A civil time was had by all

The Dems had their first debate last night in the slightly jarring setting of a Las Vegas casino.  The stakes were certainly high enough for all concerned.  I think everyone involved can be proud of their performance.  They all got the chance to make their points and in a marked contrast to their Republican competitors there were no personal attacks on each other, illegal immigrants, people of color or gays.  The debate was remarkably substantive, so it probably drew far less viewers than the free-for-alls starring The Donald and a host of others.  Hillary was obviously the most prepared and wonky of the participants and cemented her place as the front runner.  Bernie Sanders was caught off guard a couple of times, but persisted with his message of fiscal inequality which scored well with the audience.  The other participants, Lincoln Chaffee, Jim Webb and Martin O'Malley showed why they are all polling in the low single digits and did nothing to break out of the pack.  I look forward to more of the same in future debates.  I sincerely doubt Joe Biden will jump in at this point.  Hillary's performance should have given him pause.