It’s a Chicken … It’s a Aircraft …

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If Bernie Sanders have been a superhero, his title would most actually be Teflon Man.

All through his practically three a long time in Congress, he has proven an uncanny capability to shrug off all types of criticism — from his postnuptial travels to the Soviet Union to the guts assault he had within the midst of his presidential marketing campaign.

It’s a political phenomenon I wrote about over the weekend, after the disclosure on Friday that intelligence officers imagine Russia has been interfering within the 2020 race to assist his candidacy.

Final evening’s debate posed the largest take a look at so far of Mr. Sanders’s political superpowers.

Early indications have been that it could be Mr. Sanders’s time within the barrel. Within the days earlier than the talk, Joe Biden hit him on weapons, well being care and experiences that he thought of a major problem towards President Barack Obama in 2012. Aides to Michael Bloomberg accused Mr. Sanders of being the candidate handpicked by President Vladimir Putin.

That’s the place the knifing began Tuesday evening, with Mr. Bloomberg arguing that Russia helps Mr. Sanders get the Democratic nomination.

Mr. Sanders brushed it off, then parried the assault by questioning Mr. Bloomberg’s document in China. “Let me inform Mr. Putin, I’m not an excellent pal of President Xi of China,” he stated, alluding to Mr. Bloomberg’s enterprise pursuits within the nation and his feedback final yr that Xi Jinping is “not a dictator.”

Different assaults on Mr. Sanders — over his reward for Fidel Castro, his electability, the prices of his plans, his assist for the filibuster — appeared to go alongside the identical traces. The cost was leveled by Mr. Biden or Pete Buttigieg or Amy Klobuchar after which brushed away by Mr. Sanders.

After which, the opposite candidates, considerably mystifyingly, dropped the argument.

A few of this was the fault of the moderators, who have been typically unwilling to press traces of questioning. After Mr. Biden accused Mr. Sanders of inflicting “carnage on our streets” by voting for a regulation he stated undermined efforts to carry gun producers accountable for mass shootings, the moderators opted towards following up.

However clearly the candidates additionally made a option to push solely so arduous when it got here to attacking Mr. Sanders — a choice that displays the facility of his base within the Democratic Get together. Assault Mr. Sanders and also you threat alienating his younger, liberal base, in some ways the way forward for the occasion and a pressure nearly actually essential to win the final election.

Maybe Elizabeth Warren’s efficiency greatest embodies the Sanders tango.

Clearly, she will land an assault. When it got here to Mr. Bloomberg, Ms. Warren appeared to carry nothing again, laying into him for bankrolling her Republican opponent throughout her first Senate marketing campaign and citing her personal story of being pregnant discrimination to bring up an allegation against him.

“At the very least I didn’t have a boss who stated to me, ‘Kill it,’ the way in which that Mayor Bloomberg is alleged to have stated to one in every of his pregnant workers,” Ms. Warren stated. (Mr. Bloomberg denied making the remark.)

Mr. Sanders, nonetheless, prompted a a lot gentler distinction. “Bernie and I agree on a number of issues, however I feel I’d make a greater president than Bernie,” Ms. Warren stated.

She argued that she was simpler at preventing huge banks and filling within the particulars of a well being care plan. “Progressives have gotten one shot, and we have to spend it with a frontrunner who will get one thing performed,” she added.

Mr. Sanders disputes that argument, saying he’ll inspire a grass-roots motion of supporters who will push for change.

However their dialog didn’t get any extra heated than that final evening. Given Mr. Sanders’s standing within the race, that type of kid-glove therapy may find yourself handing him the nomination.

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Need extra debate protection?

• Right here’s the recap that’s on the entrance web page of the newspaper: The controversy plunged repeatedly into an unpleasant spectacle of flailing arms and raised voices, and even outright chaos.

• Mr. Sanders, onstage for the primary time because the unambiguous front-runner, made clear that the altering circumstances wouldn’t a lot change the person, our news analysis says.

• We even have articles on Mr. Sanders’s record on gun control, the $1,750 tickets to the debate, the coronavirus discussion and criticism of the moderators.

• So, who won the debate? A number of candidates might have performed what they wanted to do, however marketing campaign consultants weighed in on who did it greatest.

• We fact-checked the candidates on the issues, together with Mr. Biden’s function in writing crime payments, the prices of Mr. Sanders’s well being care plan and Mr. Bloomberg’s document in New York.

• How a lot talking time did every candidate get — and what did they discuss? Here’s our…