Bennet earns kudos; Hickenlooper less so

MI A MI» Colorado’s Michael Bennet had a late start in the Democratic presidential primary, but his performance at Thursday’s NBC debate just might give him enough gas to pass a challenger or two.

The U.S. senator, who has mostly kept a low profile in Washington, made a splash at the second night of the first Democratic primary debate as he hit on several of his key policy points.

That included challenging colleague Bernie Sanders’ plan to turn over health care to the government. While Bennet says he shares the same goal as Sanders — universal coverage — he prefers a public option.

Bennet made CNN journalist Chris Cillizza’s debate winners list, albeit at No. 3.

“Look, I don’t think that the Colorado senator is somehow going to shoot from 1% to relevance in the polls based on his performance in this debate,” Cillizza wrote early Friday. “He wasn’t that good. But … Bennet came out of this debate looking better than he went into it. Which is a win.”

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, on the other hand, failed to stand out even after weeks of buildup feuding with Sanders in speeches and social media posts.

Hickenlooper was not served well by the debate format, said John Weingart, the associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers UniversityNew Brunswick.

“The format is so difficult,” said Weingart, who has studied how governors run for president. “For Hickenlooper, in particular, he didn’t come off that much of a leader until his closing remarks. I thought he delivered those very well. (But) I doubt he got much momentum out of tonight.”

Thursday’s debate was dominated by former Vice President Joe Biden, Sanders and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.

The second night of the Democratic presidential debates, which also included U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, was more fiery than Wednesday’s edition.

The biggest fireworks came when Harris challenged Biden on his record of civil rights — particularly school integration.

“It was very obvious that Kamala Harris came into this debate with specific goals in mind, one of which was to establish herself as someone who could take on Trump and cut into Biden’s popularity with the African-American voters,” said Laura Chapin, a Colorado-based Democratic strategist.

According to The New York Times’ analysis of the two-hour event, Biden spoke the longest, at 13 minutes. Harris was a close second, at about 12 minutes. Bennet spoke for eight minutes, and Hickenlooper had five.

The Coloradans left the South Florida art complex where the debate was held just after midnight, each saying he took his chance to say what he needed to say.

Bennet, however, had a little more pep in his step.

“I was glad I was able to make the case that we desperately need universal health care in this country,” the senator told The Denver Post in an interview.

He slapped the backside of his right hand into his left palm as he compared Sanders’ Medicare for All plan with his own legislation.

Despite practicing potential lines of attack against Sanders, Hickenlooper said he opted to focus largely on himself.

“I think people who were watching at home will think back and say, ‘Yeah, that guy actually got stuff done,’ ” he said.

Hickenlooper and Bennet have pledged to stay in the race for the long haul, even as the criteria for winning a spot on the debate stage will ratchet up.