good evening, thank you for joining us tonight. we are in the debate. and the main target wasn't even on the stage here. >> donald trump is a cheat. >> we have a newcomer in the white house, and look where it got us. >> he's always been a crook and always will be a crook. >> if you want to beat this president, we've got to be ready to move on from the playbook we have relied on in the past. >> the president relishing in his big wins this week. >> they have a failed impeachment hoax. >> now theocracy for t race for

democrats to rebound. >> i know how hard it is. >> we're the democrats. we should be the party on the side of hardworking people. >> our political team ready to break it all down. "nightline" from the democratic presidential debate will be right back.

fisn't just about polar bears. we're fighting for our lives, we're fighting for clean air and clean water. that's why i wrote the law to send billions from polluters to communities suffering the most. and only one candidate for president was with us back then, tom steyer. and he's still fighting for us, pledging to make clean air and clean water a right for everyone, regardless of your zip code. that's the truth. that's tom steyer. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message.

welcome back to "nightline." we're in manchester, new hampshire tonight, home of the final democratic debate before the high-stakes primary week. they are hoping to prove to voters they are ready it to be commander in chief. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: tonight in new hampshire, all of the democrat thdemocrats came out swinging, not at each other but at donald trump. >> everyone is united. no matter who wins this damn thing we're going to stand together. >> if you want to beat this president, we've got to be ready to move on from the playbook that we have relied on in the past and unify this country around a new and better vision. >> we have a president that literally blames everyone in the world, and we have not talked about this enough. he blames barack obama for everything that goes wrong. he blames the prime minister of

canada for, he claims, cutting him out of the canadian version of "home alone 2." who does that? that's what donald trump does. >> he is a symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years and decades. you have to have experience to take him down. this is not a question of he's a nice guy who's going to listen. we need people with experience. that's why i'm worried about mayor pete. >> reporter: afterward in the spin room, several candidates made the case to tom llamas that they're up to the case of taking on donald trump. >> i've taken worst incoming than a tweet full of typos. >> i think bringing our party is about fighting. it's about fighting for working people. it's about fighting for america's middle class. >> reporter: tonight's criticisms aside. >> madam speaker! the president of the united states! >> reporter: this has been a pretty good week for the president. >> four more years!

>> reporter: on tuesday, he was triumphant at the state of the union, knowing the very next day senate republicans would vote to clear him. >> not guilty. >> not guilty. >> not guilty. >> reporter: final tally, 52-48, with mitt romney the lone republican voting against trump. today trump wouldn't say which democrat worries him most. >> everybody's a threat. i view everybody as a threat. >> reporter: he's too busy enjoying a victory lap. >> so now they have a failed impeachment hoax. they can put that on their race may. >> reporter: celebrating his acquittal. >> it's a celebration, because we have something that just worked out. >> reporter: he hasn't exactly minced words. >> it was all [ bleep ]. [ laughter ] >> reporter: speaker pelosi hasn't minced words either. she defended the democrats' decision to pursue impeachment, even though there was always a slim chance the senate would remove trump. >> you're impeached forever.

you're never getting rid of that scar. >> reporter: today the white house started a purge, taking aim at some of the civil servants who they believe crossed trump, among them, lieutenant colonel alexander vindman who testified the in the house impeachment hearing. >> do not worry. i will be fine for telling the truth. >> reporter: kyra phillips asked trump about possible vendettas. >> your press secretary said your political opponents should pay. >> reporter: the writing was on the wall. >> mr. president, would you like to see alexander vipdmndman out your white house? >> well, i'm not happy with him. >> reporter: later in the tday, vindman was kicked out of the white house. >> he should have been pinning a medal on vindman and not rush limbaugh. i think we should all stand and give colonel vindman a show of how much we support him. >> reporter: apparently, he's

not alone. there's late word tonight ambassador sondland has been abruptly recalled from the eu. not on stage because he's not competing in the early states, billionaire mike bloomberg. >> the president seems to view the republican party as a cult that will defend anything he says or does, no matter how lawless or reckless. >> there are millions of people who can desire to run for office, but i guess if you're worth $60 billion, and you can spend several hundred million on commercials, you have a slight advantage. that is nonsense. >> i don't think anyone ought it to be able to buy their way into a nomination or to be president of the united states. >> reporter: pete buttigieg and bernie sanders came out of iowa in the lead. joe biden, running a distant fourth in iowa, sought to lower expectations here too. >> i took a hit in iowa, and i'll probably take a hit here.

