nationally. as these primaries roll closer and people pay more attention, people are coming to him. >> stay with us. we'll have more to talk about including when hillary clinton

went after senator sanders on the issue of funs and sogurns a his votes. how did our focus group react to hillary clinton's strong defense of planned parenthood? >> they don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down planned parenthood. they're fine with big government when it comes to that. i'm sick of it.

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welcome back to our live coverage post debate. we want to get some unique reaction to tonight's cnn democratic presidential debate. our focus group reacted in realtime to what candidates were saying. including hillary clinton's strong reaction to planned parenthood. randy is with that group. tell us about that moment. >> jake, we are at nevada state college. these undecided voters have dial testing machines. they were able to turn them up when they liked what a candidate was saying and turned it down when they didn't like what they were saying. they had mixed reaction to what they were saying during the debate tonight, but one of the moments that got a lot of reaction was hillary clinton talking about family leave and

planned parent hood. watch this clip and pay attention to the pink and green lines for the men and women in our group. >> you can't provide health care. they don't mind having big government interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down planned parenthood. they're fine with big government when it comes to that. i'm sick of it. we should not be paralyzed by the republicans and their con strant refrain, big government in this and that except for what they want to impose on the american people. i know we can afford it because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. that is the way to get it done. >> so a lot of our folks here really liked what hillary clinton said there. let me ask you as a group, did you find hillary clinton the most authentic candidate on stage tonight? >> who did? >> no? just a few of you?

who found bernie sanders to be the most authentic? equal. we had 20 of them come in undecided, democrats and independents. now you're much closer to deciding. >> i was on the fence between h hillary and bernie. to see hillary's fight here tonight, she's been fighting these republicans for 25 years since white water and trooper gate and the e-mail scandals and the serve herb. >> i have decided. i'm for bernie. i was hoping to see a woman president but after hearing the patriot act and how she feels about the nsa, i can't have that. >> and lastly another decided voter. >> bashs barernie sanders? >> why? >> he's by the people, of the people, not of the wealthy, by the wealthy and for the wealthy. >> and you don't mind that he's

a self-proclaimed democracy socialist. >> no. we need social justice in society, and i believe he can make that happen. >> and one last thing. these folks were asked which candidate cares most about you because it's important to them. i will tell you that hillary clinton took a deep dive in their answers from what they were asked before the debate, that same question, and bernie sanders skyrocketed. >> interesting. randi kaye with that focus group sides las vegas. ana navarro is a friend of marco rubio. van jones is a former special advisor to president obama. we're also joined by cnn national security advisor, mike rogers. dan, let me start with you. a lot of raves on the stage. let's talk about some of the tougher questions. what do you think were the weakest moments for bernie

sanders and for hillary clinton? >> i think sanders had two problematic moments. on guns. he was knocked off his game and didn't have a good answer. and he needs a better answer on democracy socialism. this is a question that will dog his electability. hillary had a great debate. she'll have to improve on wall street reform. both when o'malley and sanders came at her, she had an answer that i think is not where the heart of the democracy matter is and is overly complicated for the moment we have of economic populism. >> congressman, there was not a huge amount of foreign policy, but hillary clinton's vote in favor of going to war in iraq was brought up by both bernie sanders and chafee. she had a response to it. let's play that clip. >> i recall very well being on a

debate stage, i think about 25 times, with then senator obama debating this very issue. after the election, he asked me to become secretary of state. he valued my judgment, and i spent a lot of time with him. [ applause ] in the situation room, going over some very difficult issues. you know, i agree completely. we don't want american troops on the ground in syria. i said we had to put together a coalition. >> now, if she becomes the democratic nominee, it's unlikely they're going to be going after her for her iraq war vote. is there anything you heard from her this evening on the foreign policy front that you think could be a problem should she make it to the general election? >> well, she's going to have a lot to answer for on the russia position. on the iraq war in the sense that now she's backing off of where she was right after

