Democratic contenders at Tuesday’s primary debate in Westerville, Ohio.

1. Elizabeth Warren is an ideologue?

2. The world doesn’t revolve around Ohio anymore

3. Donald trump and bill Barr create a religious war trap

4. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to endorse Bernie Sanders for President

Weve now survived four democratic debates. It feels like more, both because it was more (technically, there were six nights of debate) and because they were extremely repetitive (everyone should start with Medicare for everyone, apparently). But much of the problem remains obvious: Too many Democrats are running for President. On Tuesday night, there were 12 candidates on stage, out of 17 (the five who didn’t make the cut, Michael Bennett, Tim Ryan, Steve Bullock, Marianne Williamson, and John Delaney, should take the hint).

But the dozen candidates are still too many. Back in July, Slate staffers recommended six candidates who should drop out at once (only two of our picks, bill de Blasio and John Hickenlooper, actually did). Despite these lacklustre results, we thought we’d try again.

If you’re going to object to being called a Russian asset and apologist for Assad, as Nietzsche’s representative Tulsi Gabbard did, then it’s not such a great idea to repeat these governments talking to the extent that the audience starts to wonder if your programming is working. Gabbard used the phrase regime change war a total of 11 times during the debate, including six times in one response. Aside from being weird, the repetitive characteristics are just wrong.

There are many ways to describe the often inconsistent and counterproductive U.S. strategy in Syria, but regime change is not exactly what is happening there. (This, however, is how the Russian government would describe US policy.) Its particularly strange to note to harp on after a week that saw Donald trump’s decision to lead the regime dramatically expand the territory under his control. If it’s a regime change, it’s a very indirect way. Gabbard threatened to boycott the debate, changed her mind the day before. She must carry out this threat to the rest of them. Joshua Keating

Pete Buttigieg (I refuse to call him mayor Pete. Its not a particularly catchy nickname. Its not easy and nice to say. Its insane that everyone has collectively agreed to call it it makes no sense at all. he knows hes not going to win the presidency. He may be a lot better than most current contenders, but that still only puts him at just over 5 percent. And given his consistently godawful numbers among black voters, HES not exactly ready to pick up Joe Biden’s base should Biden drop out (though it was a game he seemed to be making).

One of the reasons he may still be chugging along is so he can set himself up to be Vice President well, that part is not clear. Biden has said hed prefer to choose someone who was of color and / or of a different gender. (Plenty to unpack there!) Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren certainly isn’t going to pick him up and Pete, judging by his recent swipe at Warren, knows it. Kamala Harris can? But for now, Candidate Harris is a stretch in his own right.

The only reasons Pete is still running is that it actually makes sense more or less about ego. Making the media types love it, it gets great press, and Im sure our good boy McKinsey enjoys being courted by his various high dollar donors. Besides, if he falls out, he has to deal with the mess he’s made. In other words, every reason he wants to stay is another reason why he should go. You had fun, Pete. Time to go home. Ashley Feinberg

Billionaire progressive Tom Steyer has justified taking a seat in the presidential race, saying he is uniquely qualified to explain how trump let America down and sell impeachment to voters. But so far, the only issue benefiting Steyers advocacy is steyers candidacy, and even that only got the tiniest bumps. Elected Democrats are setting the mechanisms of impeachment proceedings in motion. Other candidates have fired a lot against trump and can speak eloquently about how HES desecrating our democracy. Steyer brings nothing to the race that his opponents no longer haveexcept, importantly, bankloads of money.

