Analysis: Who do California's Asian Amerian voters support?

Super Tuesday is upon us and Asian American voters are ready to cast their ballots. There are over 4 million eligible AAPI voters in the Golden State, which has 415 delegates up for grabs.

The Democratic field of candidates has narrowed dramatically after the South Carolina primary. With Joe Biden's overwhelming victory in South Carolina, Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigeig and Amy Klobuchar have dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination to run against Donald Trump.

Fivethirtyeight.com says, "In California, which votes on Super Tuesday, Asian Americans make up 16 percent of the population, the largest percentage of any state except Hawaii. The state’s Asian American voters account for 12 percent of likely voters who are registered Democrats, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which released a study of California voters last August. And that same research showed that 36 percent of Asian American likely voters in California are independents, compared to 43 percent who are Democrats, which means that if independents choose to cast a Democratic ballot, Asian Americans’ share of the primary electorate could be even higher."

The latest polls taken before the South Carolina primary shows Sanders favored in California, but momentum is in Biden's favor after his big win in South Carolina, drawing the overwhelming support of African Americans and moderate white voters.

Heading into Super Tuesday (but, before South Carolina), fivethirtyeight.com has four recent California polls with crosstab information on who Asian American voters are leaning toward voting for, and Sanders seems to have an edge, earning the most support in three of the four surveys the website looked at. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also did well across the board.

“I’m not sure how much that matters,” says Rep. Ro Khanna, the Indian American congressmember representing Silicon Valley, and Sanders' campaign co-chair. He adds, “I mean, (Biden’s) a formidable competitor, we’re treating him as such and we’re very confident we’re going to do well in a lot of Super Tuesday states. We think this is going to be a fight until the convention."

The chart below provided by fivethirtyeight was compiled before the outcome of the South Carolina Primary.

Sanders, whose campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, is Muslim American, was one of two Democratic candidates to attend the Islamic Society of North America’s annual conference in Houston over Labor Day weekend last year, an event that drew some 30,000 Muslims from all over the country.

Sanders has received endorsements from prominent Muslim American figures: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim American women elected to Congress; and even millennial influencers like Hoda Katebi, a popular fashion writer, cultural critic, and political activist. A few weeks before Super Tuesday, Emgage PAC, which calls itself the biggest Muslim political action committee in the country, endorsed Sanders as well, according to Politico.

Biden, for his part, appears ready to give Sanders the Golden State and instead is focusing on states with large African American populations -- Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas. The Biden campaign has spent zero dollars on California TV ads, and a teeny, tiny, almost negligible amount ($4,000) on digital.

Biden also received and early endorsement of the AAPI Victory Fund, one of the more active AAPI political action committees.

One of the most visible Asian American surrogates for Biden is Olympic skater Michelle Kwan, a native Californian, but she has been absent from the Golden State in the runup to Super Tuesday.

Warren and her campaign manager Roger Lau first began talking about the importance of AAPI representation in government back when he was tapped for Warren’s Massachusett's senatorial campaign in 2011. They have been very deliberate in including more than 100 AAPI staffers throughout the campaign, including Mary Lou Akai-Ferguson, the national AAPI community engagement and organizing director for Warren for President who has led the campaign’s grassroots outreach efforts.

However the Warren campaign compiled an impressive list of AAPI celebrities and community leaders endorsing the Massachusetts senator, including such luminaries such as actress Constance Wu, authors Celeste Ng and Gina Apostol, CNN pundit Jeff Yang, former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao and prominent psychology professor Kevin Nadal. 

Warren "has called for more support for legal immigration, including redistributing unused visas to address the millions of backlogged individuals currently waiting for a way to enter the United States, as well as lower barriers to naturalization for green card holders — over a third of whom are Asian, who make up the largest group of naturalized citizens in the United States. She has declared that she will not just extend DACA, but provide a path to citizenship for DREAMers — and their families; about one in 10 DACA-eligible individuals in the U.S. are Asian,” the group noted.

