Detroit Democratic debate: Local experts name winners, losers

The first of two scheduled debates in Detroit among the wide field of Democratic presidential candidates proved long and feisty.

The Free Press asked three expert debate coaches for their spot analysis and hot takes on who among the initial group of 10 contenders triumphed or floundered Tuesday night on the Fox Theatre stage.

The coaches were Kelly Young, director of forensics (speech and debate) at Wayne State University; John Lawson, executive director of the Detroit Urban Debate League and a co-director of debate at Groves High School in Beverly Hills; and Amy Urbanowski-Nowak, an English teacher at Birch Run High School and a past Michigan Speech Coaches' Forensics Coach of the Year.

Who won the debate?

Kelly Young: "If winner is defined as those who are going to move on to the September debates and have solidified their top 5 status, I would say (Massachusetts Senator) Elizabeth Warren and (South Bend mayor) Pete Buttigieg." 

Buttigieg "did a good job of framing (himself) as above the fray in a lot of the debates ... he didn't have a lot of moments when he went at somebody on the stage, and he's talking about how we need an inter-generational change or these problems are just going to constantly replicate."  

John Lawson: "I think Senator Warren came out on top. In the first debate, she was sort of passive...and didn't have as much of what we call airtime. This time, although she may have been a bit over-aggressive in some cases, I think she hit the right tone and provided some emotional narratives or stories, as well as some very well thought-out arguments — whether you agree with them or not." 

Amy Urbanowski-Nowak: "I really don't think there was a clear winner — there wasn't a Kamala Harris moment, as I'd like to call it. There wasn't really a moment like that where someone really showed off and stuck out.

"But if I had to really pick a winner, I'd have to pick Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. I think Elizabeth Warren just did a really good job of using many different styles of debate. She was on the attack when she needed to be ... and I also felt she was trying (at other times) to unite the party. And she was also well-organized and well-prepared.

"Pete Buttigieg is just a very eloquent speaker who comes across as knowing what he talks about, and has facts and data to support his claims." 

Who had the worst performance?

Kelly Young: Former U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland. "I think he certainly lost. I think every time he went after one of them, particularly Elizabeth Warren, he lost badly. But maybe he is a candidate who benefits from any attention — good or bad."

John Lawson: Former Denver mayor and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. "He was a good mayor, a fine governor, but he didn't explain how that translated into effective presidential policy-making."

Amy Urbanowski-Nowak: Delaney, Hickenlooper and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. "They are just not the most well put-together presenters...They don't always have a lot of facts to back up their claims."

Best moment or moments

Kelly Young: The back-and-forths between Warren versus Delaney. Also, the thoughtful answers from author Marianne Williamson. "She (Williamson) is the one candidate who I thought had the best discussion of Michigan when she talked about Flint, and then used that as a moment to expand on much deeper problems nationally."

John Lawson: Warren's crowd-pleasing remarks in her exchange with Delaney, when she said, "I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for."

Amy Urbanowski-Nowak: "One of the best moments was to see these moderate Democrats, people like Delaney and Bullock, go after Warren and Sanders. There was a really interesting riff on the stage, and I think that Warren and Sanders really held their own...it also showed some division there, too — we see that there are moderate Democrats out there who are worried about some of these policies that Warren and Sanders have put forth."

ContactJC Reindl at313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.