two-thirds of both houses voted in favor of the war, by the way, republicans and democrats. i think she's going to have to thread this needle which she was trying to do tonight for the democrat primary voter, but she'll have a problem in the general election giving the state of world affairs. she'll have to explain a lot that happened on her watch. and i think the biggest loser tonight was joe biden. i don't know where he goes now. if he's thinking about it, she had a great performance. i think that makes joe biden doesn't have a lot of wiggle room to get in this. >> she locked the door. >> can sanders continue to play so nice and get the nomination? >> look, i think bernie sanders has a strategy. that is to enlarge the elect rat. he doesn't have to go after

others to win support. what he has to do is explain his value system. he's a democratic socialist. i like that he was able to go toe to toe with hillary clinton an issues where she's strong. a lot of democracy issues, and i think also scored a little bit on foreign policy. >> do you agree with that? do you think bernie can take down the front runner continuing to be nice and just say what he thinks? >> i think at some point they're going to have to have a clash. it's the way it is. but you didn't see the nastiness. that's so good, especially compared to what's going on with the republicans. but if you're a young person watching this, you have to be proud of the fact that the young generation is pushing this party. climate change was dead. democrats weren't talking about it two years ago. young people were pushing the issue. the dreamers pushed the party. debt free college, that's young

people out there pushing this party to respond to them. i think the unsung heros, the winners tonight that young generation, the black lives generation, they need to be proud tonight. >> anna navarr navarro, as some supporting jeb bush, did you see anything on stage this evening that concerned you as somebody who wants a republican to be in the white house? were you impressed by hillary clinton's performance or bernie sanders performance or anyone else? >> i was impressed by the entire debate. i think the dnc is crazy to be limiting debates. this was a very engaging, interesting, substantive debate. really, it's amazing how many serious national policy issues you can get to when you're not wasting time on a debate stage talking about rose si o'donnell and going after the other candidates on the stage.

i can tell you, i'm having debate envy. what we saw today was a master class on debate, a primary debate. practically everybody on that stage except for the guy who compared himself to a block of granite, all of them gave a lot of red meat to the democrat base, said, you know, things that were no big mistakes in this debate. i did find hillary clinton's answer on being an insider a little awkward. i think when she said there's nothing that makes me more of an outsider than being a woman. to me that's a little bit of an awkward response. you know, we are the majority of america, but she came out of this unscathed. she came ready to give fire and take fire. >> all right. panel, don't go anywhere. up next, a reality check. the candidates made quite a few claims in this debate. how do they stand up to scrutiny? but first, another key debate moment.

>> i think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. it's gone on too long, and it's time the entire country stood up against the nra. when you booked this trip, you didn't know we had over 11,000 local activities listed on our app. or that you could book them right from your phone. a few weeks ago, you still didn't know if you were gonna go.

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presidential candidates here in las vegas tonight? we have a reality check. tom, what did you learn? >> one of the hottest issues for many democrats across this country right now is gun violence and more gun control. hillary clinton went after that. listen. >> we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. this has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the nra. >> that is a very big number. if you look at the last year, it is largely correct, about 92 people per day in 2013. but this number also includes all suicides and all accidental deaths and all cases where we don't really know quite what happened. those distinctions do not make this a less important issue. but it makes her statements somewhat misleading. the economy was something that bernie sanders wanted to talk

about, specifically in struggling communities. listen to him. >> african american youth unemployment is 51%. hispanic youth unemployment is 36%. >> boy, those are whopping numbers out there. huge numbers. look at that. the problem is, those would be the numbers that would represent underemployment. if you're actually looking at unemployment, the numbers from the government are much, much lower. 21 % and 13%. that's still a problem, yes, but his numbers were wrong so his statement was false. and martin o'malley wanted to talk about what happened when he was the governor in the state of maryland. >> we raised the minimum wage, invested more in infrastructure. went four years in a row without an increase in college tuition.

