5 Thoughts on the first Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate.

1. CNN's Anderson Cooper did the exact opposite of what those Fox News folks did in the first GOP debate, namely, he directly challenged every candidate's previous statements on issues, and forced the candidates to answer the question if they failed to. There were no stupid questions posed, here. The folks at Fox News were mostly interested in becoming the news, by participating in some form of Reality TV, I think.
2. The amount of civility in the Democratic debate, stood apart from the ridiculousness of the GOP debates. Even as the Democratic candidates directly and vigorously challenged each other at times, there was no hostility involved; the candidates showed complete respect for each other. It took the Democratic debate to remind most people that debates can be rigorous but without the personal hostility we've seen lately. It's also notable for the quality of candidates on the stage, negating the need for anyone else to enter it -- see #5.
3. Poor Jim Webb. Anderson Cooper just wasn't interested in getting Webb involved in the discussion, so Webb retaliated by complaining repeatedly that Anderson hadn't allowed him to speak for 10 minutes -- a specific point he repeated twice. Then, finally Anderson asked of each candidate, to name the enemy they were most proud of, and Webb blew it, by citing the enemy who'd shot him in Vietnam, which he then explained that the enemy died. Crickets followed.
4. Bernie Sanders' and Hillary Clinton's supporters will each state unequivocally that their candidate won the debate. The other three (Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee) will all explain that they accomplished what they set out to do. Here's the reality: Clinton won. She was able to answer all of the rough questions without breaking a sweat or pausing for a second, and while her foes will suggest that it shows that she's too polished, I can't imagine why anyone would vote for a candidate who isn't polished and prepared for the most important job in the country, if not the world. Her demeanor in the face of obvious adversity given the GOP interference, was that of a leader. Nonetheless, this merely reinforces the belief that it is a two-person (Sanders and Clinton) race, with Clinton as the front-runner.
5. The person who wasn't there -- Joe Biden -- will surely stay out of the race, now that Hillary Clinton has shown to be a very strong candidate. You can bet that he was waiting to see how she fared in answering the tough questions; had the field of candidates come out roughly even, Biden would have likely entered the race on the belief that Clinton was weak enough to defeat, with no apparent challenger who could step up and take the flag. It's clear that either Sanders or Clinton can win the White House.