To counter this list, the Sanders campaign compiled their own list of endorsements from prominent AAPI celebrities and leaders.

Is it Tulsi Gabbard's last hurrah?

Notice that Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is not even included in fivethirtyeight's calculations because she has done so poorly in the four early primaries and caucuses. 

In California, a candidate must win 15% of the votes in order to earn any of the delegates. It is unlikely that Gabbard will reach that threshold except for her appeal for the state's large Hawaiian, Samoan American and Hindu American subgroups.

Another candidate that shouldn't be discounted is former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has spend a fortune in television, print and online advertising in California and Texas and other Super Tuesday states. It has been his campaign's strategy from the moment he announced his candidacy to ignore the first four contests and concentrate his considerable treasure chest on Super Tuesday. We'll see if this unusual strategy works for the billionaire.

With Californians Sen. Kamala Harris and tech billionaire Tom Steyer out of the race, along with Asian American Andrew Yang, the state's AAPI voters may go with the candidate who has put the most effort in winning their vote -- respect and reverence being important in most AAPI cultures. That would be Sen. Warren, who like Sanders propose a progressive agenda but hasn't been as strident nor did she have the well-established organization that Sanders never disbanded after his 2016 run against Hillary Clinton.

The big question is with moderates Steyer, Buttigeig and Klobuchar out of the race, where will their supporters go? And for the voters who opted to cast their votes early, if they didn't vote for the remaining candidates, their votes will amount to zero.

Will Michael Bloomberg's advertising campaign work?

“We are fighting this delegate by delegate,” said Roger Lau, Elizabeth Warren's campaign manager and the first AAPI to head a national political campaign. Although only has won eight delegates after South Carolina's Primary Saturday. Warren has a record of being able to win even in races where she initially trailed, Roger Lau adds. “I’m confident that we’re going to continue fighting all the way through until the convention.”


Two weeks ago, Warren put forth her “Working Agenda for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders,” and like Sanders, has invested heavily in multi-lingual campaign materials.


Besides, California and Texas, the other states voting Tuesday include Warren's home state of Massachusetts, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, American Samoa, and Sander's home state of Vermont. Altogether these states and territory represent a third of the total Democratic delegates.

AAPI voters could play key roles in Texas where several AAPI candidates -- Filipino American Gina Ortiz Jones in the 23rd and Indian American Sri Preston Kulkarni in the 22nd -- running for Congress could spur  more AAPI voters to show up at the polls. The largest AAPI ethnic groups in Texas include: Indian (340,000), Vietnamese (258,000), Chinese (211,000), Filipino (170,000), Korean (101,000), and Pakistani (66,000), according to AAPI Data. AAPI voters make up about 5% of the electorate.

In Texas, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing demographic, according to the US Census. The Asian American community has grown by 42% since 2010. Evidence of the growing presence of AAPI communities -- every major city in Texas now hosts Lunar New Year celebrations and the "Howdy Modi" rally welcoming India's Prime MInister last year drew 50,000 Indian Americans to Houston.

In a Public Policy Polling survey of likely Texas Democratic primary voters released this week, 32% of Asian Americans supported Sanders, 29% supported Bloomberg, 20% supported Buttigieg and 9% supported Biden. But this poll was also taken before Biden's convincing win in South Carolina and before Buttigieg dropped out. 

On Sunday, both Buttigieg and Klobuchar gave ringing endorsements to Biden. We can assume that many of Buttigieg's and Klobuchar's moderate supporters in Texas and California would switch their preference to Biden or Bloomberg.

The Hmong American community, which has been politically active in Minnesota in the Twin Cities region and supporters of Minnesota Sen. Klobuchar, will likely take her endorsement seriously and vote for the moderate Biden.

Other states where AAPI could make a difference include Virginia and Colorado, representing 5.3% and 3% of the voters, respectively, according to AAPI Data.

Super Tuesday could be the make-or-break moment for several of the candidates and the moment the AAPI voters could help determine the outcome of the Democratic race for President.

Updated March 3, 9:30 a.m. for clarity.

