Healthcare debate highlights stark differences among candidates, leads to early fireworks onstage

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Welcome to the Democratic debate at Detroit’s Fox Theater where 10 candidates are facing off in the second night of the two-day event hosted by CNN.

8:56 p.m.

Biden climbs to top trending spot on Twitter

Former Vice President Joe Biden is now trending at number one on Twitter in the United States, surpassing #DemDebate2, which was trending at that spot earlier.

Biden has spent most of the debate so far sparring with Sen. Kamala Harris on healthcare.

Within 20 minutes of the start of debate he started taking over more general trends. He was also trending over the rest of the candidates.

– Sarah Elbeshbishi

8:51 p.m.

Senator Biden?

Joe Biden spent eight years as vice president of the United States. But it’s his previous title that Sen. Kamala Harris keeps bringing up.

At least twice, Harris has turned to Biden and referred to him as “Senator Biden.”

Biden was a U.S. senator from Delaware for 36 years before Barack Obama tapped him as his vice presidential running mate in 2008.

– Michael Collins

8:42 p.m.

Fireworks on second night

In the first 15 minutes of the debate, the candidates have already brought more fireworks to the stage than viewers saw for most of the debate on Tuesday.

Most of that tension has played out between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Rather than engaging in the broader debate about whether the party should adopt a Medicare-for-all approach or not, the early exchanges focused on specifics of each candidate’s health care plan.

Harris blasted Biden, suggesting his approach of improving Obamacare would lead to “jacking up co-pays, jacking up deductibles.”

Biden shot back, saying his plan would limit health insurance deductibles to $1,000.

“Obamacare is working,” Biden said, adding that the way to move forward is to “build on Obamacare.”

FactChecking the second Democratic debate: Climate change, gun violence, tax cuts

Cory Booker, taking his first question of the evening, lamented that Democrats are beating each other up over health care.

“The person enjoying this debate most of all is Donald Trump,” he said.

- John Fritze

8:36 p.m.

Booker slams Trump on race

Race, the issue that Donald Trump has injected into the contest, came up early in Cory Booker’s opening statement. Booker made allusions to Trump’s attacking four congresswomen of color and describing Baltimore, a majority black city, as a "rodent infested mess."

“We know who Donald Trump is,” Booker said. “In this election, the question is, `Who are we as people?’”

'Very biased': Tulsi Gabbard campaign criticizes CNN ahead of Wednesday's debate

Joe Biden, who has centered his campaign on restoring character and civility but was criticized in the last debate for his past stance on busing, also addressed Trump’s recent actions.

Pointing to an increasingly diverse nation, Biden said his message to Trump is: “We are stronger and great because of this diversity, not in spite of it.”

Biden was backed by just over half (53%) of black Democrats in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released Monday. Bernie Sanders was next with 8%, followed closely by Kamala Harris with 7%. Elizabeth Warren was backed by 4 percent of the black Democrats surveyed.

– Maureen Groppe

Harris, Biden spar on health care

The first question of the night went to Kamala Harris. And just like on Tuesday night, the CNN moderators decided to focus on health care.

What would Harris say to those who criticized her health care plan?

The question led to an early testy exchange between Harris and Biden.

“They’re probably confused because they’ve not read it,” she responded.

Harris said her plan would include a public plan under her plan for Medicare and a private plan. The Democratic Party has wrestled with whether to embrace a more government run health insurance system or stick with the current private system.

Joe Biden jumped in.

“My response is that the senator has had several plans so far,” he said. "You can’t beat Donald Trump with double talk.”

– John Fritze

8:27 p.m.

Harris flubs opener

Kamala Harris appeared to flub a key line in her opening statement.

Harris, a former prosecutor, said she was prepared to “prosecute the case of for more years of Donald Trump.”

She paused and smiled.

“And against him,” she added.

– John Fritze

8:26 p.m.

‘Nothing is impossible’ and other opening lines

Michael Bennet: “Mr. President, kids belong in classrooms, not cages, and they deserve something better than a bully in the White House. Let’s end this three-ring circus in Washington.”

Kirsten Gillibrand: “My grandmother taught me that nothing is impossible. … We need a nominee who doesn’t know the meaning of impossible.”

Julian Castro: “Just a few days ago we were reminded and inspired by our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico.”

Cory Booker: “We know who Donald Trump is. But in this election, the question is, ‘Who are we as a people?’"

Joe Biden: “We have a president, as everybody’s acknowledged here, that every day is ripping into the social fabric of this country. But no one man has the capacity to rip that apart. It’s too strong. We’re too good.”

Kamala Harris: “This is a moment in time that is requiring us each as individuals and collectively to look into a mirror and ask a question. That question being who are we? We have always been a nation that fights for the best of who we are."

Andrew Yang: “We need to do the opposite of much of what we’re doing right now. And the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.”

Tulsi Gabbard: “Donald Trump is not behaving like a patriot.”

Jay Inslee: “Fighting the climate crisis … has to be our top priority.”

Bill de Blasio: “I bring you a message of hope: We can make change in this country. I know from personal experience it can be done.”

– Michael Collins, Camille Caldera, Sarah Elbeshbishi and Jason Lalljee

8:25 p.m.

Andrew Yang likes math

Businessman Andrew Yang, who is Asian American, brought some one-liners for his opening statement. In one of the first attacks on President Donald Trump, Yang suggested he represents a big difference from the current occupant of the White House.

