The Debate Will Not Be Kind to Hillary

The first Democratic presidential debate, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct.13, will likely boost each of the candidates who participate — largely at the expense of Hillary Clinton.

The debate will be a contest of four versus one, as Senator Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb gang up on her.

But beyond the actual content of the debate, the fact that these alternatives to Clinton — particularly Bernie Sanders — have a chance to showcase themselves in front of a Democratic electorate that does not yet know them well will inevitably trigger a rise in their standings.

Clinton in particular will suffer from attacks on her very recent flip-flops on the Keystone Pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. At the State Department, she approved Keystone and sent it to the White House for a final ruling. Additionally, at the State Department, Clinton had a formative role in the early stages of negotiating the trade deal she now opposes.

Bernie Sanders, unlike Clinton, stands for something, and does so with consistency and tenacity. He is staking out a vibrant left-wing agenda for America, which will be on display at the Democratic debate.

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