Democratic candidates scramble for Nevada's AAPI vote

COURTESY ROGER LAU

Elizabeth Warren's campaign was present at Las Vegas Lunar New Year celebration.

With just days to go before the Nevada's Feb. 22 Caucus, voters, media and the candidates are learning that Nevada is an entirely different ball game than either Iowa or New Hampshire, two mostly white states.

Nevada is the first early state with a majority nonwhite population; 28 percent of the Democratic electorate is Latino, 14 percent is African American and 11 percent is Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

“The culture is shifting. It used to be we were afterthoughts. Now people understand AAPI is a determining group in Nevada,” said Grace Vergara-Mactal, executive director of Service Employees International Union.

If you've visited Las Vegas or Reno, you can't help but notice the plethora of AAPI employees working in the casinos, restaurants and other service industries. Nevada hospitals and schools have been active in recruiting nurses and teachers, respectively, from the Philippines.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest-growing segment of the Nevada electorate and one that has been heavily courted by the candidates and the Democratic Party.

From AAPI Data and APIA Vote have prepared a fact sheet on Nevada's AAPI population. Here are some highlights:

• Largest AAPI ethnic groups in Nevada include: Filipino (162,936), Chinese (50,878), Japanese (26,359), Korean (16,169), Vietnamese (16,169), and Indian (15,022). 

• From 2010 to 2016, the number of eligible AAPI voters in Nevada grew 35%. 

• This compares to a 13% growth rate for the statewide eligible voting population between 2010 to 2016. 

• AAPI youth (ages 18-29) comprise 22% of the AAPI CVAP population in Nevada. • AAPIs age 50 

For the first time, the DNC will provide Caucus-goers voting material in Tagalog, one of the major dialects of the Philippines. Last month, Democrats held a workshop on how to take part in the Caucus for Tagalog speakers. 

After the New Hampshire Primary where Elizabeth Warren finished a distant fourth, the candidate, who has campaigned in Nevada heavily, released her Agenda for the Asian American Pacific Islander community, outlining her positions and goals on a number of. issues, including immigration, family reunification, health care, education, housing and racial discrimination.

In a lead-up to the Nevada Caucus, the major candidates participated in a Twitter Town Hall directed at the AAPI communities. Although the program was nationwide, the timing of the event was evidently chosen to get information to Nevada's AAPI voters.

Candidates have been keying in on the AAPI community targetting specific Asian subgroups. Elizabeth Warren located her Nevada field office in the heart of Las Vega's Chinatown. Her campaign has been active for a year in the Silver State.

Warren's campaign rang in the Lunar New Year with the launch of its “AAPI Weekend of Action” at the annual Las Vegas Spring Festival Parade.

“We want to make sure we’re meeting people where we’re at. That’s why we’ve been making a huge investment here in Nevada and Las Vegas, making sure we had staff on the ground,” said Roger Lau, Warren's campaign manager, the first Asian American to hold that position for a major candidate.

“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are paying attention and listening to what the politicians are saying,” said Lau.

“They have health care issues they have to deal with. They have educational concerns. They want to make sure we have childcare,” Lau said.

INSTAGRAM

Pete Buttigeig meets with AAPI community members in Las Vegas late last year.

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced on January 31 the formation of the ​Nevada Asian American and Pacific Islander (​AAPI) Leadership Council​, which will focus on mobilizing and engaging Nevada’s growing AAPI community on behalf of the candidate.

Ash Mirchandani, a Las Vegas business and community leader, will chair the group, and Doris Bauer, a board member of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), will be vice chair.

“This council is a testament to the energy and support that the AAPI community has for Joe Biden. With only a short time left before the Nevada caucus, this council will be charged with convincing even more members of our community to join Team Joe," said ​Mirchandani in a statement.

"We will be phone banking, knocking doors, hosting community events, and most importantly, making the case for why Joe Biden is the best candidate to expand access to health care, improve our standing in the world, and ensure America’s long-term, equitable economic success,” 

“With only a few weeks before the Nevada caucus, I am excited to take the next step to ensure my community turns out for Joe Biden. Filipinos are one of the fastest-growing communities in Nevada, and we will be decisive in determining our Democratic nominee nationwide,” ​said Bauer.