He loaned himself $47 million in the third quarter of this year and has already spent the same amount, more than twice the spending of any other candidate. For a guy who claims to be urgently concerned with stopping climate change and defeating Trump, its hard to think of a worse use for that big a chunk of change than a vanity project supported by around 1.4 percent of the polled electorate. Consider that whoever actually wins the Democratic nomination will be up against Trumps gargantuan and growing war chest, and Steyers self-expenditure starts to seem at odds with his professed mission. Consider the material difference that money could make in the lives of people struggling under the system that allowed him to make it, and it starts to seem sociopathic. Christina Cauterucci

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has finally found her voiceand, lucky for her, its right when moderate Democrats are seeking a less conspicuously problematic alternative to Biden. At Tuesdays debate, she put her gloves on and sparred with the new front-runner, Warren, on nearly every issue. The highlights were strong: She aided a multi-candidate pile-on against Warren, who was repeatedly refusing to directly answer how shell pay for Medicare for All. A bit later, Klobuchar pushed back against a Warren suggestion that most candidates onstage would protect billionaires. (Her memorable line: No one on this stage wants to protect billionaires. Not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires! Klobuchar was referring to Steyer, who, see above, should also drop out.)

But alas, her admittedly stunning debate performance comes a little late in the game. Its unlikely that shell will hit the 3 percent electoral threshold for the next debate. She has no major endorsements from outside Minnesota and, within the state, she has not received the Republic of Ilhan Omars blessing either. Shes time outraised quite significantly by her opponents. Her entire campaign has focused on her reluctance to move beyond bipartisanship. Hell, she even wore a purple suit to signify how hard Shes holding onto the fence.

A centrist, were-all-in-it-together, hands-through-the-world approach is not going to win Democrats the election. But the Klobuchars have chosen moderate positions on issues like climate change and health care, which still require political leaps from Republicans and Democrats. (And allegations that Shes violent toward employees and her record as a tough crime-fighting Prosecutor won’t help her.) Plus, her untimely debate jokes were a disaster. We don’t need them anymore. We just don’t. Julia Craven

Cory Booker has already qualified for the November debate, but he shouldnt bother going if hes just going to repeat Tuesday nights performance. In a debate where the candidates who were actually trying to win the nomination took on risks by going after Warren, Booker turned in his most sunshine-and-vegan-unicorn-farts performance in a long string of them. He went out of his way to defend Bidens honor after the moderators asked a question about his son Hunter. He too readily took up the role of candidate who reminds the audience that the real enemy is Trump, instead of cutting someone. He was running for vice president. He should do it on his own time. Jim Newell

Even a doomed candidate can make a difference, if they bring courage and focus to their chosen purpose. This is why people talk about moving the Overton Windowbecause by daring to fight for a difficult or unpopular position, you can change the terms of what people think is reasonable or desirable. Or you can be Beto ORourke on guns and manage to present your goals as being drastic without being serious. There was a moment, after the El Paso massacre, when the tall Texan looked like he might become the Jay Inslee of semi-automatic slaughter, using his place on the trail and the debate stages to demand the removal of assault weapons from society the way the Washington governor used his time to demand action on climate change.

But that would have required discipline and attention to the nuts and bolts of the subject. Instead, there was ORourke pumping himself up with his willingness to call for confiscation, then deflating into vagueness about how he would possibly accomplish it. Nothing about him inspired hope or confidencenot his blurting diction, thosebursts ofbreathless wordclusters that always make him sound like hes swinging on mental monkey bars, grasping each thought just long enough to get to the next; certainly not his cynical and confused foray into anti-tax pragmatism to attack Warrens planned social programs. There was room for him to be a prophet, and he ended up nothing more than a bogeyman: living proof to armed right-wingers that the liberals really do want to grab your guns, and living reassurance that its never going to happen. Tom Scocca

We live in incredibly fraught times, and it’s rare to find something Democrats can really rally around. That’s why Delaney is such an unexpected gift. With a terrible politics and a personality that consists entirely of being scolded, Delaney is an objectively accomplished villain. No one wants to hear from him, HES a delight to mock, and he reminds us that as much as we can dislike other people on stage, we will never despise them as much as we despise Delaney. John, my dear friend, don’t you dare go anywhere. Primary desperately needs a heel. It’s you. Ashley Feinberg

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