Tulsi Gabbard should move up after her debate perforance

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard performed well in the first night of the Democratic debate.

ANALYSIS

Everytime Rep. Tulsi Gabbard answered a question during last night's Democratic debate, Day 1, she managed to reference her military experience.

She used the first debate of the campaign season as a means to introduce herself to the rest of the nation, who might not have heard or seen the congresswoman from Hawaii and she might have done well enough to give poll ratings a much-needed push

Until last night, Gabbard hasn't been able to make any headway in the campaign. In the field of 24 candidates, she barely made it into the top 20. For someone who has been in politics for 17 years, it was embarrassing that nonpolitician first-time candidate Andrew Yang was raising more money and polling better than her.

RELATED: High stakes fin debate or AAPI candidates

Gabbard's best moment was in an exchange with Rep. Tim Ryan.

Gabbard corrected the Ohio congressman when Ryan said the Taliban was behind the 9/11 attacks. “The Taliban was there long before we came in (Afghanistan) and they will be there long after we leave. We cannot keep U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan thinking that we’re going somehow squash this Taliban—” Gabbard said, before Ryan interrupted her.

“When (the U.S.) weren’t in there, (the Taliban) started flying planes into our buildings,” Ryan said. Gabbard’s response: “The Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11, al Qaeda did. That’s why I and so many other people joined the military, to go after al Qaeda after 9/11.”

She concluded the spat:  “We have to bring our troops home from Afghanist

Her worst moment was her first answer to a question about equal pay for women. Gabbard didn't even try to answer the question. She went into her elevator speech telling the audience about her military service and what she would do as president, not mentioning the ERA or, for that matter, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which Gabbard just voted for in the House.

She concluded: “We have to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.”

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

The first night of the Democratic debate took place in Miami last night.

Her worse moment was her response to a question about how to pay women equal to men. Instead of answering the softball question, she dived into her elevator speech trying to introduce herself by reminding the audience of her military service and her platform. Not once did she mention the need to pass the ERA or the Paycheck Fairness Act, which she recently vote for.

Surprisingly, and in this case consider the source, the conservative Drudge Report political website posted a surprising instant poll showing that its visitors believed Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii was the overwhelming victor of the first Democratic presidential debate, polling at almost 35% with 12,314 votes.

Her closest competitor, according to Drudge, was Massachusetts' Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who was polling at just under 13.5% and 4,791 votes. Julián Castro of Texas and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey were polling the lowest with less than 5% each.

Google also tweeted the results of searches during and after the debate. We can only assume that the debate piqued peoples' interest and had them asking ,"Hmm, who is this Tulsi Gabbard?"

And then, there's this from Google indicating the interest in Gabbard was nationwide, except in the Deep South, Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma:

Other notes on the debate:

• Warren came in as the frontrunner and needed to show why she polls second to former Vice President Joe Biden. She held her own, giving the most substantive answers, especially on the economy, but she failed to distance herself from the lower tier candidates.

• Julián Castro, former HUD Secretary under Obama, proved to be aggressive and should improve his standings in the polls considering he was polling 1 percentage point. He saved his flagging campaign at least until the next debate.

• Beto O'Rourke didn't do well. His personal anecdotes didn't ring well in answering questions. He was also attacked by Castro on immigration. the fellow Texan was seeking a commitment to decriminalize crossing the border without documents but O'Rourke wouldn't bite. "Do your homework," Castro told O'Rourke, whose poll ratings have gone down every month.

• The debate almost went out of control when the moderators allowed the candidates to speak out of turn in response to other candidates' answers. The worst offender was New York Mayor DeBlasio, who (no offense) acted like an aggressive New Yorker.

• Speaking of interruptions. Every woman who has to attend business meetings will  recognize this one. Once the debaters realized they could speak out of turn, interrupting became more frequent. Curiously, none of the women, Warren, Gabbard or Sen. Amy Klobuchar, did any interrupting, choosing to raise their hands amidst the attention grabbing men.