Earlier in January, the AAPI Victory Fund, ​a PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Island voters, endorsed ​Biden for President​. ​

The newly formed council and the Victory Fund are holding an Early Vote Event on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at the popular Chinatown restaurant, Harbor Palace Seafood Restaurant. Starting at 4:45 p.m., the event requires an RSVP.

California Sen. Kamala Harris and businessman Andrew Yang, two of the three AAPI candidates, had invested heavily in the Silver State. Their absence leaves a lot of their followers deciding who they will cast their votes for.

Sanders has a small army of volunteers on the ground in the state who are knocking on doors, waving signs at commuters and handing out campaign literature in multiple languages.

The Vermont senator leads the presidential field by a solid margin among likely Democratic caucus-goers heading into Nevada’s four-day early voting period, but all six of the candidates actively campaigning in the state this week earned double-digit support according to The Nevada Poll™.

Sanders topped the poll conducted for the Las Vegas Journal-Review  and AARP Nevada with 25% of respondents expressing support, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 18%, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, 13% followed by Steyers, 11%, Buttigeig  and Klobuchar had 10%.

Except for Steyer, all have qualified for the Feb. 19 debate. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg qualified for the debate Tuesday morning. Steyerand Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard have until 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday to meet the debate criteria established by the DNC.
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The next Democratic debate can be viewed:

• Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2020
• Time: 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: The debate will air on NBC and MSNBC. 

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However, the debate may be too late for for Nevada voters. Almost 60% of voters are expected to take part in the state's early voting.

"Democrats just assume that Asian-Americans will turn up at the polls, and vote Democrat," said Dr. Michelle Diggles, author of a new Third Way study on Asian-American political participation. "There are very real serious ramifications for the assumption that demographics are destiny for the Democratic Party. If you don't do outreach, if you don't target, if you don't talk about the issues that they care about, they'll stay home."

“Candidates that don’t pay attention to the AAPI population will meet their demise,” William McCurdy II, the state’s Democratic Party chairman, told CNN. “They want to be courted. They want face time” with candidates.

UPDATED: Feb. 18, 9:45 a.m. to include Mike Bloomberg in the Nevada debate.

Presidential hopefuls vye for AAPI vote; Biden picks up endorsement, Sanders leads in California

BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN

Sen. Bernie Sanders appeals to Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

After the two predominantly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada will have its Primary caucuses on Feb. 22 to choose their preference for the candidate the Democrats will pick as their presidential nominee.

AAPI voters make up about 10% of Nevada's electorate and after extensive preparations such as holding mock caucuses last week, could influence the state's caucuses. During the mock caucuses, campaign material translated into Tagalog for the first time to woo the voters.

California's primary, with AAPI people making up 16% of its population, will head to the polls March 3 but early mail-in voting begins the same day as the Iowa Caucus, Feb. 3.

It's no wonder the Democratic candidates are paying more attention to AAPI voters, a small but influential group in the western states, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey and in states you wouldn't expect, like Texas, Arizona, Alaska, Virginia and Maryland.

Before they dropped out of the race, California's Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey's Sen. Cory Booker had made inroads among AAPI voters in their respective states, forming AAPI outreach committees and staging events for those ethnic groups. Since their departure from the campaign trail, their backers are up for grabs. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden picked up the endorsement of an AAPI super PAC Friday. “We believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump and lead our country,” Shekar Narasimhan, chairman of the AAPI Victory Fund, said in a statement. “Out of all the presidential candidates, he has the most experience and cares deeply about AAPI issues.”

Narasimhan made a point to acknowledge the participation of the three AAPI candidates. He said the AAPI Victory Fund made its endorsement of Biden “with enormous respect for the three AAPI candidates and others who entered the presidential race.”

However, according to the Public Policy Insitutute of California, Biden's rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders' support in California has surged since Harris left the race, while support for Biden and Warren appear to have plateued.

