With Super Tuesday approaching, more than a third of the Democratic delegates will be decided. Last week’s debate was a critical time for the struggling candidates. There were seven desperate candidates on the stage struggling to get recognition while degrading their competitors. This inevitably led to a train wreck of a debate.

The candidates attacked each other all night long, while constantly interrupting each other to try to get a hold of the very limited speaking time. Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg took the most flack, as Sanders  is the front runner, and everybody seems to especially hate Bloomberg’s intent to buy the nomination as well as his controversial past.

I don’t think that the debate is of much consequence, and the audience seems to agree as the candidates were booed at the debate showing disdain for the turmoil within the Democratic party. 

While the individual debates don’t really matter, I am very interested in the outcome of this primary as well as the election. I think that the outcome of this election has a large chance to define what the Democratic party is and will become in the future, in addition to defining the political middle ground of the nation as a whole. 

The largest point of contention on the debate stage is should the party’s nominee be more extreme and far left, more centrist, or a billionaire. The fear is that if the party looks too radical with candidates like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, it will drive away moderates and the Anything-but-Trump Republicans. This will be a problem for the party as there is a low chance of them beating Trump which is their goal. But if the party nominates a moderate like Joe Biden or Amy Klobuchar, the party would fail to achieve their plans, and it will shift the middle ground further right and some policies that many Americans genuinely want will never come to fruition. Although Buttigieg has dropped, it is highly likely the party will nominate a moderate. 

When it comes to deciding your candidate or where to stand when it comes to this presidential election, the debates are not the place you should go to decide. You get no representation of what the candidates believe or who they plan to be as president. All the debates really give you is a mildly entertaining fight between desperate egotistical hot heads. If you need to determine what candidate is best, think about what you want out of this country. Once you have those goals, look at the candidates websites and read critiques. Then make your decision.