The Democratic presidential debate Tuesday was successful because "we debate issues," longtime Clinton family confidante Lanny Davis told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"We don't attack each other and insult each other, which is what's happening on the Republican side," Davis told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth.
Three of the five candidates did well, he said. They were front-runner Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
But "the big winner" was the Republican Party, said former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey.
"All the candidates on the stage last night talked about issues that do not interest independent voters: gun control, climate change, European-style socialism, Black Lives Matter instead of all lives matter," she said. "These things leave independents absolutely cold — and the Democratic Party cannot win this election without getting independent voters.
"I was very pleased last night to see that the Democrats were obsessed with pleasing their own far-left flank rather than reaching out with a message that would attract a broad sweep of Americans."
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Clinton, too, won the debate, McCaughey said, telling Hayworth that "Bernie Sanders showed a great deal of warmth and charisma — and there was a section of the Democratic Party that really likes his message.
"He is a very engaging guy."
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