My primary takeaway from yesterday’s debate, and the one tonight?

Anyone 5% or below should drop out.

I like Booker. But drop out and help retake the Senate from your current position there.

Same with Klobuchar. And Gillibrand.

And Beto. And Buttegieg. There are Senate seats to be won to strip #MoscowMitch of his power.

Focus there.

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) July 31, 2019

Yeah, that means folks I like, including Booker, drop out and focus on the critically important task of retaking the Senate. Booker and Klobuchar can do that from within the Senate and support those seeking to book GOPers from their seats, including #MoscowMitch. Anyone under 5% shows that they can’t break through and that they aren’t generating any traction. There’s a reason for that - there are far better candidates who have the ability to take the fight to Trump.

The format of these debates gives the cranks and fringe candidates an oversized say (Delaney, who gets 0% support in polling, got how much airtime?) That’s time that the frontrunners could have used to go after Trump and GOP policies.

Another thing is that the moderators are more than happy to work with GOP talking points about Democrats, but they never seem to hold the GOP accountable when their own proposals blow out the debt. Democrats have to be fiscally responsible and pay for every dime, but Trump/GOP can propose massive tax scam, push to build a wall, but can’t identify a single source to pay for any of it - Mexico is not an answer. It’s a deflection from fact Americans pay for it. Tariffs are paid for by Americans importing those goods. We pay Trump’s trade war tax.