Hillary Clinton in Paris in 2011, while she was U.S. Secretary of State.
Hillary Clinton in Paris in 2011, two years into her tenure as U.S. Secretary of State. Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com

4:15 pm: It feels perverse to be doing this—talking about the United States, talking about our future—24 hours after the attacks in Paris. Nevertheless, it's happening. The debate will start at 6 pm. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The New York Times reports, "In the hours after the deadly attacks in Paris, CBS News significantly reworked its plans for the Democratic presidential debate" to "focus more on issues of terrorism, national security and foreign relations." Yahoo! Politics reports that earlier today a representative from Bernie Sanders's campaign "got into a lengthy dispute with executives from CBS" over this decision. It's worth noting that the unnamed source on that story is "a staffer for one of the other campaigns."

4:35 pm: Meanwhile, the Space Needle is flying the French flag. France was America's first ally.


6:00 pm: Moderator: "Last night the world watched in horror as freedom was savagely attacked..." Then there was a moment of silence; it lasted about three seconds.

6:05 pm: The moderator saying "Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate..." has a distinctly other connotation tonight.

6:07 pm: Martin O'Malley has several hearts. ("My hearts go out...") He also says jihad is a "new threat," which is literally not true. He also says "this could happen in our own country." Um, Martin? It has happened in our country.


6:19 pm: Bernie and Martin are trying to pin what happened in Paris on Hillary's Iraq vote. Clinton points out that 9/11 happened before her Iraq vote, to say nothing of terrorists attacks against Americans in the 1980s and 1990s.



6:25 pm: Clinton praising George W. Bush for saying "we're not at war with Islam, we're at war with extremism."

6:27 pm: Martin O'Malley is a moron. Trying to use tough language, he calls them not just "jihadis" but "radical jihadis." Redundant much?

6:30 pm: Bernie points out that the Cold War "is over," and yet we have thousands of nuclear weapons we spend a whole bunch of money maintaining. He says we need to reform our military to confront actual, contemporary threats instead of imaginary and/or former threats.

6:38 pm: We've moved on from Paris. Clinton, asked about how to pay for her plans on prescriptions, community college, and more, is asked who will pay for it. Her answer is: Not the middle class. Grilled specifically about prescription drugs, Clinton says: "We're going to have to re-do the way the pharmaceutical industry does business."

6:42 pm: Asked how high his tax rate will go for the wealthy, Bernie Sanders says it won't be as high as it was under Eisenhower, which was some 90 percent. "I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower," Sanders says.

6:45 pm: Nothing makes me happier than watching Martin O'Malley get cut off. "Governor, you're breaking the rules," he had to be told, as the broadcast cut away.

6:50 pm: O'Malley refers to "that immigrant-bashing, carnival-barking Donald Trump." Crowd cheers.

6:54 pm: Sanders is asked about his plan to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour for everyone. He says, "I believe over the next few years we have to move to a living wage of $15 an hour, and I apologize to nobody."

6:55 pm: Bernie Sanders mentions Seattle's $15 minimum wage and adds that we're "doing well." Clinton says places "like Seattle" can go higher, but not everyone should be forced to. She's in favor of a $12/hour minimum wage.

6:57 pm: Martin O'Malley refers to "Wall Street economists" and Clinton appears slightly agitated, insisting Alan Krueger (who is not in favor of $15/hour minimum wage) "is not on Wall Street."

7:03 pm: Sanders: "Lets not be naive about it. Why over her career has Wall Street been a major—the major—contributor to Clinton? Maybe they're dumb. But I don't think so."

7:05 pm: Clinton responds: "I represented New York and I represented New York on 9/11." She mentions that she too has "hundreds of thousands of donors" and adds that more of hers are women.

7:07 pm: Martin O'Malley calls Clinton's economic proposals "weak tea," and says that Bernie's right and she's wrong. Clinton replies to O'Malley, "I know when you had a chance to appoint a financial regulator in 2010, you chose an investment banker."

7:09 pm: Sanders: "The business model of Wall Street is fraud."


7:13 pm: After O'Malley bragging about being better on gun reform than Sanders or Clinton, Sanders disses O'Malley by saying, "I don't believe Baltimore is one of the safer cities in our country."


7:16 pm: Sanders reiterates that Wall Street's "business model is greed and fraud," and Clinton opens her mouth almost like she's pissed, almost like she's yawning, and almost like she's about to eat him.


7:23 pm: Bernie: "As a result of a corrupt political system, Congress is not listening to the people."

7:25 pm: Sanders is given a chance to nail Clinton on emails again, just in case he misspoke at the last debate. He declines, saying all that was "just media stuff" and that "I didn't know I had so much power" about knocking the email issue off the first page of newspapers. He wishes the first pages of newspapers would devote themselves now, instead, to the disappearing middle class, among other issues, like how the U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country and that we're the only major country without paid family medical leave.

7:29 pm: Martin O'Malley is so stoned he just confused the word "marijuana" with the word "America."

7:31 pm: Bernie Sanders points out that one in four African American males will end up in the criminal justice system, and says again that we incarcerate more people than any other country. He calls for reforming police departs, decriminalizing marijuana, and more.

7:37 pm: After Sanders calls for free college education in public institutions, Clinton says, "I don't think taxpayers should pay for Donald Trump's kids to go to college."


7:45 pm: Asked what crises they've faced make them ready to be commander in chief, Clinton talks about being one of the few advisors to the president on the Osama bin Laden raid: "It gave me insights into the challenges a president faces." O'Malley does a word salad about being a mayor and facing "emergencies" from gang violence and such. Sanders talks about meeting with veterans "without legs, without arms" and doing "whatever I could" to expand veterans' benefits.

7:49 pm: O'Malley is talking about "new and fresh approaches." Meanwhile...





7:57 pm: Nice job, John Dickerson.