>> reporter: on health care tonight, biden went on the attack. >> bernie's plan costs double, double what the taxpayers are paying. >> reporter: taking aim at one of sanders' signature promises. health care for all. >> who's going to pay for it? it will cost more than the entire, the entire federal budget we spend now. >> reporter: david muir pressed buttigieg about his criticism of biden's vote to authorize war in iraq. >> you say it's the difference between tenure and judgment, it's the tenure that matters, not the time in washington. vice president biden voted yes. do you believe your judgment would be better than the vice president's? >> i believe i have the judgment to help us get through these situations where obviously, the vice president made the wrong decision. when it came to such an important moment in our foreign policy. >> i made a mistake. i said it 14 years ago. i trusted george bush to keep his word. he said he was not going to go

into iraq. he said he was only using this to unite the united nations. >> reporter: sanders chimed in on that. >> i also heard the arguments in terms of the war on iraq in bush, from cheney and the whole administration. i listened very carefully and concluded that they were lying through their teeth. >> reporter: tonight, sanders was asked about hillary clinton's recent comments sharply critical of him just yesterday on "ellen." >> if you can't deliver the moon, that's one more indicator of how we just can't trust each other. >> our job is to look forward and not back to 2016. and i hope that secretary clinton and all of us can move together in that direction. >> reporter: one big theme tonight was how best to appeal to all americans. >> look, we got to stop taking the black community for granted. that's the starting place. >> i'm glad to stand on this

stage with my fellow democrats who talk about how important the black community is, at least at election time. year after year after year, election after election after election, democrats go to people in the black community and say boy, we really care about these issues, racism is terrible. we all want to do something. and then somehow the problem seems to keep getting worse. >> reporter: criminal justice issues came up in that context. >> how do you explain the increase in black arrests in south bend under your leadership for marijuana possession? [ applause ] >> and, again, the overall rate was lower -- >> no, there was an increase. the year before you were in office, it was lower. >> reporter: buttigieg has struggled to attract support among african-aricans. >> niethese things are all connected. but that's the point. so are all the things we need to change to remove violence and the effects of racism, from economy, health, housing and our

democracy itself. >> senator warren, is that a substantial answer from mayor buttigieg? >> no. >> reporter: at the heart of this democratic debate, whether to beat trump, the party needs to excite the base or unite the middle. whether energy or experience matters more. and most importantly, who has the total package to beat trump? >> i'm a fresh face up here for a presidential debate, and i figure, pete, that 59, my age, is the new 38 up here. the second thing i think about is this. and that -- >> a good 50. >> meeting the moment. >> reporter: next tuesday, new hampshire voters get their moment. i'm david wright for "nightline" in washington. >> our thanks to david. up next, breaking down the debate with our powerhouse round table. i didn't have to shout out for help. because you didn't have another dvt. not today. one blood clot puts you at risk of having another, so we chose xarelto®, to help keep you protected.

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welcome back. joining me now in the spin room to break down the biggest moments of the debate, ceo of democracy for america, chris christie, matt dow. weigh ha we have a lot of road to cover. first of all, who do you think won and why? >> i don't think there was a clear winner. there were a lot of moments. elizabeth warren really came out on that race question. pete buttigieg won the day on the military commander in chief questions. amy klobuchar probably had the best closing of the night. i think there were moments. this was a very, very important

debate for some people, and i tonight think they were able to achieve what they needed. >> amy klobuchar's close, top. biden's defense of vindman and pete's defense of joe and his son. then descending when elizabeth warren said no, he did answer that question. but the worst two parts of the night in my view was when joe biden opened up by saying that i'm not going to win new hampshire. you don't say that. and i thought that was a real mistake. and i would end with mayor pete, when he, when lindsey was asking questions, looked wobbly about not only his record but the cops against of that record. it was the first time of a guy has the answer before he asks the question looked like he was unsure. it was more than didn't have the answer. it looked like he wasn't ready to go manu e manu with anybody on stage. >> i think klobuchar was the

winner tonight. whether it will trans late into more votes on tuesday, i don't know. i think buttigieg didn't lose tonight, but i think he showed the makings of a glass jaw that one of those people on the stage is going to have to exploit or he may steal this thing. they're waiting for him to collapse. he's not going to collapse on his own. he's going to have to be pushed. i think warren was invisible for a good part of the evening, and vice president biden showed moments where he was okay, but more moments where, again, he seemed to lack energy. he even at times looked tired and even not well to me tonight. and i think that people look at that and someone who's 77 years old and they begin to wonder. >> so i look at this race as what's happening coming into the night and what's going to come out of this night. so i think coming into this night, it was a bernie sanders/pete buttigieg-developing race. that didn't change fundamentally from tonight. so they leave stonttonight, whi my mind they both won that path.

