Expanded from a short take for CNN

Hillary Clinton was solid and Bernie Sanders turned in his best debate performance yet in Charleston last night. Can anyone deny that Democratic National Committee leaders should have allowed more debates and scheduled them on nights when more voters would watch? The sometimes sharp exchanges between the front-runners probably didn’t change many Democratic minds, but Clinton and Sanders both delivered plenty of lines that should reinforce the inclinations of voters who are supporting them or leaning in that direction.

I suspect the following moments will particularly resonate with Iowa caucus-goers, based on my conversations with hundreds of Iowa Democrats and on how I’ve seen multiple crowds react to the candidates.

Best moments for Clinton:

• Reminding viewers that she has stood up to Republicans and remains their primary target. For instance, Clinton noted that Karl Rove is running ads against her, financed by wealthy donors, because “I’m the one they don’t want to be up against.” As Bleeding Heartland argued here, electability may be Clinton’s strongest card with undecided caucus-goers. One of the Clinton television commercials currently in rotation in Iowa may be her most effective yet, showing scary clips of Republicans and depicting Clinton as “the one candidate who can stop them.”

• Hailing President Barack Obama’s key domestic and foreign policy achievements and promising to build on his legacy. All of the candidates praised Obama, but Clinton claimed the niche of the candidate most committed to defend and incrementally improve on the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank financial reform, and diplomatic efforts with Iran and Russia.

• Speaking passionately about “systemic racism” in the criminal justice system after NBC’s Lester Holt asked whether it was “perception or reality” that “black men’s lives are cheap.” Clinton’s answer went beyond the killings of unarmed African-Americans, touching on disparities in the willingness to arrest and prosecute certain crimes. Although the African-American electorate is not nearly as big a factor in Iowa as it will be in South Carolina, Iowa audiences have responded favorably when candidates have spoken about such issues. For instance, the overwhelmingly white crowd at the “Wing Ding” in August gave Clinton one of her loudest ovations when she bashed Republican candidates who have “No commitment to end the era of mass incarceration or to say, loudly and clearly, yes, black lives matter.” It’s also worth noting that black voters will be a significant presence in numerous Iowa precincts on February 1, even as the statewide electorate remains largely white.

• Closing the debate with a powerful statement of outrage over lead-poisoned water in the largely poor and majority African-American city of Flint, Michigan. Clinton should make those lines a regular part of her stump speech.

Best moments for Sanders:

• Parrying criticism on health care reform. One of Clinton’s objectives last night was to raise doubts about Sanders’ health care proposals, thereby positioning herself as the best person to build on the Affordable Care Act’s successes. Although some Democrats may agree with her that reopening the health care debate risks setting us back politically, Clinton didn’t make a convincing argument that Sanders wants to “tear up” Obamacare. Hours before Democrats took the stage in South Carolina, Sanders released a new version of his single-payer proposal. During the debate, he repeatedly evoked the dream of FDR and Harry Truman to enact universal health care, citing 29 million uninsured Americans and millions more under-insured as proof we have much more work to do. Clinton echoed her campaign’s recent warnings that the Sanders plan would raise taxes on the middle class, unlike her own ideas for expanding Obamacare. Sanders expressed disappointment that his rival would make a “Republican criticism,” arguing that money middle-class families could save on private health insurance premiums would more than compensate for higher taxes. Ezra Klein may be right that Sanders’ “long-awaited health care plan is, by turns, vague and unrealistic,” but I don’t see many Democrats as less likely to support Sanders after watching this part of the debate.

• Highlighting Clinton’s ties to Wall Street. This topic has generated the roughest patches for Clinton in previous debates, and last night was no exception. Sanders mentioned more than once that Goldman Sachs had to pay a $5 billion fine, yet saw none of its executives prosecuted and has supplied treasury secretaries for two administrations. He also questioned whether Clinton could get tough on Wall Street, having accepted $600,000 in personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs.

• Repeatedly returning to the problem of a “rigged” economy and “corrupt” campaign finance system. From his opening statement to his closing remarks and many times in between, Sanders reminded viewers that good ideas won’t solve this, that or the other problem unless we tackle the system that allows millionaires and billionaires to buy elections with super-PACs and allows corporations to own Congress through lobbying and campaign contributions. Similar observations have consistently been huge applause lines at Sanders campaign rallies. One of the Sanders commercials airing frequently in Iowa features the candidate saying, “There are two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. One says it’s okay to take millions from big banks and then tell them what to do.”

Last night’s debate was hard going for Martin O’Malley. As usual, he spoke well and didn’t say a thing most Iowa Democrats would disagree with, but he failed to make a compelling case to choose him over the front-runners. In fairness to O’Malley, the moderators gave him fewer opportunities to answer questions, forcing him into the weak position of begging for speaking time.

Any comments about the Democratic presidential race are welcome in this thread. I enclose the videos of the Clinton and Sanders ads referenced above.