By Dayo Benson New York
Ahead of November 2020 Presidential election, Democratic top contenders last night mounted the stage in another round of televised debate preparatory to the party’s primaries to choose a nominee that would confront President Donald Trump.
The three-hour debate, the fourth in the series, which held in Ohio, was jointly organised by CNN and New York Times.
Contrary to expectations, former Vice President Joe Biden, who was regarded as a leading contender, faded into the background in the debate that featured 12 candidates.
However, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who took some heat from other candidates, especially over her proposals on Medicare and tax, stood out of the lot, even as Senator Pete Buttigieg shot into the reckoning .
Surprisingly, none of the candidates took on Biden when he defended his son over the latter’s role in the controversial Ukrainian gas company, saying “my son did nothing wrong .”
Biden said Trump was afraid of his (Biden’s) candidacy saying “he knows that. If I win the nomination, I will beat him like a drum.”
Senator Bernie Sanders described President Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Syrian border as a betrayal of the U.S. soldiers, While Biden dubbed Trump’s action as “erratic and crazy” .
The candidates expressed different opinions on how to tackle the scourge of gun violence through gun control legislation. Senator Warren promised to ban the importation of assault rifles into the country if elected President. This, she explained, she would do by executive order if lawmakers failed to treat the issue as a priority.
On addictive drugs which have been killing users, Warren vowed to go after pharmaceutical companies selling the drugs. Sanders, however, said he would embark on what he called “drug revolution “ to address the issue.
The trio of Sanders, Biden, and Warren did not see their advanced ages as barriers against their Presidential ambitions. Sanders had just recovered from a heart attack he suffered on October 1.
Speaking on Justice reforms, some of the candidates expressed the need to expand the number of the Supreme Court justices while others believed there should be more comprehensive reforms in the sector.