The PPIC tracking poll, which was last conducted in November, shows Sanders leading with support of 27 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 24 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 23 percent.

Sanders campaign held a press conference in San Francisco last week that was conducted in Chinese. The Vermont senator is running right behind Biden in vying for the AAPI vote, according to NBC.According to AAPI Data, the Asian American donors has swung its financial support to Andrew Yang, easily outperforming Biden, Warren and Buttigeig in that order.

Although the Chinese press conference is impressive and perhaps the first of its kind in this primary season, it also points out the difficulty the candidates have in reaching out to the AAPI communities, made up of over a score of languages and dialects. The press conference in Chinese doesn't translate to Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Indian American communities.

In vote-rich California, the largest Asian American ethnic group is the Filipino community, which communicates mainly in English or one of the numerous Filipino dialects such as  Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano or Pangasinan.

Sanders' campaign, whose campaign manager is Pakistani American Faiz Shakir, has made available campaign materials in six Asian languages: Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi and Punjabi. Tthat is more than any other campaign, according to ABC News. Fluent volunteers also help craft scripted appeals to prospective voters to ensure Sanders' messaging isn't lost in translation.

For 2020, the AAPI Victory Fund expects the AAPI electorate to play a critical role in states that are up for grabs, including Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Arizona, according to an NBC report.

Narasimhan said the AAPI Victory Fund made its endorsement of Biden “with enormous respect for the three AAPI candidates and others who entered the presidential race.”

“There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done in the next 10 months, and AAPIs are more engaged than ever,” he added. “We are committed to continuing our work for 2020 victories and delivering one million new voters for Joe Biden to win the Presidency and for Democrats to increase their House majority and to take back the Senate.”

Andrew Yang plans big surprise during the Democrats' debate

Candidate Andrew Yang plans a surprise during the debate in Houston.

Finally, Andrew Yang has the mainstream media's attention.

Yang's campaign sent a tweet to The Daily Beast's Sam Stein that at Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate in Houston, the candidate is going to do "something no presidential candidate has ever done before in history."

By this mysterious tease, with no other specific details, mainstream media's interest piqued up. Speculation is rampant. 

Will he be the first candidate to drop out during a televised debate? In so doing, will he endorse one of his rivals? Will he crowdsurf onto the room like he did last week at the AAPI Presidential Forum? Will he jump into a mosh pit full of his Yang Gang supporters? Will he announce the score of the football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers, which will be airing at the same time as the debate?

Yang has had trouble getting mainstream media to give him the attention given to candidates that he has outperformed in the polls. It seems the only time he gets air time is when he's doing something no other presidential candidate has done: line dancing with senior citizens; crying in response to a mother who had lost her son to gun violence, challenging Trump in basketball, and the aforementioned crowd surfing.

Yang has been unable to move beyond 2% (in some polls, 3%) in most polls so he's been stuck with the "long-shot" monicker.

This debate will feature the top ten hopefuls on the same stage. Previous debates have had to split the candidates into two separate nights.

While most eyes are anxious to see how frontrunner Joe Biden and his closest rival, Elizabeth Warren, interact. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg need to insert themselves among the top four or five to gain momentum towards the next debate in October.

The candidates who poll in the single digits, including Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro to have a "moment," do or say somethingmake an impression with the audience. And watch out for that Asian guy who loves MATH.

To prepare for the debate, Yang shows his moves on the basketball court in the video below:

What: The third debate between candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination

When: 5-8 p.m. PT Thursday, Sept. 12

Channels: ABC and Univision

Streaming: The debate will stream on the ABC app and the ABC News Live channel, available on Facebook, Twitter, Roku, Hulu, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube, Apple News and the ABC News, “Good Morning America” and FiveThirtyEight websites and phone apps. Univision News will also livestream the debate on its digital platforms, including Facebook, YouTube and Periscope.

Kamala Harris stands out in second night of Democrats' debate

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Sen. Kamala Harris did well in the second night of the Democratic debate.

