 | | Tim Lahan | |
| Sometimes in presidential races, a moment is all it takes. Rick Perry’s “oops.” Howard Dean’s scream. Chris Christie calling Marco Rubio a “robot.” |
| Last night, former Vice President Joe Biden had a moment. And it wasn’t pretty. |
| It started when Senator Kamala Harris interjected into a conversation about racism with a request: “As the only black person on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race.” |
| She then laced into comments Mr. Biden made at a fund-raiser earlier this month where he fondly recalled his working relationships with segregationists in the Senate, as well as his active opposition to busing in the 1970s. |
| “It’s personal,” she said. “It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.” |
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| She continued: “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.” |
| Mr. Biden, an experienced debater, looked defensive and a bit offended, and he struggled to respond. He noted he’d worked as a public defender in 1968, unlike Ms. Harris, who was a prosecutor. And then, he seemed to simply give up: “Anyway,” he said, “my time is up.” |
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| This was a planned event, one crafted and practiced in debate prep. Ms. Harris’s team immediately tried to milk it for all it was worth, pinning the line to the top of her Twitter page with a photo of the candidate as a young girl. |
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| But manufactured or not, it was effective. If you didn’t tune in for much — or any — of the four hours of debates over the past two nights, Ms. Harris’s attack is the snippet you’re most likely to see posted on social media and replayed on cable news. She upstaged both Mr. Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, whom many expected to dominate the debate with a spirited back-and-forth. |
| That never came. Instead, Ms. Harris announced her arrival. |
| Her remarks were personal and political, and they highlighted two of the biggest questions around Mr. Biden’s candidacy: his age, and the durability of his support among voters of color. In the spin room afterward, even rival campaigns gloated that Mr. Biden, who’s been leading the polls, had been dealt a blow. |
| Democrats want to see a candidate who will take it to President Trump. And they’re worried, still stewing in their 2016 loss, that a female candidate or a candidate of color will face a tougher path to the White House. Ms. Harris is both, and part of what she needed to do on Thursday was prove that she could go on the attack. Going after Mr. Biden was a substitute for going after Mr. Trump. |
| Whether this will provide the boost Ms. Harris needs remains to be seen. In recent weeks, Senator Elizabeth Warren has stolen much of the early excitement surrounding Ms. Harris’s entry in to the race. Her numbers have remained fairly stagnant, and she has struggled to settle on a message. |
| And there is some political risk: Busing as a means of integrating schools, which aides to Ms. Harris say she embraces, is fairly unpopular. The criticisms are myriad. Most significantly, it hasn’t been successful at desegregating schools, in part because there was no political coalition for it to work. |
| Mr. Biden’s aides dismissed the attack as unfair, touting his record on civil rights and saying he was not as unprepared as it might have seemed. “He was not interested in engaging in attacks on other Democrats,” said Kate Bedingfield, his deputy campaign manager. “We fully expected attacks to come.” |
| What is clear after last night, however, is that Ms. Harris’s attack opened a new stage in the race — one in which candidates beyond Mr. Sanders are going after Mr. Biden’s weaknesses far more directly. Senator Michael Bennet on Thursday dismissed Mr. Biden’s skills as a congressional negotiator, as did Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. |
| On Twitter, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager gloated about Mr. Biden’s performance. Remember, the president was awfully rattled by polls showing Mr. Biden beating Mr. Trump, though his team has been fairly bad at predicting what, exactly, will motivate Democratic voters. |
| O.K., and with that, I’m turning in. Like Beto O’Rourke, I’m no punk rock kid anymore. |
| But, one last note: Turns out I was very, very wrong about the level of interest in this debate. The first night exceeded ratings expectations, and Thursday was expected to be even higher. I loved reading the notes from hundreds of you who wrote in with your thoughts after the last newsletter. Keep them coming! |
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| Did the debates change your opinion? |
| Did the debates send an unexpected candidate to the top of your list? Or knock off one you had been favoring? Let us know at onpolitics@nytimes.com. |
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| More of our debate coverage |
| • If you didn’t get to watch the debate, here’s a three-minute video of the highlights. |
| • And here are six takeaways from night two of the Democratic debates. |
| • Reporters fact-checked the debate and found a number of false and misleading statements. |
| • President Trump weighed in on the debates. Spoiler alert: He was not impressed. |
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| … Seriously |
| This thread from Ellie Hall, a BuzzFeed reporter, of Marianne Williamson’s old tweets is a must-read. Some favorites: |
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| Thanks for reading. Politics is more than what goes on inside the White House. On Politics brings you the people, issues and ideas reshaping our world. |
| Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com. |
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