Part 2 of the Democratic debates will be tonight (June 27) and feature the other two Asian American candidates, Sen. Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang. It could have more fireworks than last night with four of the top five candidates participating. Besides Harris, former Vice President, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete Buttigeig. will be going at it with six other candidates.

The debate will air on NBC and Telemundo affiliates across the country, along with MSNBC on cable. They’ll be broadcast live from Miami and air which tonight at 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT.

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HIgh stakes in debate for Democrats' AAPI presidential candidates

Democratic candidates for president are, from left: Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang.

ANALYSIS

In a crowded field, the three AAPI candidates will have to find a way to distinguish themselves in the Democrats' debate starting tonight if they want to continue on the road to the 2020 elections.

Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang hope the debate among the Democratic challengers for POTUS will bring renewed attention to their campaigns lagging in the polls. 

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, the strongest of the three AAPI candidates for president, will undoubtedly continue to campaign all the way to the first primaries in 2020, but she too, needs to make a bold impression even though she consistently polls among the top five contenders in the crowded field of 23 Democratic hopefuls.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard improved her standing with her debate performance

It will be interesting to see if any of the candidates try to target to set on fire the largely cordial campaigns. This might be the time for desperate candidates to lob grenades at the frontrunners  former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

NBC News on last week announced the lineups of Democratic presidential candidates who are appearing on stage tonight (June 26) and Thursday (June 27) in the first debate of the 2020 race. (Graphics courtesy of Politico)

If Yang or Gabbard perform poorly, it could spell the end of their campaigns. 

Yang, though, is doing better than expected since he basically came out of nowhere with no major endorsements or political experience but he has the harder task to make an impression on viewers, especially since he is appearing in the Thursday debate, which is loaded. He will have to outperform four of the top five candidates -- Biden, Sanders, Harris, Buttigeig  -- who will likely dominate the proceedings.

He was among the first to announce his candidacy and has been able to last this long despite his relatively low-cost campaign. His dependency on and use of the Internet world has made him attractive to that demographic most plugged in -- young, college students and first-time voters. Unfortunately, that's the same demographic with the least financial wherewithal to fund a national campaign.

He was first to make the Universal Basic Income, or as he has dubbed it, the Freedom Dividend, a major part his platform. Other candidates like Sen. Warren has latched on to the idea and has come up with her own version of the UBI.

Yang's weak point, foreign policy, is the basis for Gabbard's campaign, advocating for withdrawal of US forces in the Middle East. As someone who has served in the military with two tours in the theaters of war, her positions carry some weight, even though they run counter to most of the other Democrat contenders.

Most of Gabbard's early support has come from the Hindu community, outdoing Indian American Harris in that particular community.  How deep that support goes, though is still a question mark and although Hindu Americans are delighted to see someone of their faith running for president, they could easily shift their support to Harris if Gabbard is perceived as a lost cause. 

The Samoan American has struggled to rise in the polls since she's seen as an outlier to the Democratic Party and support from Progressives never really materialized because they have too many other candidates to choose from.

The debate will air live across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m ET both nights. The debate will also stream online free on NBC News' digital platforms, including NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, the NBC News Mobile App and OTT apps, in addition to Telemundo's digital platforms.

With the loaded Thursday night debate, even Harris could get lost in the shuffle. She will have a difficult time distinguishing herself from progressives Sanders and Buttigeig and the moderates, Biden, New York's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Michael Bennett and Utah Gov. John Hinklelooper. 

One of Harris' strengths is her ability to think quickly on her feet, drawn from her experience as a prosecutor as San Francisco's District Attorney and California's Attorney General. As a member of the Senate's Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee, Harris' sharp questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and DOJ director Jeff Sessions put those skills on display.

The debates will air on NBC and Telemundo affiliates across the country, along with MSNBC on cable. They’ll be broadcast live from Miami and air which tonight and tomorrow, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT.

NBC News’ Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Telemundo’s José Diaz-Balart will moderate the debate .

The candidates that didn’t qualify for the debates are Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Sen. Mike Gravel, Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam and Rep. Seth Moulton.

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