Round two of the Democratic presidential-candidate debates featured Colorado’s Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper with 18 of their 2020 rivals. Here are some key points about the two-night debate.

Who’s a Democrat: Questions were raised aplenty about who has the soul of a Democrat — those proposing “bold” ideas such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, and those who set the highest priority on unseating President Donald Trump by appealing to former Trump voters with pragmatic solutions. 

As moderates like Bennet and Hickenlooper sawed away across the two nights with political reality checks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who joined Hickenlooper on Tuesday, snapped back, “I don’t know why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock warned Warren about her liberal wish list, saying “You are playing into Donald Trump’s hands.”

Another moderate, former Maryland Rep. Tim Delaney, referring to private health insurance coverage, asked, “Why do we have to be the party of taking something away from people?” 

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said, “We know who Donald Trump is. But the question in this election is who are we as a people.”

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who joined Bennet in the Wednesday lineup, had the same question. “This is a moment in time that is requiring each as individuals and collectively to look in a mirror and ask a question. And that question being, ‘Who are we?’ And I think most of us know that part of the answer to that question is, ‘We are better than this,” she said.

Two kinds of health care: The most prominent flash point both nights was between those who want 100% government insurance and those — like Hickenlooper and Bennet — who want to allow people happy with their private insurance to keep it — corporate fat versus logistical realities.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, also on stage Wednesday, said the quickest solution to cover everyone is to restore and expand Obamacare, not throw the system into chaos. “If they like their insurance they should be able to keep it,” he said.

Harris, a supporter of Medicare for All, charged, “All people should have access to health care,” she said. New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio said a lot of people with private insurance are looking for a better deal, and Democrats should offer it.

Bennet stood with Biden. “I believe we should finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act,” said the Coloradan.

Time stands still: Experience is usually a good thing, but it’s a sore thumb in this year’s presidential race.

On Inauguration Day 2021, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will be 79, Biden 78 and incumbent Trump would be 74. All three would be the oldest president on their inaugurations. (John Hickenlooper would be days short of being a spry 69, and Bennet would be 56).

But leave it to one of the youngest candidate, 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg, to make the case that age is just a number. “I don’t care how old you are,” said the South Bend, Indiana, mayor, who said at another juncture he was a junior in high school when the Columbine massacre occurred in 1999. “I care about your vision.”

But you yada-yada’d over the best part: “Seinfeld” fans probably liked it better than lobster bisque Tuesday night when dark-horse candidate and New Age author Marianne Williamson dropped the best quote in Detroit, channeling the 1990s cult comedy. “But for politicians, including my fellow candidates, who themselves have taken tens of thousands — and in some cases, hundreds of thousands — of dollars from these same corporate donors to think that they now have the moral authority to say we’re going to take them on, I don’t think the Democratic Party should be surprised that so many Americans believe yada, yada, yada.”

Buttigieg delivered the next-best line: “It’s time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say. It’s true that if we embrace a far left agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists.  If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists.”

Booker and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York had the best laugh lines Wednesday night: “You’re dipping in the Kool-Aid and you don’t even know the flavor,” said Booker to Biden on criminal justice. Gillibrand delivered, “The first thing I’m going to do when I’m president is Clorox the Oval Office.”

Eyeball deficit: It looks like millions fewer viewers watched the second round of debates in Detroit this week than tuned in for the first round in Miami in late June.

According to overnight numbers released by Nielsen, around 10 million people caught the second night of the Detroit debate on CNN, sister stations and streaming outlets, lagging considerably behind the 15.3 million viewers who watched the June 26 debate on NBC, MNBC and Telemundo. (The second night of the June round of debates, which featured both Hickenlooper and Bennet, drew 18.1 million viewers.)

The estimate for this week’s debate marks a sharp drop-off from the 15.5 million viewers who watched the first 2016 Democratic primary debate on CNN in the last cycle.

“Go easy on me, kid.” Front runners Biden and Harris on Wednesday, like Sanders and Warren the night before, had to fight off the hopefuls trying to take them down on the national stage.

Biden fought back much better than he did in his first debate last month in Miami, despite broadsides about his past positions on abortion, segregation and working women. When Gillibrand went after Biden on the latter, he pointed out that they had worked together on legislation to help working women. “I don’t know what’s happened except you’re now running for president,” he said to Gillibrand.

Hecklers interrupted the debate chanting “3 million deportations” over Biden, citing the Obama administration’s record on immigration.

But if this was Biden’s best, doubts will remain whether he can stand up to Trump’s bullying in the debates to come.

Where’s the middle class? Jobs and working-class taxpayers were not front and center in either night’s debate, beyond paying more taxes to pay for government-provided health care.

Candidates debated Warren’s wealth tax and Harris creating jobs for former criminal offenders. But if Trump runs on the jobs that have been created on his watch and the kitchen table issues that have benefited from a strong economy, Democrats will have to be prepared to talk about the jobs created by the last Democratic president, Barack Obama.

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