Written by Jamel Shorter, Staff Writer

In the world of the Democratic National Party, there are a few rock stars that people are willing to give their last dime to in the hopes of pulling out a win, and on the other hand there are some they wouldn’t look twice at. The party candidates are Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb were also presidential candidates, but have since dropped out of the race.

The debate was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was moderated by Anderson Cooper, Dana Bash and Juan Lopez asking additional questions and Don Lemon contributed questions that were submitted via Facebook from voters.

The top two candidates, Clinton and Sanders, had the most airtime during the debate and were also going head-to-head and could be said to have the strongest debating skills in the room. CNN deemed Clinton the winner of the debate while The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, as well as Fox News considered Sanders to be the winner. According to numerous polls and social media responses, it was a tie between the two candidates.

Webb was criticized heavily on social media and was unprepared for the questions that Cooper was asking. He complained a majority of the debate about the amount of time he had to answer questions, which coincidentally burned his time. Webb, Chafee and O’Malley were deemed the losers of the debate. The amount of time total these candidates received was 42 minutes while Clinton and Sanders received 59 minutes total.

Clinton spent a good amount of time defending her scandals, and comments she has stated in the past. Cooper asked a question, “Will you say anything to get elected?” and “Will you change your political identity based on who you’re talking to?” Which was the question based on Clinton’s remarks on same-sex marriage which she was against and then changed her stance and the remarks on President Obama’s foreign policy reform which she said was lenient and then backtracked to say it was too harsh. Clinton said that she has a range of views on many different topics but they are centralized and based on her beliefs and ideology of her faith, adding that she is a “progressive who gets things done.”

Sen. Sanders said that Republicans have won in the past due to the fact of low voter turn-out which is something that he believes his campaign can change. He also spoke about small and medium sized businesses and wants the government to support those businesses and prevent capitalism. He is essentially against the one percent, like any Democratic candidate.

Another topic that was discussed was the highly anticipated debate about the Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter movements. Bernie Sanders addressed the issue very well and received applause. He talked about how, on any given day, black people are aware that they could be arrested, shot and eventually end up dead in a jail cell because of an officer’s corrupt, biased mindset. He also said that the government needs to combat institutional racism and major reform in order to mend America’s broken criminal justice system.

The debate was heavily debated on social media and on news analysis programs. Bernie Sanders gained 46,000 Twitter followers during the debate and also 35,000 more likes on Facebook. Bernie Sanders gave clear methods and explanations to the questions Anderson Cooper asked, and he was more assertive than his opponents. Bernie took charge, which is what people want to see and hear when deciding on who they want their next commander-in-chief to be.

The next battle in the Democratic race to presidency will be held on Nov. 6. Who will win? We’ll have to watch to find out.