>> that's true, but he made a lot of executives angry because he had to take money from a transportation trust fund to cover budget trust falls. that makes his statement true but misleading. >> all right. tom, thanks very much. let's bring in john king. he's here with me together with gloria borger. knee listen to what hillary clinton said when she was asked if he was a progressive or moderate democrat. listen to her answer. >> i'm a progressive, but i'm a progressive who likes to get things done, and i know how to find common ground, and i know how to stand my ground. >> what did you think of that answer? >> i mean, it's an impolice it critique of sander's of the idea that he's a wild haired

progressive. in that way, it's great. this idea that she can bring people together, i think, it's also sort of a critique of sanders. she's saying his agenda is too far left. but this idea, i think it contradicts the other idea that she's enemy number one of the republican party. she's trying to accomplish many things in that answer, and i think the kind of take away we'll hear is her idea of being a pragmatist. >> she said her enemy is the gop, the republican party. >> and this is sometimes, i don't know if it's kplekt wall inconsistency, i don't know the term. sometimes she's competing in a democratic primary, other times she's aware of the -- if president obama can't get things done, how can you. and senator sanders says, maybe

we'll get the house or the senate back. that's an iffy proposition. if you've been around the last 25 years, we covered the bill clinton white house together, can somebody named clinton, no matter how hard she tries, bring republicans to the table. it's an interesting proposition. president obama tried early on. there are a lot of people who think he tried a little bit but didn't try hard enough. his answer is every time i stick my hand out, they bite my finger. this is a constant issue in our politics going back for some time about the polarization, and can she get things done? >> it's also a criticism of bernie sanders, though, because her criticism of him, at least, on the campaign trail has been, okay, you want to provide free college tuition? how do you pay for it? what are you going to do? bernie sanders say i'm going to tax the fat cats on wall street. she was trying to draw a

distinction with him, although, tonight, she didn't go after him on that particular point, which i actually expected her to do. >> david, it was interesting to see -- and we want to point out that bill clinton did work with republicans in the 90s. he did manage to do that. >> different republicans. >> it was a different era. >> yeah. >> i was curious -- >> even the republicans can't work the republicans. >> bernie sanders said he's going to bring in new voters, people who never vote. he will bring them into the process, and get himself elected. >> we had a discussion with him a couple of weeks ago, and i asked him about health care. i said we were there. we couldn't even get a public option. democrats wouldn't support it. he said that, and i pointed out to him, a majority of americans don't support singer payer. his imputes to the american people some positions he has

that they don't share. >> and there was a moment when jim webb took a swieb at bernie sanders when he said it's not going to happen. it got at the heart, i think of a lot of impolice it critique that clinton is trying to advance. >> the second tier, shall we say, did any of them have a breakthrough moment that seems it's going to generate more support? >> i think o'malley had a relatively strong night. the question is how does he grow? did he change others numbers? we'll watch the polls but my gut reaction is not much if any. if your webb or chafee, i think after tonight, you're -- >> hard to fight your way out. >> where's your place in this race? >> we have a lot more to discuss coming up. and what impact did tonight's debate have on a possible

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welcome back to our post debate coverage. there's a new thing called facebook.

it's kind of bigged with kids. we teamed up with them in las vegas, and don lemon brought us some of the questions facebook users had for the candidates. and he's live in the place we like to call the facebook lounge. >> all the kids are talking about it. seriously, i want to tell you what they're talking about. we asked people to live vote during the debate about what they thought was winning the debate on certain issues. foreign policy. 59% think that sanders. hillary clinton 26%. who's winning the debate on economic issues? that would be mr. sanders at 72%. you can see the rest of the numbers there. chafee comes in last. who is winning the debate overall? we asked this question in the live voting on facebook. here tit is. 75% kwlrks th

75%, they believe sanders. the person who distinguished themselves the most, webb really did make a difference. it was a breakthrough on the bottom three candidates that were polling the least. and so then this one is from facebook. we talked about conversation. what they're talking about? they're talking about sanders, clinton, and o'malley and chafee. these two are in the top, and the rest fall somewhere inbetween. but i think jim webb comes out ahead of o'malley. the issues people cared about the most, race issues, gun the economy, and guns. bernie sanders is sick and tired of hearing about hillary clinton's damn e-mails. it got the biggest reaction in the room as well. >> all right. don lemon in the facebook lo

