Democrats Need Not Fear Bloody Debates Like the One in Las Vegas

Many Democrats watched the slugfest debate in Las Vegas with a sense of fear and trepidation. The prevailing wisdom is that Democrats attacking each other does President Trump's job for him and weakens the party's nominee who emerges from the convention. However, one thing that should be eminently clear in the age of Donald Trump is that conventional wisdom hawked by pundits should be taken with a grain of salt. In fact, the storylines emerging from the debate combined the intense media glare gives the Democrats oxygen and relegates Trump to the role of game show host and television commentator. In other words, any publicity is good publicity as long as it keeps the party's brand front and center. At the same time, Democrats can weed out their own before Trump does the job for them.

Many Democrats winced when Elizabeth Warren delivered the first blow to Michael Bloomberg within minutes of the beginning of the debate. That was just the beginning as every Democratic candidate was involved in a scrap or two during the two-hour content. Other great debate moments featured a clearly agitated Amy Klobuchar lashing out at Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders easily parrying off an attack by a chastened Bloomberg.

It Is the Democrats Dominating the News Today

For once, Democrats have dominated the political headlines in an age where Trump's Twitter account sets the political agenda. The Democrats' internal food fight only leaves the front pages long enough for the media to report on Trump's latest abuse of power.

Democrats have to realize that the rules of the game have been permanently broken and altered by Trump. Controversy and discord is not necessarily a bad thing for a party's chances. In fact, it is the party that dominates the airwaves that has a better chance of prevailing no matter what the headlines are. When it comes to the Republicans, while we may refer to it as nonstop scandal, Trump simply calls it good ratings.

The stories coming out of the debate largely revolved around Bloomberg's stunning ineptitude in his first debate. This will largely be a teaser for the next debate in South Carolina as the media will be waiting with baited breath to see if the billionaire can regain his footing. The storyline will also include another round in the grudge match between Buttigieg and Klobuchar. Even if the actual amount of people tuned in may not break records, overall interest in the debate will remain high. We call this free airtime that does not cost the Democrats a penny.

Other Democrats have called for party civility at these debates so the party can unify to take on Trump. However, it is vital for the Democrats' nominee to be battle-tested because they will be taking on one of the most brutal campaigners in the history of the country. It is simply better for the Democrats to have the first crack at taking each other on than letting Trump define the debate with his outrageous and nonstop Twitter pronouncements.

Attacked Candidates End Up Tested and Ready

While Democrats were similarly gnashing their teeth in 2008, people tend to forget that the long drawn out battle between Obama and Clinton made Obama a much more effective candidate. If Joe Biden ends up being the Democratic nominee, one can rest assured that it would have been a brutal primary that finally got him over the hump as a candidate. In the same vein, Sanders can emerge from the race in a much stronger position having absorbed the body blows from a full field before emerging. The more the Democrats hit each other, the less effectiveness Trump's attacks would have until the start of the general election. Few people are even talking about Trump's criticism of Bloomberg's debate performance while everyone is discussing Warren's takedown. A vigorous that continues past Super Tuesday will relegate Trump to the sidelines.

The other benefit of intra-party conflict is that it will weed out the pretenders. If Bloomberg's debate performance in Las Vegas was the best that he is capable of, it is certainly preferable to dispatch of him before he runs away with the nomination. The only way to expose a candidate is to put them under fire because Donald Trump certainly will in the general election. Whoever emerges will end up battle-tested for the most critical political battle in the last century.