In Democratic debates, Gillibrand and New Yorkers couldn’t catch a break

Jun. 28--WASHINGTON -- This week's Democratic presidential debates flashed by in a New York minute for the three candidates from the Empire State, as Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and entrepreneur Andrew Yang struggled for attention in a crowded field filled with better-known candidates.

The two-night spectacle seemed destined to be a struggle for all three, just because the broader campaign has been, too. But nothing could have prepared Gillibrand in particular for the disrespect shown her by NBC's moderators -- who, in their very choice of questions, seemed to be picking winners and losers.

Punishing Gillibrand, perhaps, for her penchant for interrupting early and often, the moderators never even gave her a full standalone question.

Instead, the moderators treated Gillibrand not like a 10-year senator with a host of detailed policy proposals, but as a nuisance, reluctantly giving in to her demands for floor time, if only briefly.

Here's a sample of the spare opportunities the moderators gave her:

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Senator Gillibrand, 30 seconds.

CHUCK TODD: Senator Gillibrand, I want to give you 30 seconds on this.

TODD: Senator Gillibrand, I'm trying to get everybody in here.

And so on.

Meanwhile, and inexplicably, the moderators asked Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado -- who, like Gillibrand, languishes at less than 1% in the national polls -- four direct, detailed questions, each about 50 words in length. In comparison, de Blasio fielded two detailed questions, and Yang fielded one.

Even Bennet seemed to be annoyed with the moderator's blithe dismissal of his Senate colleague from New York. Witness this exchange:

LESTER HOLT: Gillibrand, Senator Gillibrand?

GILLIBRAND: Yeah, so now it's my turn?

BENNET: Good.

So what did Gillibrand do with her limited opportunities? Mostly she delivered pre-packaged summaries of her policy proposals, including a "family bill of rights" promising paid family leave and universal pre-K, as well as her abortion rights agenda. For viewers who knew nothing of what Gillibrand is promising, well, they know now.

Some viewers might have seen Gillibrand as pushy, given that she interrupted the proceedings several times, demanding airtime. But so did several other candidates on stage Thursday, including the top two candidates in the polls: former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The debate the night before never devolved into cross-talk the way Thursday's session did, but on Wednesday, one candidate perfected the art of artfully interrupting: de Blasio.

The New York mayor didn't get much screen time -- only 5.6 minutes, compared to 7.5 for Gillibrand and 13.6 for Biden -- but de Blasio made the most of his moments. He made a cogent argument that the Democrats should be "be the party of working people." He eviscerated former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas for defending the current health care system. And he stole the floor from Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey to offer an impassioned critique of President Trump's approach to immigration.

Unfortunately for de Blasio, he managed to blunt whatever momentum he might have gained from the debate with a memorable gaffe the next day. Inexplicably, in Miami -- a city teeming with families that fled communist Cuba -- he accidentally but enthusiastically quoted communist revolutionary Che Guevara.

How bad was that? Imagine a band playing the Soviet national anthem at the Broadway Market on Dyngus Day. It's that bad.

Speaking of bad, there's Andrew Yang, the Schenectady native who narrowly edges Gilliband and de Blasio in the polls.

Warning against a coming wave of automation and promising a guaranteed basic income, Yang has been drawing surprisingly big crowds, where the tech entrepreneur delivers an impassioned and funny stump speech.

But on Thursday, on stage with nine other contenders, he looked like a guy waiting for a bus. In a debate that rewarded interruption, Yang just wouldn't go there. The result: a measly three minutes of air time, and a totally missed opportunity.

Much has been said elsewhere of the candidates who made the most of their opportunities, so here's a lightning-round summary.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro of Texas stood out on Wednesday, each offering -- and humanizing -- detailed policy proposals. O'Rourke -- once the boy wonder of the race -- dodged questions and oozed nervousness throughout.

On Thursday, Sen. Kamala Harris of California dominated, especially with her heartfelt evisceration of Biden's work with segregationists and his record on school integration. Pete Buttigieg, the young mayor of South Bend, Ind., starred, too, with a straightforward, heartfelt, common-sense answer to every question.

Biden, heavily viewed as the front-runner, struggled. He was on the defensive all night long, and at one point said something that may seem ironic a few months from now.

"My time's up. I'm sorry," he said.

The same should be said for NBC's panel of five moderators. Given a difficult task, they couldn't manage the most basic part of it: treating all the candidates equally.

CNN's moderators -- along with Gillibrand, de Blasio and Yang -- will get a chance to do better in the next debates, scheduled for July 30 and 31 in Detroit.

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