lounge. >> dan when you were at the white house, one of the things you did was try to get the white house more twenty-first century dealing with the facebooks and the twitters. >> the facebook, yes. >> and the snap chats and all the interwebs. so how much stock would you place in a facebook poll like that? >> i don't think the facebook poll will tell you what the entire country thinks about the debate, but it will tell you -- it's a measure of enthusiasm. it shows that sanders actually did -- had engagement in fact and that's the test. >> 75%. nobody has come close. >> i think it's a sign that he's struck a cord. that's why he has the crowds out there. what's getting people to show up in his events is getting people to react to him. >> the intensity of support. >> that's always been his comparative with hillary clinton. it's not big enough to be a

legitimate contender. >> who turns out in iowa and nevada? congressman rogers, we were talking during the break. you think that the gun debate that we heard on the stage this evening is potentially alienating for whoever goes onto win the nomination. explain. >> well, you have the majority americans, about 52 %, even despite the shootings around the country, don't believe they want anymore gun control. they want enforcement of gun laws. that's republicans and democrats. and then you have to start doing the math around the country. you have concealed carry states that are very pro gun. bernie sanders tried to navigate that and said i had a rural district. he was trying to make a difference. i think this could be trouble and problematic. >> it used to be a third reel in democratic politics but it's

not. >> we're talking about the general. >> but we've now, twice, elected a guy who said who talked about people who cling to their religions and their guns. >> obama, it's fair to say, he didn't run on gun control. hillary clinton is making it a bigger issue. . >> you're talking to moms and families and communities across the country. the american people are tired of us not being to able to solve this problem. making sure we have background checks. we're talking about mental health. this is the right time to have this conversation. >> look, one of the things i think is going on is that usually when something terrible happens, there's some response from america's government, even if it's modest or ineffective. there's been no response in the face of this many funerals, i think there may be, we'll see, even in a general election, a built up desire for someone to do something. i think she may benefit. but you're right, it's easy for

democrats to underestimate in the red states where i grew up, how concerned people are about gun grabbers. >> whatever risks she may be taking in a general election, it's a benefit in a primary election. she cannot ignore the fact and take advantage of the fact that this is probably the one issue where she is to the left of bernie sanders, and she's got a progressive problem. >> and this is being used against bernie sanders by her supporters. >> absolutely. it's the right thing for the primary and the general. look, we are now in a place where this is -- if there is a voter who is going to make guns their litmus issue, the democrats have lost them. that happened in the last few election cycles. the nra is an arm of the republican party. the republicans will run and the nra will spend their money with them. ask all the democratic senators

who voted against the background checks in the last election, the nra spent every money they could to feed them. >> the red state democrats who lost in 2014. >> it wasn't on that issue. there was a host of other issues. >> but the nra gave them no quarter for having voted against background checks. >>. >> bernie sanders said he wasn't preparing. i think that's one of the moments it showed he hadn't prepar prepared. his answer on socialism and guns was clumsy. everybody should have known that this was coming. if he had done some more preparation, it would have showed, but what the held do i know? he's got 57% on facebook. >> and he's speaking to people who want to be heard. they are tired of politicians not going out there and complaining about the political system itself. and bernie is saying we have to take on the political system. that's resonating with a lot of

the facebook crowd. >> up next, do the candidate's claims stand up to scrutiny. we have a reality check right after this break.

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welcome back. we've been digging into some of the claims made by the candidates tonight. there's a lot of claims out there. there's another reality check for us. >> bernie sanders is from a rural state with a lot of gun owners. he's been accused of defending gun manufacturers against lawsuits. did he do it? he said of course not. >> where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. >> the problem is back in july he said something very different to cnn. he said back then you can't hold gun makers responsible because their product was used in a crime any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beat somebody over a head with a hammer.

