Four hours of town hall discussions took pace on CNN on Wednesday, and four candidates had a chance to elaborate on varying issues for an hour each.
First in the line-up was Mike Bloomberg.
Bloomberg looked much more comfortable in the town hall format than he did in the first two debates, and took the opportunity to speak more about his stop-and-frisk policy.
“We just did it much too much and an awful lot of innocent people got stopped who didn’t have guns. And it was my mistake, and I apologized for it,” Bloomberg said.
He also spoke of his stance on gun control, and saw himself to the left of Bernie Sanders with his past opposition to the Brady Act, saying, “If that isn’t being in NRA’s pocket, I don’t know what is.”
The second hour was spent with Joe Biden.
The former VP had no problem articulating and connecting with the audience as he spoke about the 2nd Amendment and faith, hope, and purpose after loss as he addressed a pastor whose wife was killed in the Charleston shootings.
Klobuchar was given the third hour.
Klobuchar spoke much about the Midwest and her electability there, defining them as “the states that feel that they’ve been left behind some in terms of focus in the 2016 election.” She spoke of grit and determination in her Minnesota upbringing, and that she wanted to build a coalition and blue wall.
“I would include states like South Carolina, and my plan is actually to build a beautiful blue wall of Democratic votes in this coalition of independents and moderate Republicans around states including states like South Carolina, and make Donald Trump pay for it,” she said.
Elizabeth Warren spoke in the final hour.
Warren told viewers that she stands ready to stay in the race until the convention if none of the candidates reaches the delegate majority win. She said that Bernie Sanders was inconsistent with his argument in 2016 compared to today, on whether a candidate who won the most votes should receive the nomination.
Asked by an audience member why the person who gets the most votes shouldn’t be awarded the nomination, Warren said that the rules set a higher bar — and she would be open to fighting to the last.
All candidates criticized Trump on his handling of the Coronavirus, particularly that Vice President Pence was now leading the efforts instead of a medical professional.
Klobuchar said it was the job of Congress to administer oversight of the efforts. Warren said she would use border wall funding to combat coronavirus. Biden lamented the fact that the US does not have experts in China to coordinate a response. When Bloomberg was told Pence was in charge, he said he “felt so much better” sarcastically.
See CNN.