Full Video: Watch the CBS News Democratic Debate

The remaining Democratic candidates met tonight in Iowa for a debate hosted by CBS News at Drake University. The debate was hosted by John Dickerson and covered a range of topics including the terrorist attack in Paris, France. In fact, the debate started with a question on foreign policy discussing the Islamic State and the best use of the military in fighting terrorism moving forward.

Saturday, November 14, 2015
CBS News Democratic Debate

Moderator: John Dickerson
Candidates: Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley

Here is the entire video of the second Democratic debate:

Alternate Video Link

Report from the New York Times:

The fight against global terrorism took center stage Saturday night when Democrats gathered in Iowa to debate after the gruesome attacks in Paris that laid bare the kinds of threats the next American president will face.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, after a month in which he has lost some ground in the polls, quickly went on offense, criticizing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2002 vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq, which he blamed for the rise of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

“I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely,” Mr. Sanders said, suggesting that the war had led to the rise of the Islamic State and that Mrs. Clinton’s vote discredited her foreign policy expertise.

A month after the Democratic presidential candidates clashed on gun control and financial regulations in their first debate, which focused largely on domestic and economic issues, they faced a heavy dose of questions on foreign policy and national security from the outset.

Hours after the deadly attacks, CBS News, a co-host of the event, moved to refocus the debate to give candidates an opportunity to discuss how they would respond to such an international crisis.

The candidates all offered opening statements addressing the Paris attacks and outlining their approaches to combating global terrorism and defeating the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Mrs. Clinton said that the United States must summon all of its resources to blunt the group’s rise.

“It cannot be contained,” she said. “It must be defeated.”

Bernie Sanders did come out swinging more than he did in the first debate, especially on the topic of campaign finance and banking regulation. Martin O’Malley took a similar path, attacking Hillary Clinton for her deep ties with Wall Street. To her credit, Clinton managed to deflect any direct hits, noting that she was the Senator from New York during the 9/11 terrorist attacks so, naturally, she has ties to the banking center. Overall, I don’t think this debate will move the needle much since the themes were largely similar to the first Democratic debate. Furthermore, this debate aired on a Saturday night up against college football so the ratings will be lackluster compared to the first Democratic debate.

The Democrats meet again for the third debate on December 19.


Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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