i agree with chris on this, amy klobuchar had her best night of the entire cycle. it's too bad that this didn't happen three months ago. she's at 72 hours to try to get to double digits, and that's hard. >> let's talk about the president not in the room, president trump. he's had a good week. impeachment, other things. what do you think the democrats need to do to be able to beat him? >> i think we have to expand the electorate. i think we all have to come together. bernie sanders is trying to get younger voters, voters of color, infrequent voters. i think we need the right flank of the party to bring their folks to the party. we need to all come together kick donald trump's butt >> he has an economy. but the difference between his economy and his job is huge in the history of a presidency. the judgment about him is his character. his numbers about trust went down during the impeachment. and our measure on him is, yes,

on policy, but it's mostly about capability, confidence versus his chaos. the american public is exhausted from the consantant tweet. it's not just about the issues. that is true. but the issues do illuminate a part of the character. because his vulnerability is on character. >> governor, you know this president well. do you think he saw anyone on this stage tonight that will give him nightmares? >> no, i don't think he did. and i don't think there's anybody there tonight that showed themselves consistently throughout the night to be somebody who he would be scared of to stand on that stage and have some real concern about. i would say one thing, though. i think amy klobuchar, at the end, showed an ability to touch people, and an emotion that connected with folks in a really good way. and i think if you have a tough, strong, emotionally-connected

female democrat against donald trump, that opens up some real possibilities. >> to the point about strength, who looks strong, at this point, for the long haul? >> well, that's still, i think a very open question. that's part of the problem the democrats have right now. it's not unusual in the early statements of a process that you're looking for that candidate that's the most inspirational, strongest candidate. bill clinton, you didn't know that until later in the process. barack obama, you didn't know that until later in the process. they're still looking for that. if you're looking at a candidate that looks like you'd want standing next to donald trump, at this point in time, who's probably the most potent candidate against him, it's amy klobuchar. >> wow. >> process of series of campaigns. you win, people begin to look at you different and see you different. it just doesn't happen. it's an evolution. and amy's close, she had a point where she, she said i'm going to hear your voices, your

aspirations, your hopes, your dreams, and that's going to be at the center of the oval office and the desk. >> her challenge is she has no real base. she's a former prosecutor. as soon as she starts to rise, people are going to ask her about her record. we don't know how she's going to test with black and brown voters. i don't expect she's going to be able to build the winning coalition of young voters, black and brown voters and the folks she already has on the moderate side of the party. >> problem is the alternative is bernie sanders. what i found with senator s e sanders is he's lecturing everybody. if he thinks that's what's going to sell when he's on the same stage as donald trump, that he's going to lecture, i don't think anybody's going to buy it. >> to that point, did any camp win the soul? is this going to be a far left party, more moderate, did anyone make definitive progress in that area? >> no, that's something that

still hasn't been accomplished yet. there's nobody who owns the party in all the diversity. if joe biden continues a slide, and he's been the leader among black voters in south carolina, there's no natural heir apparent in the field right now. bernie sanders doesn't do well among black voters. elizabeth warren doesn't do well among black voters, pete buttigieg doesn't do well among black voters. the only one who has that is joe biden. somebody has to take up that mantle if it's not joe biden. >> right now bernie sanders has a position. there's open right now is who's number two. if by the time you get through south carolina, number two hasn't been emerged, then it's mike bloomberg by default. because a billion dollars speaks loud. i think between now, it will become a two-person race before mike bloomberg's money comes into play. >> iowa caucus night, 2008, i was watching barack obama give

his speech. don't tell me you don't know. i watched him that night and i said that guy's going to be the president of the united states. and there's no one on that stage right now. >> there's nobody like barack obama. >> who does that. listen. same thing with a lot of republicans and george w. bush in 2000 who listened to him and said that's the guy who's the antidote to president clinton. we'll be right back. tender wild-caught lobster, dig in to butter-poached, fire-roasted and shrimp & lobster linguini. see? dreams do come true. or if you like a taste of new england without leaving home, try lobster, sautéed with crab, jumbo shrimp and more, or maybe you'd like to experience the ultimate surf and the ultimate turf... with so many lobster dishes, there's something for every lobster fan so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. or get pick up or delivery at redlobster.com hi susan!) honey? yeah? i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love...

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tis better than the criminal in democrathe white house.esident we all have progressive plans to address the big challenges facing our country. what makes me different, is i've been working for ten years outside of washington, to end the corporate takeover of our democracy, and to return power to the american people. i started need to impeach to hold this lawless president accountable. i'm proposing big reforms like term limits... ...a national referendum...

...and ending corporate money in politics. as president, i'll declare climate change an emergency on day 1. and, use those powers to finally address the climate crisis. and, i've spent 30 years building a successful international business. so, i can take on donald trump on the economy - and beat him. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message - because there is nothing more powerful than the unified voice of the american people.

and finally tonight, these political footnotes. sunday on this week, joe biden and elizabeth warren will join george ahead of tuesday's crucial new hampshire primary. plus, if you missed any of tonight's debate, it's playing in its entireties all night on abc news live. that's "nightline." thanks for the company, america.

tis better than the criminal in democrathe white house.esident we all have progressive plans to address the big challenges facing our country. what makes me different, is i've been working for ten years outside of washington, to end the corporate takeover of our democracy, and to return power to the american people. i started need to impeach to hold this lawless president accountable. i'm proposing big reforms like term limits... ...a national referendum... ...and ending corporate money in politics. as president, i'll declare climate change an emergency on day 1. and, use those powers to finally address the climate crisis. and, i've spent 30 years building a successful international business. so, i can take on donald trump on the economy - and beat him. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message -