ANALYSIS

Everybody thought that Sen. Bernie Sanders would attack the frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden, but Biden was caught flatfooted when the attack came from good friend Sen. Kamala Harris.

Unlike the previous night, in this set of 10 Democratic candidates there was a clear cut winner and that was the Indian American from California.

On the topic of the state of race relations, Harris outshouted her peers  talking over each other and demanded to be heard. She looked directly at her friend Joe Biden and with the slightest of tremors in her voice. 

RELATED: 

• High stakes in debate for AAPI presidential candidates
• Tulsi Gabbard should move up in polls after impressive debate performance

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris said as she looked past Sanders directly at Biden. “And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But I also believe, and it is personal, and I was actually very — it was hurtful, to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing.”

"And you know," she continued, "there was a little girl in California, who was a part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she was bused to school everyday. And that was little girl was me."

Moments later, her engagement team tweeted out a photo of that "little girl in California."

Harris also scored points when the other candidates were trying to speak over each other, and like the only adult in the room, Harris spread her hands out and said,  "Hey guys, you know what, America does not want to witness a food fight. 

"They want to know how we're going to put food on their table."

The remarks were followed by loud applause, including from several of the other  candidates.

On immigration, Harris said with emotion and conviction: “I will release children from cages, I will get rid of the private detention centers and I will ensure that this microphone that the President of the United States holds in her hand is used in a way that is about reflecting the values of our country and not about locking children up.”

Applause broke out when she used the word "her."

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Andrew Yang almostg disappeared in the Democrats debate.

Andrew Yang seemed stiff and a little awed for the moment, being the first Asian American man to be on a presidential debate stage on national TV.

When the subject veered from the economy, he seemed uncertain and out of his element. Of all the candidates who clamored to be heard, Yang held back, (poltely) did not interrupte and as a result, he had the least airtime of the ten candidates on stage. Even feel-good guru Marianne Williamson spoke up more even as the twitterverse couldn't understand what she was talking about.

Yang has already qualifed for the next debate in July. He's got to learn to be more assertive and not speak so fast when explaining how he would fund his Freedom Dividend, giving  $1000 a month to everyone over age 18. He needs to let his words sink in like he's speaking to fifth-grader.

Here's how Google saw the debate:

Biden had the most time speaking because he was always being attacked and under debate rules, he's allowed to respond to the criticism.

Below, because of Harris dominating performance, she was the subjectline being searched across most of the country.

As the debate progressed and Harris scored point after point, interest among the online watchers grew. Willlaimson's also had a good showing but that's deceptive. A little searching will show that most of traffic was due to the online jokes about her responses..

Other observations from the debate:

• The Thursday debate had the oldest candidates of Sanders and Biden, the youngest represented by South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigeig and California's Rep. Eric Swalwell. At times, Biden and Sanders looked and sounded like two grouchy old men.

• The generation gap was never so clear marked by Swalwell quoting Biden who said in a California speech that it was "time to pass the torch." Swalwell used the line effective. “If we’re going to solve the issues of automation, pass the torch," the California lawmaker continued. "If we’re going to solve the issues of climate chaos, pass the torch. If we’re going to solve the issue of student loan debt, pass the torch. If we’re going to end the gun violence for families who are fearful of sending their kids to school, pass the torch.”

• Swalwell tried to kneecap Buttigeig when the South Bend mayor said that he failed to resolve the recent racial divide in his town, exacerbated by the shooting of a black man by a white officer who had turned off his camaera. Swallwell shouted from across the room, "You should fire the police chief!"

• The three women apparently learned from the first night's debate and didn't hold back when the men tried to take over the conversation. Harris, Williamson and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand  repeatedly tried to butt in in order to get stage time. 

• Yang chose to not wear a tie which the commentators couldn't help but point out as if he had committed a serious breech of protocol and wasn't serious about running for president. Personally, I think the importance of the tie is overblown.

• Harris deft attacks vs. Biden also sends an image of what she might do when confronting the similarly aged Donald Trump.

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