we have to say his statement tonight was false. hillary clinton denied that she has flip-flopped on some key issues here. the transpacific trade partnership first. >> i did say when i was secretary of state three years ago i hoped it would be the gold standard. it was just finally negotiated last week. and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standard. >> so now she is against that deal. she also denied changing her position on the keystone excel pipeline. >> i never took a position on keystone until i took a position on keystone. >> i never took a position on keystone. but as a member of the obama administration she strongly supported the trade deal. she said it was the gold standard, not that she hoped it, and the changes made to it largely addressed her remaining concerns, and yet, now she's against the deal. and as for the keystone

pipeline, she never said she thought this was a good idea, but she did say she was inclined to support it. so technically we'll say her statements were true, but they were misleading with what she had to say tonight. if you want to know more, go to cnn/reality check. >> we will do that tom, thanks very much. let's go back to jake. jake, you're getting more reaction to this debate tonight. >> that's right. we have all sorts of ways to get feedback. cnn partnered with pivot to see how the candidates odds for victories may have changed during tonight's democratic presidential debate. hillary clinton apparently, according to pivot, not only is the odds on favorite to win the nomination. her odds of winning increased 5% during the debate. bernie sanders odds fell by 1%. joe biden's odds fell 4 %.

you can take part with pivot. check out this race and many more by going to cnn.com/predict. now final thoughts from our commentators. anna, let me start with you. final thoughts on the debate. or key moments going guarforwar. >> i am very glad chafee became a democrat. we're not taking him back. >> you said the party left him, not the other way around. >> listen, criminal justice reform is the only issue that was discussed favorably both by the republicans in both their debates and in this debate. we've had a breakthrough. people like newt gingrich, all these people have come together and they have changed the calculation. that is going to be something you see going forward. it's the first time you've seen both political parties moving in a more humane direction in criminal justice.

>> i think the democratic party proved we can have a substantive debate with candidates disagreeing without being disagreeable, and it was entertaining. >> now the question is, can you have more than six? >> i have to give kudos to all five candidates. it was a great night for america. >> and it raises an interesting point which is. >> why are you putting me on the spot? >> you're going to get her disinvited to the next event? >> there is a question about more debates. anna said earlier that this seemed to help the democratic party. >> i yield my time to my -- >> let me help my friend out. >> we should have more debates. she was right. >> join her in hawaii when you take that same position. >> not a bad place to be. >> i would watch one thing going forward. o'malley had the opportunity to join sanders in the e-mail.

he saidet ethics is important. if he's going to take a bite out of the lead, he has to be more aggressive. if he doesn't do it, i think he sails into an early victory. i'd watch that in the next week. >> dan, before i get your final thoughts, what do you think of the longevity of the e-mail controversy issue? do you think what the comments by mccarthy as well as bernie sanders assist with hillary clint clinton, do you think it's going to go away? >> it's not an issue in the democratic party. i think with sanders, and the former staffer on the committee saying it was a partisan investigation that has helped her. how she does in her testimony next week will determine if this is done or not. i think it will be mostly a n nonissue in this primary. my final thought is all the discussion leading to this

debate was how would people separate from president obama. where would they position? all the candidates tonight embraced him and his agenda and talk about how they would build on it. people -- they know that the path to the nomination includes running with the obama coalition. >> and congressman? >> one thing. i agree with dan. i think the real concern isn't the benghazi portion of this. there's an fbi investigation and more dumping of e-mails. i'm just saying she has something to worry about. i'm not making it an issue. >> they're not interested in finding out what happened in benghazi. they're interested in what happened -- >> i understand there's two separate issues. >> wolf, we'll continue to discuss this issue and plenty of cnn shows. let's go back to wolf.

>> excellent discussion. good work, jake. good work to the entire team. an important note to all our viewers. if you missed any of the tonight's debate, stay with cnn and see the first democratic presidential face off once again. that's coming up next. cnn will have much more analysis starting with new day which begins at a special time, 5:30 a.m. eastern. i'll be back tomorrow. much more reaction coming up. here in las vegas for all of us at cnn, thanks very much for jo joining us.

big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

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the fastest internet and the best tv experience is already here with x1. only from xfinity. in the heart of las vegas right now, a marquee event. a clash of campaign rivals who have never gone head to head before. it's the democrats turn in the spotlight with the white house on the line. >> we have to make republicans pay a price at the polls. >> if we stand together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. >> tonight the first democratic debate of this presidential race. it's a critical test for a party super star who's been down