“The opposite of Donald Trump,” quipped Yang , “is an Asian man who likes math.”

– John Fritze

8:16 p.m.

'Kid?'

Joe Biden's greeting of Kamala Harris has raised eyebrows with her campaign. Ian Sams, Harris' national press secretary, tweeted a reaction to Biden's comment, "Go easy on me, kid."

"Kid?" Sams wrote.

– Ledyard King

8:07 p.m.

'Go easy on me, kid'

Last month, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sparred over federally ordered busing at last month’s debate in Miami, grabbing headlines and prompting speculation that their fight would spill over in tonight’s debate.

But if any hard feelings still lingered, it didn’t show when the two greeted each other at the beginning of the event in Detroit.

“Go easy on me, kid,” he said to her as they shook hands and she clasped his arm.

“How are you doing?" she said back. "Are you good?"

Biden: I’m good.”

– Ledyard King

8:04 p.m.

Second debate kicks off

The candidates are taking the stage.

Ten candidates are vying for a breakout moment – a chance to take on polling front-runner Joe Biden, or to land a pithy line of attack on President Donald Trump.

Tuesday’s debate had few fireworks, but explored deep policy differences between the progressive and moderate wings of the party.

The debate is set to last two hours, but Tuesday’s session demonstrated that CNN wasn’t averse to running long.

Recap: First night of Democratic debate reveals splits in party

Format fight: Too many sound bites, too much Delaney: Debate draws complaints

– John Fritze

Pence: 'liberals and socialists'

Pete Buttigieg got a lot of applause Tuesday night when he said Democrats should stop worrying about how Republicans will attack them and "just stand up for the right policy."

"If it's true that if we embrace a far-left agenda they're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists," Buttigieg said. "If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they're going to do? They're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists."

He was partly right.

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday said that "last night’s Democratic debates wasn’t between moderates and liberals; it was between liberals and socialists.'

– Maureen Groppe

Trump blasts debate ratings

President Donald Trump rarely misses an opportunity to weigh in on a TV program’s ratings.

The former 'Apprentice' star, who remained silent on Twitter during the first night of the debate, jumped in on Wednesday before the candidates even took the stage.

“Very low ratings for the Democratic Debate last night,” Trump wrote. “They’re desperate for Trump!”

– John Fritze

Diversity on stage

After a night where all 10 Democratic presidential candidates on the debate stage were white, round two will showcase the party’s diversity: Half the participants are minorities.

Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are African American, Julian Castro is Hispanic. Tulsi Gabbard is of Samoan descent. Andrew Yang is Asian American.

Joining them will be Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Bill de Blasio, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Jay Inslee.

Race is expected to be a hot topic tonight in the wake of President Donald Trump’s attacks on four minority congresswomen and a majority-black congressional district in Baltimore represented by Democrat Elijah Cummings, an African American.

It’s notable that nearly nine of every 10 residents in Detroit, the city hosting the debate, is a minority.

– Ledyard King

Sanders 'danger zone'

As the next round of candidates prepared to take the stage, some of Tuesday night’s participants were continuing their debate on social media.

"Pete Buttigieg is right," Sanders tweeted Wednesday night. "We need a candidate with the right vision for America."

His tweet included a video showing him explaining his vision on health care and student debt as part of his response to an exchange during the debate about the difference in his age – 77 – and Buttigieg’s 37 years.

Asked whether voters should take a candidate’s age into consideration, Buttigieg had said: "I don't care about how old you are. I care about your vision."

But Buttigieg did care about Sanders' physical expressiveness.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor said after the debate that one of the most difficult aspects had been avoiding Sanders' hand.

"Well they set those podiums up very close to each other," Buttigieg said on CNN, "so I was a little bit in the danger zone there."

– Maureen Groppe

Aviator snaps

Snapchat users got to try out some Joe Biden fashion Wednesday.

The Biden campaign took out an ad on the popular social media platform that allowed users to apply an aviator shades filter to their snaps.

Age came up during the first night of the debate. Biden, 76, could face the question tonight, especially as the party wrestles with whether to embrace a new generation of leaders. Regardless, engaging with younger voters on social media is a must-do. If you don't know what a Snapchat filter is, then Biden wasn't targeting you with this effort.

Biden has made his Ray-Ban aviators a potent political symbol. Back in 2014, then vice president Biden opened a new Instagram account that featured a photo of the iconic shades on his desk."I'm on Team Joe," the Snapchat filter reads.

– John Fritze

Democrats beat 'Bachelorette'

The ratings are in for Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, and for CNN, the news was a mixed bag.

Some 8.7 million viewers watched the debate live on CNN, according to the Nielsen ratings. Another 2.8 million watched on CNN’s live stream, the cable network said.

The debate – the first of two in Detroit this week – even won the ratings race against The Bachelorette season finale, which aired the same time on ABC and drew 7.4 million viewers.

But debate viewership declined sharply – by 7 million fewer viewers, to be exact – from the candidates’ first face-off in Miami earlier this summer. The June 26 debate was broadcast by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo and was seen by 15.3 million viewers.

CNN’s ratings for this week’s debates could rebound during the second round, which takes place tonight. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, and nine other candidates will take the stage.

– Michael Collins

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic debate 2019: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker on stage